When I think about doctors, I quickly realize that there’s no easy way for them to keep up with healthcare innovation. I’m a blogger that’s devoted to Healthcare IT and even I can’t keep up with everything that’s happening. I’m always learning about new companies that I’d never heard of before. How can a doctor that’s seeing 10-15 patients a day suppose to keep up?
This really hit home when I saw this graphic shared on Twitter (yes, it’s a bit old, but in this case it’s lucky that Healthcare doesn’t move that fast):
Health Technology Q1 Update in 15 Visuals: https://t.co/K351HmhHUh #HealthTech #DigitalHealth #Healthcare pic.twitter.com/WV7Lkshnyn
— Venture Scanner (@VentureScanner) August 14, 2016
Add this to the fact that there are probably ~1300 vendors exhibiting at the HIMSS Annual Conference next week and it’s no wonders that a lot of doctors just throw up their hands. It’s overwhelming to say the least. Plus, it’s not like there are going to be that many practicing doctors at HIMSS anyway.
How then do doctors keep up with all the innovation that’s happening? Unfortunately, they don’t. Certainly blogs like this one help. Certainly there’s a lot of word of mouth that happens between doctors. However, it’s a challenge without a simple solution. Plus, let’s face the facts. Many aren’t that interested in the next innovation. They’re happy just doing what they’ve been doing for years. That’s what makes doing a tech startup company in healthcare so challenging.
What do you do to keep up with innovation? I’d love to hear in the comments.
I do go to Himss and I am a practicing physician. Most of the time I just walk around and think “Gee does any of this apply to me?”
10-15 patients a day? Our providers see 20+patients a day, and have no time. I cannot keep up with the changes, it is overwhelming – government regulations, tech upgrades, security, training providers and staff, insurance changes, etc.
I do not understand how anyone keeps up with the “new” innovations, and most of the new innovation I see does not apply to our providers and/or adds more work with no time saved.
HIMSS annual conference is one of the great and large conference event in every year that is especially for the healthcare IT companies in which they can learn or get new information about the technology in upcoming years.
Cynthia,
I was being dramatic by putting the number low. I know many who do 20 a day like you which just emphasizes my point.
Lucy,
That goes to the point that Kathy makes. HIMSS is for the vendors and not the doctors. There’s likely a lot more B2B at HIMSS than there is B2D.