Too Big to Fail HIMSS

Too Big to Fail HIMSS

Once again, the crowds at the HIMSS annual meetings are getting larger, setting a record at over 43,000 attendees. Held at the sprawling McCormack Center in Chicago this year, the meeting is a non-stop 5 day event hosting vendors and the healthcare IT community. Unfortunately, despite some attempts to the contrary, I thought it was a squandered opportunity to engage the digital health innovation supply chain, particulary practicing doctors and patients. If I were on the planning committee for next year, here's what I'd suggest:

1. More focus or special interest groups in digital health innovation and entrepreneurship.

2. Allow non-healthcare IT professionals to attend a la carte sessions without having to be a HIMSS member and pay the membership dues.

3.Hold the meeting in a place that is more user friendly, instead of a handful of enormous convention centers to accomodate 50,000 people

4. Develop a plan to engage more practitioners interested in providing ideas, feedback and upstream innovation.

5. Lower even more the already discounted rates for seed stage, vetted HIT companies interested in displaying at the conference

6. A separate digital health innovation and investor venture summit to expose startup to potential strategic partners

7. A speed dating session to get some access to the 8,000 pound gorillas in the room

8. Invite the public to attend a session to get their feedback about developing sick care IT issues, like access to their medical records, portals and meaningul use.

9. Share the revenues from the annual meetings with not for profit sponsoring or supporting organizations

10. Expand the HIMSS Physician Task force as ambassadors to the clinician community.

Digital health is a big industry dealing with big issues and will have a big impact on sick care and health care. Like the products HIMSS members produce, the meeting needs to be more user friendly, have a better UI/UX interface and exceed the expectations of their customers, not satisfy some top down mandate or grow  simply to generate revenue. Apple, it seems, doesn't fall far from the tree.