HIMMS 2022 Conference Highlights

The annual HIMSS conference returned to Orlando earlier this year with an estimated 28,000 attendees all coming together to engage and learn how to “reimagine health.” There were lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, innovative technologies to support clinicians, staff and patients, tech tools and innovations to help organizations manage and use data, as well as information and products to address an increasing number of cybersecurity threats.

This was our first business trip since the world shut down due to COVID, and wow, what a way to throw yourself back into the swing of things. We jumped right in and were fortunate to have had the opportunity to participate as attendees instead of exhibitors. We now have newfound respect and perspective for the HIMMS event as attendees. We thought staffing an exhibitor booth was taxing but being at attendee can be beyond overwhelming. There are so many speakers, events, and exhibitors that choosing which one to attend is like playing a game of Tetris in your calendar. Not to mention, if you have any semblance of FOMO, you might find yourself crying in the corner as you mourn everything you missed. We had no idea of the many directions an attendee could go. I mean seriously, you almost need to hire an event coordinator or project manager to create your agenda. Despite all this, we were still excited to be there, like sparkly-eyed kids in a candy store.

Once we got past the self-induced juggling act called “the calendar,” we forged our way forward and found ourselves surprised and contemplative as we learned from and networked with great people, information, and tons of tech. We conversed with friends and long-standing partners on the exhibitor floor. HP is reinventing solutions to connect human intuition, compassion and knowledge for the next generation. Dell’s focus is to provide solutions that help with digital transformation from the point of care to the data center to the cloud. VMWare is out to improve patient care and outcomes with real-time connected healthcare by delivering digital-first patient and clinician experiences. Of course, the list of exhibitor booths we visited was extensive and we cannot list them all here, but just know that companies like Zebra, Amico, Capsa, Fortinet, NetApp, and Stratodesk (just to name a few), were all present to demonstrate how they chose to reimagine health.

We also discovered new friends from companies like Eizo, a leader in worldwide medical imaging solutions, VeeOne Health who provides VCaaS and wearables, AssureCare who is making headway in interoperability between payers, providers and pharmacies, and Bamboo Health who offers behavioral health care coordination. Additionally, there was quite some time spent hobnobbing with HIT professionals from organizations like Sandford Children’s, UW Medicine, Seattle Children’s, and St. Luke’s while networking at the opening reception, HIMSS Pacific Region Afternoon Social, and Women in IT networking events. Oh yes, so much to share and so many people to share it with.

After arriving back home, tending to our blisters, sending, and answering follow-up emails, sorting through all the digital content and rehashing “what we learned,” we’ve decided that next year we will take a more focused and proactive approach when planning for the event. We will pick topics and start signing up for the talk tracks, speaker events, and exhibitor booths that best align with our focus. This is also our advice for anyone planning to participate as an attendee in future events. All-in-all, once you look past the last-minute planning on our part, we had the opportunity to meet with some smart people and walked away informed and energized to use what we learned to help healthcare organizations in the communities we serve “reimagine health” using information technology.

AUTHORS
Aimee Howard and Artina Mitchell

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