From HIMSS with Dr. Jayne 3/4/25

Although Monday had been overcast, Tuesday dawned clear and cool but without the winds of the weekend. After declining the $14 croissant at my hotel, I found a nearby Dunkin where I could satisfy my sweet tooth via a donut with spring-themed sprinkles. It was a quick walk to the convention center, and from what I understand, that took about half the time that it took to arrive on the HIMSS-sponsored shuttles.

I had a chance to visit with Edifecs #2451about their #WhatIRun campaign. This year’s shirts feature Audrey Hepburn. I enjoyed hearing about the company’s efforts to empower women in the workplace and around the world. They’re a friendly bunch and great to talk to, so be sure to drop by.

From there, I was off to meetings with clients and prospects. I made a few key introductions that will hopefully turn into future engagements. Although organizations have been fairly conservative in their spending lately, they are realizing that optimization and adoption projects have value, and if they are able to keep physicians from burning out, the cost savings can be enormous. As a boutique consultancy, I’m significantly more cost-effective than the big firms, so hopefully that will resonate as well.

The day was also full of booth visits. I thoroughly enjoyed my visit at PointClick Care #3454. Their rep, Tasha, is an emergency department nurse who clearly gets it as far as understanding how their solution can play a role in healthcare. The demo data they were using sent me right back to the days when I was working in the ER. She also was able to banter back and forth with my physician colleague even though we took her well off script, which is refreshing to see. Their demo data was great with a realistic portrayal of the patient journey, rather than a sanitized one, and I was glad to see their level of detail. It’s a slick solution to help clinicians understand where their patients might be seeking care other than with them. If you’re in the market for a tool that can bridge across disparate EHRs and other data sources to help you get a single picture of the patient, it’s worth a look.

If you’re less interested in tracking your patients outside of the hospital and more interested in knowing where they are within your brick and mortar establishment, I enjoyed learning about Kontact.io #2250. They have what I can only describe as an RTLS on steroids, with the ability to track patients, staff, equipment, or any other assets using a variety of disposable or durable sensors. It made me reminisce about my days performing hospital rounds, when you could never guarantee the patient would be in their room and sometimes had to go back multiple times during the day to try to find them. The idea of using AI to take that RTLS data and do things like creating intelligent rounding lists has huge potential. Props also to the booth team that was clear, concise, and hospitable as they invited us to step out of the aisle and onto their plus carpet, which was much appreciated since we were well into a long day.

The footwear game was strong in the exhibit hall. I was envious of these animal print kicks.

Lightbeam Health had new corporate hosiery.

Relatient snuck in with a sharp shoe/sock combo.

Ultimately, however, the team from IMO won the day with this amazing entry.

I was happy to see sponsor CTG showing off their HIStalk credentials.

I found a corner of the exhibit hall that had edgier clinical solutions than I’m used to seeing at HIMSS. I declined the offer to stand barefoot on the body water analysis sensors even though they were being wiped down between patrons.

This vibrating light therapy cocoon was enticing, but I again took a pass.

Dr. Nick van Terheyden @drNic1 was brave and took the plunge in a red light therapy bed. He and I had a great time strolling through the booths looking at things like smart medication boxes to better enable remote patient monitoring, and of course, all things AI.

We were both impressed by the rep from Lightit.io, who engaged us and drew us into a conversation. It’s good to see sales pros on the floor. I liked their kicky luggage tags, which was the only piece of swag I picked up today.

The best booth of the day, however, was this one that was populated only by a screaming fax machine. It was attention-grabbing and nostalgic at the same time.

The day ended with some in-booth happy hours, and after that, I was ready for rest. Hopefully the rest of the trip to HIMSS will be as productive as Tuesday was.