Supporting the healthcare frontline in HIMSS broadcasts

Between July and December last year, the international Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) broadcast a series of four webinars, created jointly with Philips, on the topic of supporting the healthcare frontline. During the sessions, Philips’ Chief Innovation and Strategy Officer Jeroen Tas, and Chief Medical Officer Jan Kimpen, used lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic as a starting point to explore a new digital model of healthcare. Together with practitioners and telehealth experts, they looked at the potential for digital health technologies to support and reduce pressure on emergency units; the role of digital technology in maintaining continuity of care for patients with chronic conditions during a crisis; and more broadly, how connected care can empower the current and next generation of healthcare workers. The sessions were created for the HIMSS Digital Dialogue Series, one of them broadcast live during the HIMSS & Health 2.0 European Health Conference & Exhibition (September 7 - 11, 2020). 

‘Supporting the Frontline’ sessions:

• Digital Dialogue – Supporting the Frontline: Beyond COVID-19 – Leveraging digital health to support, empower and protect your workforces. Moderator Dr. Charles Alessi, Chief Clinical Officer, HIMSS, and Dr Jan Kimpen, Chief Medical Officer, Philips, were joined by Dr. Afzal Chaudhry, Consultant Nephrologist, Director of Digital & Chief Clinical Information Officer, Cambridge University Hospitals, UK, and Dr. Peter Gocke, Chief Digital Officer, Charité, Germany. 
  
  They discussed how COVID-19 has accelerated the deployment of digital health solutions in large hospital systems, including the use of apps and online consultations to maintain quality of care for patients during the crisis.

• Digital Dialogue – Supporting the Frontline: Leveraging digital to maintain continuity of care for patients with chronic conditions in times of health crises. Moderator Dr. Charles Alessi, Chief Clinical Officer, HIMSS, and Jeroen Tas, Chief Innovation and Strategy Officer, Philips, were joined by Henning Schneider, Chief Information Officer, Asklepios, Germany, and Rachel Binks, Nurse Consultant and Clinical Lead for Digital and Acute Care, Airedale NHS Foundation Trust, UK. 
  
  They discussed how COVID-19 has taken precedence over other, non-communicable, diseases and how health systems are assessing the backlog and organizing their catching up with non-COVID patients. They examined how medical centers can harness their data analytics capabilities to identify, prioritize and connect with patients most at-risk of complications.

• Digital Dialogue – Supporting the Frontline: Leveraging connected care to empower this and our next generation of healthcare workers. Moderator Dr. Charles Alessi, Chief Clinical Officer, HIMSS, and Jeroen Tas, Chief Innovation and Strategy Officer, Philips, were joined by Baha Sayiner, GM, Information Technology at Medcare Hospitals and Medical Centres, UAE and Monief Eid, eHealth Senior Consultant, eHealth Agency at Ministry of Health, Saudi Arabia. 
  
  They discussed how with human resources scarcity changing demographics challenges, digital health needs to remain a mainstream support of the frontline beyond the current crisis. 

• HIMSS20 and Health 2.0 webinar – Critical Care in Critical Settings: Lessons learned from COVID-19: Supporting and protecting the frontline. Moderator Dr Ana Rafaela Prado, Chief Medical Information Officer, Cascais Hospital, Portugal, led a panel discussion with Dr Jan Kimpen, Chief Medical Officer, Philips, and Dr Maurizio Cecconi, Head of Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Units, Humanitas Research Hospital, Italy, and Dr Sarah Newcombe, Chief Nursing Informatics Officer and Dr Catherine Peters, Consultant Endocrinologist and Medical Information Officer, Great Ormond Street Hospital, UK. 
  
  They shared their experiences of dealing with the pandemic including the risks and benefits of the rapid shift to a new digital model of healthcare during COVID-19 for patients and healthcare professionals.