As HIMSS 2013 has come to a close, I’ve had a chance to look back at the experience of the last few days. I’ve been going to HIMSS for over 15 years. I can’t remember one where I didn’t learn things, meet new people and get excited about the innovations in health IT. However this year, in my opinion, was the best of all. The reason I say this is that many of the industry changes are better defined and health IT solutions are being put in place to facilitate them. There was also a universal recognition of the need for analytics to effectively manage healthcare organizations, improve care deliver and increase efficiency. While this isn’t a new message, with the introduction of new delivery models, such as ACOs, increasing transparency requirements and growing regulatory reporting obligations there is no doubt about the role information plays for healthcare organizations. To meet these requirements vendors have many introduced products and services focused on providing the required information. The convergence of changing business requirements and new IT solutions was evident at HIMSS and this makes for a very exciting time to be in health IT.
As we wind down after New Orleans the planning starts for HIMSS 2014. I’m looking forward to Orlando next year to see what additional innovations have been introduced and connect, once again, with many people that I’ve met over the course of my healthcare career. Hopefully I will see you there.
