3 Take-Aways from 3 Days @BHI2017

Both Ram and I presented papers at the IEEE International Conference on Biomedical & Health Informatics (BHI2017) conference that wrapped up earlier today in Orlando, FL and are happy to report that our talk our GeoHealth Dashboard was well received indeed.

The GeoHealth Dashboard

My talk focused on the GeoHealth Dashboard we have built over the past year. The GeoHealth Dashboard is a Geographic Information System (GIS) platform with a data analytic engine that takes health data, demographic data, as well as social factors impacting health outcomes to develop solutions for some of the most critical population health challenges we currently face.

Two specific applications for which the GeoHealth Dashboard provides insights were the subject of Ram’s talk – first how the Dashboard can provide decision support at both the hospital systems level and the state level into better fiscal management of Maryland’s All-Payer system. Second, the Dashboard can also be used in developing responses to the opioid epidemic we currently face.

That our talks were well received is an indication that there is a lot of exciting around the prospect of using GIS to analyze data.

Natural Language Processing

Natural Language Processing is garnering a lot of attention from the research community – highlighting that data entry challenges into electronic health record (EHR) systems are not only real, but do hamper the ability of those systems to contribute to patient care.

Machine Learning

Another area of research focus at BHI2017 were the various efforts in machine learning, including deep learning approaches. There is a great deal of interest in using machines and artificial intelligence to process large amounts of healthcare data to do a range of things from improving patient diagnosis to developing new standards of care.

Overall, BHI2017 was a good collection of engineers, scientists, and practitioners working to develop new technologies to advance healthcare into the future. We’re glad to have been a part.

And the journey isn’t done – HIMSS17 starts tomorrow!