This has been a year like none other across the healthcare continuum. For many of us, it means our day-to-day work is nowhere nearly as predictable as it was a year ago. And a year from now, we’ll likely never be the same. Just as virtual care has shifted the paradigms of how care is delivered and received, at athenahealth we have had to rethink how we engage with our community as well.

Enter “Healthcare’s Next Act”, our first online conference. As we discussed what to name this critical set of conversations, the resounding consensus was a title that would convey the long-lasting technological, cultural, and fiscal legacies of COVID-19. I have no doubt that Healthcare’s Next Act was exactly the right choice.

This event brought together innovative healthcare leaders like keynote speaker Dr. Patrice Harris, Immediate Past President of the American Medical Association, who spoke about how health data tell a story of disparity, and how we must strive for true care equity. We heard from people in the trenches of providing care, and learned how they are steering their organizations through uncertainty. And we also shared groundbreaking original research on how patients are accessing care (and why they may not), based on insights from our network of more than 100,000 clinicians.

One of the biggest themes that emerged from the discussions at Healthcare’s Next Act was how crisis has driven innovation. There is of course the monumental rise in virtual care, and the role that it can and will play in improving accessibility, quality and sustainability — we heard from early users of the new athenaTelehealth solution , as well as members of the athenahealth Marketplace, who are charting new strategies for things like virtual waiting rooms and digital intake. We also learned about the role that a nimble development platform plays in supporting and accelerating innovation, and how it enables everyone from the one-provider rural practice to large multi-state health systems to find the best partners, and develop the best capabilities for their specific needs. And we saw how customers have adapted and discovered innovative ways to care for their patients, their team members, and their communities.

For me, one of the most inspiring insights coming out of this event is that, despite a seemingly endless barrage of scary news stories, there is hope. “COVID-19 is bringing clarity of purpose” around important conversations about health, race, and social policies, Dr. Harris said. A wide breadth of sessions with physicians, researchers, customers, and technology innovators agreed – despite the maelstrom the pandemic has wreaked across the medical community, COVID-19 presents an opportunity to learn and is a catalyst for important change. We were (collectively) so inspired by these conversations that we wanted to make them available to everyone.

Today, all of the discussions from the event are accessible via Healthcare’s Next Act content hub. They range from overviews of innovative care models to insights on patient engagement and thriving in transition. You can see a synopsis of some of the highlights in this short video. We hope that these conversations are as inspiring to you as they were to us, and that you leave them energized to create a thriving ecosystem that delivers accessible, high-quality, and sustainable healthcare for all.

ARTICLEDecember 10, 2020

Beyond coping: Healthcare’s next act needs to encourage innovation and equity