HIMSS16 in Las Vegas this year was an amazing event, attracting almost 42,000 attendees and 1,300 exhibitors. It was five days of educational sessions, keynotes, networking, business dealings, and company announcements, with some drinking, eating, and gambling on the side.
We were on hand doing our best to cover as much ground as we could, putting our Fitbits to good use as we wandered the Sands Convention Center. Along the way, we did some hob-knobbing with the HIMSS16 social media ambassadors and interviewed 25 vendors and industry thought leaders as part of our annual HIMSS Highlights.
As always, there were some key issues that permeated the conference. This year, interoperability, cybersecurity and the shift to value-based care dominated the conversation. I got the chance to interview industry leaders and vendors on these 3 topics.
Steve Barlow, SVP and Co-Founder – Health Catalyst @HealthCatalyst
Interview Highlight Question: Medicare’s value-based purchasing program is beginning to have a real impact on hospitals – what’s the single most important thing that healthcare organizations need to do now to improve the quality of care they provide?
Blain Newton, SVP and COO @Newton_vt – HIMSS Analytics @HIMSSAnalytics
Interview Highlight Question: Where is the majority of healthcare IT spending occurring now, and how do you project this will change in the coming years?
Mac McMillan, CEO – CynergisTek @CynergisTek
Interview Highlight Question: What advice would you give providers looking for ways to improve their security programs in 2016?
Tom Lee, Founder/CEO and Beth Houck, VP Client Services @BAHouck – SA Ignite @SAIgnite
Interview Highlight Question: Meaningful Use, and its supposed impending demise, has been a hot topic in the news lately – what is your advice for providers who are questioning the relevance of the Meaningful Use program?
Mark Montgomery, Chief Marketing Officer @CranewareCMO – Craneware @Craneware
Interview Highlight Question: What is one of the biggest challenges that hospital CFOs face today?
Alan Portela, CEO @AlanWPortela – AirStrip @AirStripmHealth
Interview Highlight Question: Where do you think things are things at now on Interoperability and are you see progress?
Bret Schroeder, Healthcare Expert @BretSchroeder, PA Consulting @PA_Consulting
Interview Highlight Question: What advice do you have for healthcare organizations who are struggling to adapt to the new healthcare economy?
Kim Labow, CEO – Medfusion @Medfusion
Interview Highlight Question: What do you see as the top challenges for patient engagement in the era of value-based care?
Charles Lougheed, President & Chief Strategy Officer and Dr. Anil Jain, SVP and CMO – Explorys, an IBM Company @Explorys
Interview Highlight Question: t’s almost the one year anniversary of the official establishment of IBM Watson Health. What are some of the key milestones the company has been able to achieve in the past 12 months?
Bill O’Connor, VP of Consulting Services and CMIO – Orion Health @OrionHealth
Interview Highlight Question: How will organizations build upon their population health initiatives in 2016?
Mike Myers, EVP of Solution Delivery – AxisPoint Health @AxisPointHealth
Interview Highlight Question: We know chronic conditions account for a huge portion of the nation’s healthcare spending, but what can be done to bend the cost curve here?
Check out all of our HIMSS16 interviews on our HealthcareNOWradio station website.