Coming out of ViVE, there is excitement around innovating healthcare with the conversations there making one thing clear: healthcare is entering a new phase where digital engagement, interoperability, and community-centered care are converging.
As the industry starts packing for the upcoming HIMSS Global Health Conference & Exhibition, the energy coming out of ViVE reflects a growing sense of urgency and opportunity. Health systems are uniquely positioned to redefine longevity by focusing on population-centered care and deeper community engagement.
Leveraging innovation to connect care, support communities, and improve a person’s health span, the number of years patients live in good health, is the opportunity. Health systems can drive this shift by assessing physical and cognitive function, offering personalized preventive and lifestyle care, and connecting patients to care and interventions aimed at slowing age-related decline. They can also help people recover at home. The result: improved independence, stronger communities, and better long-term outcomes for target populations.
Consumers are Engaged
One of the clearest points at ViVE was that consumer-patients are already engaged through technology. Wearables, smartphones, and connected devices are generating unprecedented amounts of health data. The challenge now is turning that engagement into meaningful care.
During a panel featuring Samsung Electronics‘ Dr. Ricky Y. Choi, MD, MPH, Northwell Health‘s Dr. Chethan Sathya MD, ConcertoCare‘s Dr. Cristine Oropez, and Sixth House’s Jenny Yu, MD FACS, speakers explored how traditional healthcare is expanding its reach beyond the hospital and into the community.
Technology is already connecting people to their health, and health systems and vendors can help build the pathways that connect digital signals to clinical expertise. Hardware, digital platforms, and care teams need to work together to translate engagement into meaningful action.
Healthcare is generating data. We can better use it to bring clinical expertise closer to patients, wherever they are.
Interoperability and Policy are Accelerating Change
Education, workflow preparation, and simplicity are essential for clinician adoption. Leaders emphasized that health systems should focus on practical results rather than hype: start small, demonstrate value, and scale thoughtfully.
As Advocate Health’s Rasu Shrestha noted, we have to crawl, then walk, then run. For years, healthcare has been crawling with early digital initiatives and integration. Now, interoperability efforts like Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA) are helping the industry move faster toward meaningful data exchange and coordinated care.
Policy initiatives discussed at ViVE also signal momentum. The new ACCESS (Advancing Chronic Care with Effective, Scalable Solutions) Model, led by CMS and its innovation arm Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI), is a 10-year initiative focused on improving chronic disease management through scalable, technology-enabled care and outcomes-based reimbursement.
Designing Solutions Around Real Problems
Another important reminder from the conference is that healthcare innovation works when it is born out of solving a problem, not a focus on technology. Too often, solutions are built searching for a use case. The most successful innovations instead “fall in love with the problem” and design technology to solve it.
Since every health system operates differently, these solutions must also adapt. As leaders from organizations like Mayo Clinic emphasized, healthcare cannot afford proprietary systems that lock up data. Interoperability and flexibility are essential.
Further, it wouldn’t be an industry event without mentioning AI, though many leaders emphasized that success depends on how it’s introduced into clinical workflows, lending support through the process, and showing results.
Leading With Compassion
Ultimately, the message from ViVE was about more than technology. As HLTH President Rich Scarfo reminded attendees, healthcare transformation must start with compassion and care.
At Xealth, we see this every day. Digital tools only create value when they are seamlessly integrated into care delivery and aligned with the needs of patients, clinicians, and communities. We aim to connect the digital world patients already live in with the clinical expertise they trust.
When we do that well, we don’t just digitize healthcare—we improve lives. Drop us a note if you are going to be in Las Vegas for HIMSS. We would love to meet up!