ANI, Patient Access, and the Dance Floor

Any conference held in Las Vegas always has that additional level of festive atmosphere. And so it was when I attended HFMA’s Annual National Institute conference this year. The favorite moment for me happened at a party for healthcare providers that I attended with a couple of my KLAS colleagues. One of my associates, Austin Cameron, regularly talks about choreography and the art of dancing. I finally understood why, when Austin took to the dance floor and started busting a move. His frenetic shaking of hips and feet, gliding, sliding, and moving in perfect syncopation with the music had me staring in total amazement. But the show had only begun as Austin was quickly challenged by another dancer—a rival who also took to the floor. The moment developed into what I understand is a common event among professional dancers to demonstrate who can out-move and out-dance the other to win approval of the crowd.

This moment was somewhat symbolic of what took place in the ANI exhibit hall itself, where every vendor filled their respective space in an effort to one-up each other and dazzle the conference attendees in any way possible. The topics were diverse: patient access, operational performance improvement, population health management, value-based care, analytics, optimizing the revenue cycle, and the list goes on. But in healthcare IT, the stakes are much different than they are in dancing. Significant investments in both dollars and resources are committed by healthcare organizations in an effort to improve their products and let the world know about their companies.

Who are the winners in this healthcare dance-off? I would like to say the patients, but am I mistaken? What do you think? Please comment.

By the way, see this video or this video if you want to see Austin in action.