As the HIMSS 2021 Annual Conference next week, I thought I’d highlight a number of the things I’m most excited to see and hear at the conference. No doubt, the HIMSS 2021 conference will be unlike any other thanks to COVID moving it to the summer in Las Vegas and virtually. The former likely won’t happen again (Note: As a Vegas resident, I’m required to tell you that it’s a dry heat), but I expect the later will likely continue so that more people can join in virtually.
The HIMSS21 Digital program has a lot of interesting speakers. Along with leaders from a number of prominent healthcare organizations like Northwell Health and Cleveland Clinic, it will also include keynotes from Patrick Dempsey (Better known as McDreamy on Grey’s Anatomy) and Arianna Huffington who most will know from Huffington Post and is now Founder and CEO at Thrive Global.
One other area of the HIMSS21 virtual program is a number of international summits that will be held at times appropriate for those areas including the following: Asia Pacific Summit, Middle East Summit, Brazil Summit, and the Latin America Summit. It’s a really nice effort by HIMSS to put together these international summits given many travel restrictions that likely made it hard for these regions to attend in person. Plus, the time change would likely make participating in the main digital program challenging for many regions. I know I always love interacting with international health IT professionals that help to broaden my perspective and share unique views that I often wouldn’t have thought of otherwise.
In Las Vegas, Rainn Wilson (Better known as Dwight from The Office) is getting all the buzz when it comes to keynotes and I hear his presentation is one you won’t want to miss. I’m also really intrigued by Gitanjali Rao who is a scientist and inventor and was Time Magazine’s 2020 “Kid of the Year.” Is there anything more inspiring than child like creativity? Stéphane Bancel, CEO of Moderna, should be interesting, and I always enjoy the government panels at HIMSS since regulations are such an important part of what we do in healthcare. I expect Terry McAuliffe and Chris Christie will likely shed some interesting insight in what we should expect from Washington over the next year in their panel.
Otherwise, I’m most excited to connect with many old friends that I haven’t seen or talked with in a while. I’m sure we’re going to hear some amazing and some heartbreaking stories from the past year. As much as we all hate the pandemic (and I think we all hate the pandemic), it’s also pushed many health IT initiatives forward that would have taken decades to accomplish otherwise. I can’t wait to hear where we’re at, what’s been accomplished, and what’s coming next.
I should also mention that HIMSS has recently launched a virtual community called Accelerate. It’s an online forum for people, groups, and organizations to connect virtually. Last year, Hal Wolf promised that they’d be developing a platform like this for the HIMSS community to connect outside of the conference. It’s free for everyone to sign up and is quite easy to get around. While I think we’ve all realized the virtual will never replace the in person, I’ve also known for a long time that the virtual can enhance the eventual in person.
What are you most looking forward to during HIMSS 2021?
