Exploring the Latest Innovations in Health IT at HIMSS 2023
It’s been an exciting last week for us at HIMSS 2023 and a great opportunity to network with industry professionals and thought leaders within the global health information and technology spectrum. We were thrilled to attend the show as partners at the Google ChromeOS booth #7532 and it was a great honor for us. We were very proud to showcase our easy plug & play dictation and transcription hardware integrations for Philips SpeechMikes and foot controls in web applications on ChromeOS.
We interviewed our colleagues Robert Priewasser and Wolfgang Spannlang to learn more about their experiences and takeaways from this important Healthcare Technology Conference.
What did you like most about attending HIMSS for the first time?
The dimension of this conference is enormous, especially the booths of big players like Microsoft, Nuance, or 3M. The conference organizers did a great job! There were shuttle buses running every 15 minutes from every hotel in the city to the conference, so large crowds were well-managed and there were no long queues at registration. The only challenges we faced were finding food and stable Wi-Fi.
Which new technology stood out in particular?
What I found really impressive was the use of the Hololens2 for medical operations and diagnostics at the Microsoft booth. Also, the news about Microsoft’s and Epic Systems’ collaboration to incorporate artificial intelligence in electronic health records was quite noteworthy.
Which company had the most impressive booth?
Microsoft – because the booth looked very professional and well designed, and Salesforce – because it reflected the Salesforce Trailhead theme of forests and mountains (campground).
How was your experience working with Google? Any key takeaways?
Very good! Google and Speech Processing Solutions are thrilled to be partners. At the booth, one could tell relatively quickly that it was important for Google to not only demonstrate Philips SpeechMike functionality on ChromeOS, but also work with us as a testimonial for Google’s collaboration with other peripheral vendors.
Google for example brought a card reader manufacturer to the booth and demonstrated SpeechMike integration as a best practice. The goal for Google is to have everything working out of the box on a Chromebook that is needed in the medical environment. In the hardware and peripherals space we are the showcase for Google.
In addition, Google has established a contact between us and the responsible Citrix managers to start a Citrix ready program for the integration of our hardware in ChromeOS in Citrix environments. We are really looking forward to starting this new collaboration soon.
Last but not the least, Google ensured that EHR vendors – like for example AthenaHealth, eClinicalWorks – visited the booth and understood how SpeechMikes and foot controls can now be built into web-only solutions, and how they work. This was all made possible with the software development kit (SDK) Google built together with us and is the reason for this collaboration. People were excited because, among other things, the lack of hardware integration was something that had previously caused them headaches with the idea of migrating from desktop software to pure web solutions.
What’s next on the horizon for us?
We will work with Citrix to become the leading dictation hardware integration partner of choice for Google ChromeOS. Citrix is already working on PowerMic 3 and 4 integrations. We will also continue to work with Google to get as many ISVs, EHR, or otherwise as possible to use the SDK to integrate dictation hardware into web solutions.
We are also working on new hardware concepts for our SpeechMike product family. This will further strengthen our commitment to provide the best possible solutions for our customers. The trend develops further toward hands-free recording as well as AI-supported automatic processing of doctor-patient conversations in real time. Nuance with DAX Express is at the forefront of this development, but 3M also has something up its sleeve with the Fluency Virtual Assistant. That all is just the beginning, and we are excited for what’s to come!
Furthermore, with AI being incorporated into daily workflows to improve patient care and productivity, there could be risks associated as well. We’ll find out in time!
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