HIMSS22 Opening Keynote: 'What Will We Do To Reimagine Health Together?'

ORLANDO – At the opening keynote of the 2022 HIMSS Annual Global Health Conference & Exhibition on Tuesday morning, HIMSS CEO Hal Wolf welcomed the crowd of healthcare, information and technology professionals and urged them to "reengage and reimagine health." After two years of a tragic and disruptive worldwide pandemic that has shone a harsh spotlight on many inefficiencies in the global healthcare delivery system and the ways social structural structures can adversely influence health outcomes, this gathering of healthcare professionals "is a real opportunity," said Wolf. "As you reimagine health, you should have a focus on global health equity," he said. As Wolf explained, "if we don't think about this globally – think about population health management, access to affordable care, taking care of people wherever they are – we leave intact a fundamental environment that is going to be susceptible to all the risks we had before." For inspiration, he brought with him words of inspiration and blessings from "someone who has tremendous interest and insights about global health equity." "In the context of current challenges posed by economic and social inequities, His Holiness trusts that the decisions and deliberations of these days will draw attention to the right of all, especially the poor and most vulnerable, to have access to essential and effective healthcare," said Pope Francis. "But if you want to know the one thing that works in this world, the one thing that keeps people coming back to Disney year after year, is the power of connecting – with your family, with your friends, with your colleagues, through experiences and characters and stories that unite and don't divide us.