HIMSS23 Europe Forges Paths to Improve Care for All

Artificial intelligence, climate change, the workforce crisis and their impact on healthcare were among the top issues for nearly 2,000 healthcare professionals from 70 countries at the 2023 HIMSS European Health Conference & Exhibition. Forging new digital pathways to improve health equity was also high on the conference agenda.  

AI experts addressed vital questions around ethics and trust, and new policies and deployments to advance AI in healthcare. At issue were cutting-edge case studies; ethical and legal questions; and how to maximise AI’s potential in the health ecosystem. Also explored were how AI technology could alleviate healthcare’s staff shortage and burnout crisis by improving workforce efficiency, effectiveness, job satisfaction and patient outcomes.  

• These and other critical debates were held from 7 to 9 June 2023 in Lisbon, Portugal. Participants attended from across the European healthcare ecosystem, including health and IT professionals, providers, payers, vendors and government officials. 
• Air pollution causes 7 million deaths worldwide each year, according to the World Health Organization, with climate change creating a huge impact on health. A session on the race to net-zero in healthcare focused on the sector’s carbon-intensive supply chain and product use which contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. Attendees learned how digital transformation could help support the net-zero movement and carbon neutrality goals nationally and regionally. 
• The challenge of providing excellent healthcare is particularly present in conditions of extreme adversity, such as natural disasters or sustained conflict when patient, financial, logistic and administrative records are misplaced, damaged or destroyed. A panel examined how to tailor responses to different humanitarian and environmental crises. 
• During the opening keynote, HIMSS President and CEO Hal Wolf announced the HIMSS Global Headquarters will be located in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The Rotterdam headquarters gives HIMSS access to an expanding group of members and colleagues across the world, notably the World Health Organization, Europe. 
• WHO/Europe and HIMSS held a joint workshop at HIMSS23 Europe, where they coached representatives from member countries, discussed how to design country-level action plans with measurable outcomes and identified current strategic assets to advance digital health. Seven WHO European region member countries were represented: Greece, Portugal, Netherlands, Finland, Kazakhstan, France and Kyrgyzstan.  
• At the fifth annual high-level meeting of the Digital Health Advisory Group for Europe (DHAGE), esteemed experts in digital health, healthcare policy and technology shared insights, exchanged ideas and discussed strategies for advancing digital health in Europe. 
• HIMSS23 Europe launched the inaugural Startup PitchFest, a competition for promising early-stage startups solving healthcare’s toughest challenges. The contest presented a unique opportunity for new businesses to showcase their products and receive support and guidance from healthcare insiders.  
• More than 10 European governmental entities participated in HIMSS23 Europe.  

The event was supported by the Shared Services of Ministry of Health, Portugal; Health Cluster Portugal with its 200 members of the health sector, and other national institutions such as the Portuguese Agency for Investment and External Commerce, and the Agency for Competitiveness and Innovation. 

The HIMSS24 European Health Conference & Exhibition is slated for 29-31 May in Rome, Italy.