HIMSS Preview

HIMSS16 Offers Plenty to Be Seen

By Heather Hogstrom

Las Vegas will host the HIMSS Annual Conference & Exhibition February 29 to March 4. Shifting to a Monday through Friday schedule this year, the conference will open with keynote presentations from Sylvia Mathews Burwell, secretary of Health & Human Services, and Michael Dell, CEO of Dell Inc. The closing statement will be given by Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning, who can share his experience with health care and technology in the National Football League.

Set in a city that calls itself the entertainment capital of the world, HIMSS16 has plenty to keep visitors busy. More than 300 general education sessions are scheduled, featuring issues such as interoperability, value-based payments, consumer engagement, cybersecurity, and technology.

Big Data is one area of focus for the conference, with sessions such as “Enhance Clinical Research and Improve Outcomes with Analytics,” “Rising to the Challenge: Heart Attack Prediction,” and “The Power of Data to Transform Healthcare” scheduled to help attendees get value from Big Data.

Innovation is another key area on display at HIMSS16. For example, “gamification” is gaining attention in health care, with uses such as in revenue management to boost cash collections. Other sessions on innovation include “Deploying Smartphones with EMR Intelligence” and “Rise of the Medical Scribe Industry — Risk to EHR Advancement.”

The second annual Revenue Cycle Solutions Summit, designed for financial decision makers in health care organizations, will take place on Monday. The summit includes sessions on patient experience and collections, leadership, physician engagement, and process improvement.

Attendees can also expand their HIMSS16 experience with HX360, which brings together executives and investors with innovators and technology developers. AVIA partners with HIMSS to provide this leadership forum, which includes the Innovation Pavilion, Venture+ Forum, Executive Program, and Innovation Leaders Program.

The expansive exhibit hall will be filled with products and services from nearly 1,400 exhibitors, many of which are organized into specialties, such as the Federal Health IT Solutions Pavilion, which concentrates most federal agencies into one area. The Connected Health Experience combines mobile devices and applications, telehealth, wearables, games for health, patient portals, and more. University Row highlights schools with health informatics degree programs, while a Career Services section allows attendees to meet hiring companies. The exhibit hall will also feature knowledge centers for clinical and business intelligence, disaster preparedness, population health, and revenue cycle.

For more information or to register, visit www.himssconference.org.