2019: Healthcare IT gains new ground

It's been an eventful year for health IT. Of course, that's been the case every year over the past decade since the first meaningful use checks were mailed out, kickstarting the digital healthcare age as we know it. But at the tail end of the 'teens, we see a flowering of innovation that could only have been dreamed of in 2010.

Whereas many health systems were preoccupied back then with the basic blocking and tackling of EHR implementation, this year they were investing in AI and machine learning, exploring advanced pop health analytics, deploying leading-edge cybersecurity tools, expanding telehealth programs of all shapes and sizes – and embracing cloud hosting to an extent that would have been unthinkable a decade ago. As we look back on 2019, it's worth remembering how far the industry has traveled to get here.

-- Mike Miliard, Editor