I’m very excited about HIMSS this year.

VisionShare will be exhibiting at the conference and demonstrating some of the capabilities of our platform to support the information exchanges required by the government’s “meaningful use” criteria. In particular, we’ll show how our Secure Exchange platform may be leveraged to support clinical information exchange in both its “push” and “pull” forms, as well as our ability to support administrative transactions (which are an important, if often overlooked, element of “meaningful use”).

Of course, we’re not just going to show off our shiny new toys (though, that is a lot of fun). Our primary goal is to engage in conversations about your needs and concerns, whether you’re a healthcare provider, HIE, government agency, or fellow HIT vendor. In doing so, we hope to respond in a manner that is actually meaningful with cost-effective, workable solutions based on your needs.

So, stop by and let’s chat. We’ll be at booth #863.

Beyond VisionShare activities, I think the education sessions look good this year.

Despite what’s always a frenetic pace for me, I’ve made sure to carve out time for particularly interesting sessions. I’m especially attracted to talks about the economic sustainability (really, long-term financial viability) of health information exchange, which has been something akin to our industry’s quest for the Holy Grail (though, to date, less fun than the Monty Python version).

I’m also interested in sessions related to the future of the Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN), as well as real-world examples of the thorny, yet important problems it seeks to address (e.g., coordination of care for our wounded warriors). Of particular note, I’m hoping to hear more about the “NHIN Direct” initiative, which was announced earlier this week. It aims to provide lightweight versions of NHIN standards and services, thereby lowering the barriers to adoption by smaller providers. As more details are to be released next week, I’ll save my color commentary for later.

Finally, I’m looking forward to the “networking” aspects of this mega conference—catching up with old colleagues and friends, as well as meeting interesting new people. Since I was in Egypt during last year’s conference, this will be my first visit to HIMSS since 2008 (in a pre-ARRA/HITECH world). Given these changes and the ongoing debate over healthcare reform, I’ll be interested in gauging how the overall vibe of HIMSS has changed (or not) and hearing what people are most excited about.