HIMSS 2006

Today marks the mid-conference point of the HIMSS Annual Conference and Exhibition. For those of you not caught up on your conference knowledge, the HIMSS conference brings together the best and the brightest in healthcare information technology. We see a wide range of roles, from hospital executives, vendors, academics, and politicians. In fact, our opening session this year featured Dr. David Brailer, the National Coordinator for Healthcare Information Technology (NCHIT) and 3 congressmen.

Healthcare IT is a booming field right now. Most people know - or have heard - that healthcare is severely antiquated in terms of technology use and are grossly inefficient because of it. These people at this conference have a vision to get our healthcare facilities into the 20th (notice I didn't say 21st) century so that our doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals can care for their patients better. It's a tough spot because you want the bring these hospitals and doctors offices up to par, but you can't just throw technology at a problem and expect it to solve the inherent inefficient processes or just increase quality. It has to be a systems approach.

While the education is nice, the Exhibit Hall is what some 28,000 attendees come to see. This year, there are over 800 vendors that have setup shop in the San Diego Convention Center. They are here to demo their products and to convince those that make the IT decisions that the product they are selling is the right fit for the person's organization. These vendors spend exorbitant amounts of money in this endeavor. Many of the booths and bigger - and nicer - than my apartment. A few are bigger than most of your parent's houses (McKesson's booth boasts 11,000+ square feet). In addition to these complex booths, most of the larger vendors also "host" evening "events" - (read: they throw insane parties) at the most upscale places in town. Yesterday, I personally visited the McKesson "event" at the House of Blues and followed with Microsoft's at the exclusive JBar. Tomorrow evening, HIMSS throws a conference-wide party on the deck of the USS Midway Aircraft Carrier Museum.

It's been a good week so far, but my feet hurt from walking miles each day and I'm tired (I have to be up at 5AM every day). Look for a conference wrap up on Friday or Saturday. Gov. Mark Warner and Dana Carvey are slated to speak on Thursday - I'm sure I'll have some good stories after those talks!