BOWIE, Md., Nov. 04, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Inovalon, a leading provider of cloud-based software solutions empowering data-driven healthcare, welcomed industry trailblazers and visionary executives to the stage at Empower 2024, sparking meaningful conversations with leaders from every corner of healthcare. The annual summit, focused on the intersection of healthcare and technology, welcomed attendees in Washington, D.C., to showcase innovative strategies aimed at improving clinical, financial, and operational performance.

Kicking off the summit, Keith Dunleavy, M.D., CEO and Founder of Inovalon, brought attendees through a technological innovation journey to highlight AI, machine learning, and data’s impact on healthcare. Dunleavy shared, “We have an opportunity to make healthcare better, but we need to fully embrace the rapid progression of software sophistication and technology. We need to be willing to take on innovation at a faster, more uncomfortable pace.”

Applying AI in Healthcare, Today and Tomorrow

AI innovation took center stage at Empower, with many sessions illustrating its transformative potential across the healthcare ecosystem. Industry leaders Rajesh Viswanathan, CTO at Inovalon, Rahul Pathak, VP of Gen AI and AI/ML GTM at AWS (NASDAQ: AMZN), Vinod Mamtani, VP, AI and Data Science Services at Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (NYSE: ORCL), and Murali Gandhirajan, Global Healthcare CTO at Snowflake (NYSE: SNOW), shared their perspectives on where the biggest opportunities in technology exist and their vision for how AI will unfold in the future of healthcare. The panel agreed that AI is a powerful force multiplier poised to personalize care interactions, automate workflows, and accelerate drug development. But they were clear: organizations must lean into these advancements or risk being left behind, and as the industry embraces emerging technology to assist, augment, and accelerate outcomes, those who commit will lead the way in delivering more efficient, impactful care.

Modernizing the Healthcare System

Former CDC Director, Rochelle Walensky, M.D., MPH, joined Inovalon’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Paige Killian, M.D., on stage at Empower to advocate for data modernization across the healthcare and public health systems. Dr. Walensky provided first-hand perspective on the data challenges that the U.S. public health infrastructure faced during the pandemic and other outbreaks while she worked in the CDC and the difficulties with collecting and integrating a vast amount of data from various sources and formats in a timely manner. She emphasized that to get actionable data before we get past the peak of an outbreak or even the next pandemic, we must educate and upskill the healthcare workforce in data analysis and AI. This emphasis on the role of the healthcare and public health workforce in data modernization was a recurring theme throughout the conference, with all participants and speakers agreeing that a modern data strategy serves as the foundation for any successful public health, AI, or technology strategy.

Maximizing Real-World Evidence and Utilizing SDOH Data to Improve Outcomes

An additional theme at Empower was the benefit of unlocking real-world evidence (RWE) and social drivers of health (SDOH) data to create a more equitable healthcare ecosystem. While clinical trials are essential for determining drug safety and efficacy, they are prone to gaps in understanding the patient’s experience and real-world outcomes. Industry experts, including Christie Teigland, Ph.D., VP of Research Science & Advanced Analytics at Inovalon, Todd Sharp, Head of Strategy & Transformation for Healthcare and Life Sciences at AWS (NASDAQ: AMZN), and Brett Kay, Director of Healthcare Quality Strategy at Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), shared strategies for activating RWE and SDOH data to support vulnerable and underrepresented populations. With SDOH contributing to up to 80% of health outcomes, these sessions highlighted opportunities for leveraging data to bridge care gaps and improve cross-industry collaboration. But first, it was clear there must be a push to reduce disparate data sources, improve health literacy, and actively fight against health disparities to improve representation and care across the healthcare continuum.

The Future of Patient-Centric Cell and Gene Therapies

Cell and gene therapies have transformed how the healthcare industry treats and potentially cures common and rare diseases. Kim Tedesco, RPh, Director of Gene & Cell Therapy Pharmacy Operations at Walgreens (NASDAQ: WBA), welcomed to the Empower stage the first patient to ever receive a CRISPR cell-based gene therapy treatment for sickle cell. The patient advocate brought attendees through her care and treatment journey while living with the crippling disease through childhood and adulthood. The session highlighted the miracles of these therapies and the essential relationships between pharmacies, providers, and health plans needed to ensure patients receive life-saving treatments.

Advancing Data-Driven Healthcare: Seven New Software Solutions and Feature-Set Expansions Announced

In a continued effort to drive ever-greater impact across the healthcare continuum, Inovalon unveiled seven new products and features to help providers, payers, pharmacies, and life sciences prioritize data-driven healthcare.

The Eligibility Verification Pro solution improves revenue cycle management by simplifying providers’ ability to accurately verify patients’ insurance coverage, reducing claims denials, and improving cash flow. For health plans, Inovalon announced Converged Provider Enablement to turn cost and utilization data into actionable insights, Converged Record Review to automate manual medical record reviews and improve risk score accuracy, and Converged Outreach Connectors to provide secure, seamless member data sharing capabilities. Additionally, the company also launched a Research Network to help health systems and life sciences organizations accelerate access to clinical trials and life-saving therapies. Finally, Inovalon is expanding the feature set of ScriptMed and debuted the new Inovalon Application Portal to provide customers with a centralized hub to find and launch all Inovalon ONE® Platform applications.

Additional details on the product news can be found on Inovalon’s website here: https://www.inovalon.com/news/inovalon-launches-seven-new-software-solutions-and-feature-set-expansions-to-drive-ever-greater-impact-across-the-healthcare-continuum/.

"Empower 2024 showed us that the technology revolution poised to transform healthcare isn’t lifetimes away – it’s right around the corner,” said Eron Kelly, President of Inovalon. “Inovalon is leading the charge in data-driven healthcare transformation. Together, with our customers and partners, we are shifting from a reactive, episodic industry to a more predictive and preventive system where data, AI, and personalization are shaping the future of healthcare.”

Experience Empower 2024’s best moments here: https://www.inovalon.com/empower/.


About Inovalon

Inovalon is a leading provider of cloud-based SaaS solutions empowering data-driven healthcare. The Inovalon ONE® Platform brings together national-scale connectivity, real-time primary source data access, and advanced analytics into a sophisticated cloud-based platform empowering improved outcomes and economics across the healthcare ecosystem. The company’s analytics and capabilities are used by nearly 20,000 customers supporting more than 53,000 sites of care, and are informed by the primary source data of more than 85 billion medical events across 1.1 million physicians, 677,000 clinical settings, and 395 million unique lives. For more information, visit www.inovalon.com.

Contact:
Tom Paolella
Sr. Director, Press and Analyst Relations, Inovalon
Thomas.Paolella@inovalon.com