HLTH 2024: What health tech leaders hope to see

Thousands of healthcare leaders are heading to Las Vegas for the HLTH 2024 conference.

Thousands are expected to attend HLTH 24, the healthcare technology conference. The event begins Sunday in Las Vegas.

The big healthcare technology conference begins Sunday in Las Vegas. Leaders of hospitals, tech firms, and thought leaders will headline scores of discussions throughout the four-day conference.

Ahead of the big event, some health technology leaders took the time to share some of their predictions, expectations and hopes for HLTH 2024. Many expect artificial intelligence to dominate the discussion, but some also looked forward to discussions about using technology to address staffing challenges, cybersecurity and improving the patient experience.

Chief Healthcare Executive® will be in Las Vegas reporting from the conference, so watch for our coverage.

Here’s a look at what healthcare leaders anticipate from HLTH 2024.

Jay Anders, MD, chief medical officer, Medicomp Systems

“Generative AI has taken health IT by storm; however, with the continued lack of LLM transparency and the inaccuracy of outputs, the bloom is off the rose. I am looking forward to hearing more about practical implementations that can be trusted by patients and clinicians.”

Lyle Berkowitz, MD, CEO, KeyCare

“AI will once again be top-of-mind at HLTH this year, and I expect many conversations about new ways to leverage its potential. In addition to presentations highlighting cutting-edge technologies and new innovations, I am hoping to hear about novel approaches to streamline processes and the potential for virtual care teams to improve care coordination and patient access. Finally, I am looking forward to discussions about ways to rethink primary care physician compensation to support team-based care and the automation of routine tasks.”

Amanda Bury, chief commercial officer, Infermedica

“As AI continues to dominate healthcare discussions, I anticipate HLTH will focus on real-world evidence and outcomes from AI applications, especially in areas where they are driving efficiency and cost savings. We’re moving out of the hype cycle and into the performance phase, where companies partnering with health systems or health plans need to share tangible metrics, whether positive or negative. While some may voice skepticism about AI, I believe the most impactful discussions will be grounded in data that demonstrate true progress and results.”

Ryne Natzke, chief revenue officer, TrustCommerce

“Without a doubt, AI is going to be the hottest topic at HLTH again this year. I am looking forward to all the latest updates on AI’s potential impact across the industry. In particular, I am hoping to learn more about how AI is being used to improve the patient experience and health outcomes and how it can be applied to help clinicians and their staff.”

Chris Darland, CEO of Peerbridge Health

“One emerging trend I expect to be a topic of conversation at HLTH is healthcare’s transition from a 'sickcare' model to true healthcare. We spend billions of dollars annually treating chronic conditions and other illnesses that could have been avoided or mitigated by proactive, preventive care. It costs far less to keep people healthy than to treat hypertension, Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and other illnesses with expensive tests, procedures, medications, and hospitalizations. Advancements in AI will allow med tech companies to help shift the focus to keeping people healthy versus treating patients in perpetuity after they get sick. I’m excited to participate in this conversation at HLTH.”

Kazu Okuda, MD, CEO, and co-founder of Universal Brain

“I expect a continued emphasis on delivering patient care in nonclinical settings will again be a focus this year at HLTH. Our ability to deliver care, particularly mental health care, in the home is crucial to address provider shortages and ensure we reach more people seeking treatment.”

Lathe Bigler, general manager, FDB Vela

“In light of the Change Healthcare and CrowdStrike crises during the past year, we will see a lot of talk at HLTH 24 around the importance of redundancy in health tech. Redundancy—which is a system design in which a component is intentionally duplicated so there is backup during a failure—is crucial for patient access and safety. Information systems are the backbone of today’s healthcare industry, encompassing everything from EHRs to ePrescribing networks.”

Chris Althoff, former senior consulting partner and head of marketing at emtelligent

“I expect to hear a lot of discussion at HLTH 2024 about what various healthcare stakeholders are doing to extract more value from clinical data. Payers, for example, are moving from claims data to clinical data to improve risk adjustment, prior authorization decisions, care management, and payment integrity. They’re doing this by using medical AI to extract unstructured data in EHRs to drive insights. That’s significant because 80% of EHR data is in unstructured form.”

Gary Hamilton, CEO of InteliChart

“Patients today are demanding greater control over their care choices, prompting healthcare leaders to adapt their approaches to attract and retain them. Providers are implementing strategies to transform our traditionally physician-centered healthcare system into one that prioritizes the patient. It's time for the healthcare sector to focus more urgently on patient experience, and I’m interested to hear from HLTH attendees about the various factors making patient engagement essential for providers' long-term success.”

Adam McMullin, CEO, AvaSure

“I expect to hear from health system executives attending HLTH what I've heard from our customers all year: They're looking for solutions to restore the joy of nursing and improve the lives of their team members while also driving increased efficiency, workforce productivity, and safety. Fortunately, the technology exists to help make all this possible: virtual safety observation, virtual nursing computer vision, and other forms of virtual care working together to achieve these goals.”

Greg Miller, vice president of business development, Carta Healthcare

“The nursing shortage continues to be a burden on health systems everywhere. I anticipate that at HLTH, we’ll see real-world AI-powered solutions that will assist nurses by automating many of the routine, manual tasks and help nurses get back to what they love – delivering care to patients.”

Jonathan Shoemaker, CEO, ABOUT

“Healthcare leaders are looking for innovative ways to enhance patient care delivery. With care becoming more fragmented, concepts such as patient flow, the care continuum, and the patient journey aim to illustrate the complex experiences of patients. Care orchestration offers the necessary tools to navigate patients smoothly through the continuum of care. I’m eager to hear from HLTH attendees about their efforts to improve patient outcomes and increase operational efficiencies by effectively orchestrating the patient journey across all areas of care.”

Nick Patel, MD, physician executive partner with Pivot Point Consulting

“At HLTH 24, I'm particularly interested in how healthcare organizations and tech providers are addressing the tremendous staffing crisis facing the U.S. healthcare system. We’re seeing a critical shortage of healthcare professionals due to burnout, early retirements, fewer entrants into the field, and an aging workforce, while demand for traditional services like primary care and emerging healthcare needs continues to expand."