Neither of those sound like good news for Oracle Health. After the lofty proclamations of the last couple years. still…
From HIMSS 2/24/14
It’s late and I’m tired after a long day and then HIStalkapalooza, plus I have to get up early in the morning, so I will keep it short and catch up later.
Note to self: don’t drive the rental car to the convention center to drop off stuff for the booth. I got stuck in traffic mid-morning, the parking lot lots were all full, and I was happy to finally get a spot in the Rosen Plaza deck maybe 30-40 minutes later. Thanks to our friends from Nuance who helped bring in some of our heavy items. The hall is not the least bit cooperative about helping with carts since it’s all about the Freeman trade show monopoly and you have to pay them for anything you need, so we didn’t have any easy way to bring in heavy boxes of mugs.
The only session I attended today was one that was supposed to feature several politicians talking about federal legislation. It turned to be their staffers instead. They were unintelligible for the first several minutes because of an audio problem, correction of which made it even less interesting, so I was out of there within ten minutes.
The exhibit area is, of course, sprawling. I mostly just cruised around today getting the lay of the land, tweeting out interesting giveaways and food (MedData’s passionfruit scones were easily the best). I don’t know that I saw any particular trends other than an uptick in privacy and security offerings and of course more vendors touting analytics.
Our little booth got respectable traffic as Lorre hosted her celebrity guests, applied HIStalk temporary tattoos, gave away buttons, and denied that she is either Inga or Mr. H. We didn’t get the 2013 headlines mugs into the hall because of the traffic problems I mentioned, but she will have some on hand Tuesday. Several people asked for a mug and one person said his was stolen, which I suppose is a good problem for us to have.
I was frustrated at the HIMSS people over CEUs. Individual sessions may offer CEUs for physicians, nurses, pharmacists, etc. If you’re a doctor, let’s say, you then need a list of sessions that offer your CEUs. You won’t get it from HIMSS, apparently: the lady in the CE booth says HIMSS has a 20-page PDF print of an Excel worksheet that lists all the sessions and which CEUs if offers, but it’s not available to attendees to print anywhere in the hall (and darn it, this time I didn’t pack my laser printer). This is one of the dumber things I’ve seen HIMSS do, but it’s certainly not unprecedented since they always seem to struggle with the simple idea of providing some indication of which sessions are approved for which CEUs.
The VA will implement the cloud-based version of Nuance’s Dragon Medical.
Here’s an interesting Epic booth graphic showing how handily they beat their competitors, also pointing out that they’ve never lost a hospital EHR customer.
HIStalkapalooza
Thanks to the event sponsors: Imprivata, RFIDeas, Greenway, Nordic, VMware, and Hill-Rom. I thought the venue, food, and music were excellent. Also thanks to the several folks who presented on stage, including opening music by Ross Martin, MD, Jennifer Lyle as our emcee, and Ross and Missy Krasner as HISsies presenters.
I noticed one error in the final HISsies award as presented on stage. Farzad Mostashari won the “Industry Figure of the Year” award (as well as the “When ___ Talks, People List” one earlier) and the slide was correct, but it was read as though Judy Faulkner was the winner. She won in 2013, not this year. Also accepting their awards in person were Ed Marx, SVP/CIO, Texas Health Resources (best provider IT executive) and Carl Dvorak, President, Epic (HIStalk Lifetime Achievement Award).
Imprivata had still and video photographers on hand and I’ll have high quality images as soon as tomorrow, but here are a few snapshots until then. I’m sure I’ll also have reports from Inga and Dr. Jayne tomorrow. You can also give me some crowdsourcing backup by adding your comments about HIStalkapalooza, the conference, and anything else of broad interest.
Thanks for the great party. The band was amazing- I couldn’t stop dancing!
Thank you for the fun! Excellent band and James Brown set.
Thank you for the fun! Excellent band and James Brown set!
Fantastic party. Thanks to you and all your sponsors.
Re: Epic booth
There is no doubt that Epic is the industry leader in IT, but I found their booth to be more than a bit pompous and arrogant with every storyboard reiterating their leadership position and how they are kicking everyone’s butt..A little humility goes a long way….
Instead of just quoting the Beatles and others, the booth would have been more complete if they had modified and posted the lyrics to the Christian hymn “How Great Thou Art” and had Queen’s “We are the Champions” playing incessantly on an audio loop as well:.
“O Epic, my IT vendor ,when I in awesome wonder
Consider all the *worlds thy hands have made,
I see the stars, I hear the *rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed:”
Mike Cannavo- PACSMan
Excellent party. The band was amazing and Missy Krasner can really cut the rug! Thanks for the great time.
Thanks for your comments! As the HIMSS Vice President of Professional Development, JoAnn Klinedinst, I am happy to respond.
First, the “HIMSS14 Sessions Approved for CE Credit” document (available on-line approximately two-weeks prior to conference) is 20 pages in length because we apply for and receive CE on many educational opportunities like pre-conference education, general conference education, on-demand, eSessions, and peer-reviewed Knowledge Center sessions. Because of our expansive educational offerings, we aggregate all information in one place. Each session and/or program is listed on a single row in Excel. And all CE types are listed in individual columns. Because we have attendees who track multiple CEs from multiple providers, we make available this matrixed document so that there is a comprehensive list of all CE offerings across all programs. For example, we have attendees that track CNE, CPHIMS and PDUs. To maximize their experience, they may look for sessions that offer all three to maximize their ability to claim CEs.
Be sure to stop by the HIMSS Spot for CE Q&A on at 10:30 AM and 2:00 PM through Wednesday with any questions.
Regarding printer stations, we eliminated them several years ago to be more environmentally responsible.
Can we improve upon this experience? You bet. Will we do so? You bet.
Speaking as the guy who nominated Missy to fill in for Jonathan Bush I was bummed to be late and miss her & Ross—but I did get a bus all to myself (well 3 of us) and it nearly had a Speed moment on the freeway with real life Sandra Bullock (albeit with hair al la The Blind Side) driving–note to tourists, dont cut hard left across two lanes with a bus bearing down on you at 80 mph.
Still a good crowd when I got there with Omar the CEO of Imprivata having a great time (as well as he should) with his posse on the dance floor, and at least one or two great dancing blonde CIO/CMIOs who I suspect may have alter egos we see on HIStalk.
As every year, I dream of getting a dance with the ever elusive Inga–but still no luck. And I’m sure I spot the shadow of Mr H lurking at the back near the bar. Not sure what the ICD-10 code on my sash meant, but don’t think I want to find out!
Special word on the band. Best cover band I have ever seen and all of them unbelievably charming to a fault. If ANYTHING in health care worked as as superbly and nicely as they did, well snarky bloggers like Mr H (and me) would soon be out of work!
PS unlike Inga I won my round of Quipstar (shout out to Medicomp who donated $1500 to charity in my name and fxed it so I and all contestants won a new iPad. How about a face off next year, Inga?