During the revamped AAMI Exchange 2019, which took place from June 7-10 at Cleveland’s Huntington Convention Center, experts in the healthcare technology management (HTM) field explored a variety of key issues. One major revelation? After months of debate, the U.S. FDA is planning to publish a draft guidance document by September 30—which, agency officials say, will help distinguish between medical device servicing and remanufacturing.
In addition to that news, which was delivered during a conference breakout session, the Exchange saw a variety of lively conversations. Here’s a snippet of arguably the 10 most-buzzworthy quotes heard during the Exchange (in no particular order):
1. “Don’t think about the equipment. Think about who that equipment serves.” — Adriana Velazquez Berumen, head of the World Health Organization’s medical device unit.
2. “There are lots of fish in the water, but with its current model, HTM is trying to just catch one fish at a time. AI applications will allow us to catch a lot more fish in one go.” — Eliezer Kotapuri, CCE, PEng, PhD(c), chief clinical technology officer at Mass Technologies
3. “[The] FDA isn’t going to mandate actions on the part of any one stakeholder. Ultimately, they are looking for parties to come together to determine the best course of action, then FDA can support that strategy going forward.” — Dave Francoeur, senior vice president of marketing and sales for Tech Knowledge Associates, LLC, regarding the establishment of a so-called “collaborative community.”
4. “[An AEM strategy is not a way of cutting corners. It’s a means to demonstrate the comprehensiveness and effectiveness of equipment management strategies.] It’s a way of creating a highly defensible program and showing the great work you’re doing.”— George Mills, director of healthcare technical operations at JLL
5. “Medical devices generally cannot be safely patched with OS [operating system] updates or have virus software applied until patches have been specifically tested and approved by the device manufacturer.”— Stephen Grimes, managing partner and principal consultant for Strategic Healthcare Technology Associates, LLC
6. “It’s both a problem and a tremendous opportunity.” —Toby Cosgrove, executive advisor for Google Cloud and the former president of the Cleveland Clinic, regarding IBM’s finding that the total amount of healthcare knowledge will soon double every 73 days.
7. “The low hanging fruit for healthcare isn’t the bright shining things; it’s creating the beautiful moments for patients [that will lead them to want to come back].” — Nicholas Webb, a futurist, technology CEO, award-winning inventor and author in the first main stage presentation of the AAMI Exchange.
8. “[The conference] is about exchanging ideas, leading practices, solutions, creativity, energy, and innovation among the broad spectrum of professionals working in health technology. The Exchange is the place to be to empower yourself as a professional.” — Robert Jensen, AAMI President & CEO
9. “[AI could provide insightful data related to numerous measures, including equipment age, cost of acquisition, total cost of ownership, maintenance, labor and parts, service history, failure rate, and uptime and downtime.]”— Sean Connolly, radiology services manager for the University of Maryland Medical System
10. “This has huge potential. Instead of looking at a patient on the table, you can see through their skin, visualize what you’re trying to get to, and what’s in the way. This is a revolution in how we visualize medical data.” — John Black, CEO of MediView AR, a company that was awarded $10,000 from AAMI to further develop “X-ray vision” technology that superimposes 3D holograms of the patient’s internal anatomy in real time, using prior scans and an augmented reality headset.
