HIMSS12: What's in store for this year's show

The first National Convention of the Healthcare and Information Management Systems Society—formerly known as the Hospital Management Systems Society—was held at the Emerson Hotel in Baltimore, Md., on April 1, 1962. At the time, the Georgia Institute of Technology-founded organization had less than 60 individual members; today that number has grown to more than 38,000.

The upcoming conference will take place from Feb. 20-24 at the Venetian-Palazzo Sands Expo Center in Las Vegas, Nev. “There were over 31,000 industry professionals from all over the world at HIMSS11, and 1,032 exhibiting companies,” JoAnn W. Klinedinst, vice president of professional development for HIMSS, told DOTmed News in an email. “We anticipate an equally strong participation in 2012.”

Attendees at the show will have the opportunity to choose from over 300 education events and see exhibitions from more than 1,100 companies. The theme of the event is “Linking People, Potential and Progress.”

Keynote speakers at HIMSS12 will include Biz Stone, cofounder of the popular social networking website Twitter; Farzad Mostashari, national coordinator for health information technology with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Donna Brazile, political strategist and commentator and vice chair of voter registration and participation for the Democratic National Committee; Dana Perino, political commentator and former White House press secretary; Dan Buettner, writer, explorer and the founder of Blue Zones; and Terry Moran, television journalist.

The show will also feature Views from the Top presentations on topics such as care coordination, mobile health and quality, among others. Speakers will include Janet M. Corrigan, president and CEO of National Quality Forum; Mark T. Bertolini, chairman, CEO and president of Aetna; Lynn Britton, president and CEO of Mercy Hospital; William Showalter, vice president and CIO of Mercy Hospital; George C. Halvorson, chairman and CEO of the Kaiser Foundation; Todd Park, CTO of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; and Eric J. Topol, vice chairman of the board and CIO of the West Wireless Health Institute.

Other must-see events, according to Klinedinst, will be the HIMSS12 Interoperability Showcase, Intelligent Hospital Pavilion, Career Services Center and Social Media Center.

New to the show
For the first time ever, the HIMSS Annual Conference and Exhibition will feature Knowledge Centers, consisting of exhibition booths, education sessions and exhibitor case study presentations. The Knowledge Centers will focus on topics such as Mobile Health, Medical Devices Integration, Accountable Care Organizations/Value Based Purchasing, Cloud Computing, Clinical and Business Analytics/Intelligence and ICD-10.

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