A week from today more than 40,000 healthcare leaders, enthusiasts and educators will land in Las Vegas for the annual HIMSS conference. As we do our best to prepare for the event I wanted to take sometime to get some different perspectives on HIMSS.
Dr. Luis Saldana, was kind enough to take some time to provide his insights into this years HIMSS conference. Dr. Saldana is the Chief Medical Informatics Officer and Medical Director for Clinical Decision Support for Texas Health Resources (THR), a large multi-hospital care delivery system in North Texas. THR has received national recognition for its use of Health Information Technology.
What are you looking forward to most?
Dr. Saldana: I always have mixed feelings about the annual HIMSS conference. It is a great opportunity to learn about and understand current Health IT industry trends andleading practices. You get a real sense of the landscape of the industry. In addition, it is one of the best opportunities for industry peer networking. I always enjoy connecting with friends and colleagues and meeting new friends and colleagues or putting faces to names you have interacted with virtually. At the same time I always have the sense of loss of control due to the scope of the event and FOMO (fear of missing out).
What trends/topics do you anticipate will be a focus at HIMSS?
Dr. Saldana: I think CyberSecurity as well as Privacy will be hot topics at HIMSS again this year. Government updates, life “after” Meaningful Use and certainly telemedicine in all its forms and patient engagement.
If you could give one piece of advice to a first-time HIMSS attendee what would it be?
Dr. Saldana: Don’t try to do it all. Manage your schedule based on your personal and organizational priorities. Ask yourself: what do I want to learn and achieve, or who do I need to connect with at HIMSS. Give yourself space to breathe and rest, and manage your energy so that you return from HIMSS with new enthusiasm for what can be done to advance the use of Health IT to benefit those we serve.
Thank you to Dr. Saldana for taking the time to talk with me. I am looking forward to seeing everyone at HIMSS and joining the social conversation on Twitter using #HIMSS16. Stop by and say hello – I will be at the Perficient booth #2871.
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