HIMSS Conference 2021 Review

In the latest episode of This Week in Health Tech, Vik and Jimmy review the 2021 HIMSS Conference that took place in Las Vegas, NV.

Here is what they discussed:

“The main topic of the conference revolved around interoperability and digital integration, something that TWITH has been talking about for months!”
- Jimmy and Vik discuss what the hot topics were at the conference this year. Since the onset of the pandemic, the digital transformation within the industry has been drastic. As value-based care and personalized care become more valued, it makes sense for organizations to invest in the right strategies and technologies. Vik delves into these strategies, focusing on integration between EHR’s, hospitals, and new innovative applications to provide the best user experience for patients and providers.
“I attended this years conference digitally and the digital experience could have been better.”
- This years HIMSS conference was held in-person as well as virtually. Attendees were down from the usual 50,000-60,000 to around 18,000 participants. Vik explains to Jimmy that there was a web and mobile app for virtual attendance but overall virtual experience could have been better with more online sessions and interactive sessions. He elaborates on the limited number of digital sessions and the difficulty in connecting to these digital sessions.

“The number one reason to attend is networking.”
- Jimmy asks Vik what he looks most forward to in attending these types of conferences. For Vik, its all about networking. He explains that there is great value in being able to talk with industry peers about what new technologies are coming out and what the future holds. For CIO’s, the conference allows for insight into outside perspectives within the industry, such as finance, marketing, etc.

“Can you walk us through what the virtual experience was like?”
- HIMSS offered a mobile app that listed all the digital events and also a digital directory to find individuals. Vik explains that while it was easy to locate certain individuals, being able to connect with them directly was difficult. Vik states that a round-table session would have been preferred. Another criticism Vik talks about is how not all events were available digitally.