HIMSS 2009 was incredibly busy and successful for MEDecision. I noticed a distinct buzz about MEDecision at the show, which is a testament to our decision to “go big” this year with a booth space that was five times larger than any we’ve had in the past, some key sponsorships and triple the amount of staff in attendance. Based on the reaction I got from folks in attendance, our expanded presence made a difference.   

One of the things I noticed this year was the increase in senior executives in attendance. This was especially true at the Payer Symposium, which was one of the events we sponsored. My speculation is that various health care entities are positioning themselves to take advantage of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act funds. I think more companies sent top-level execs to HIMSS this year because there’s more at stake than perhaps there has been in a while. This leads nicely into a point I was able to make when addressing the crowd at the payer breakfast, which was the other event we sponsored. Our industry is at a very exciting and very pivotal crossroads right now. We’ve long touted information technology’s ability to foster health care reform and finally, at long last, we’ve been given a $19 billion opportunity to prove it. We need to step up and seize the possibilities that the federal government has created for us. And I think partnerships and collaboration are keys to making this happen. We need to work together to meet the market’s growing need for actionable, meaningful EHRs.  

Thankfully, it was apparent at HIMSS that the notions of partnerships and collaboration are resonating well in the industry. We had a lot of really productive meetings and conversations with a number of entities. We came away with a strong sense that there is a lot of interest in working together, which makes for some really exciting opportunities. I’m very interested in seeing how things play out down the road in this respect both for MEDecision and the industry as a whole.