The Dodge Communications team sent a team of 12 to HIMSS this year, and we enjoyed visiting with all our clients, with the media, and with the 60 year old chain smokers that occupied the slot machines at 6 am. Had they been there all night or did they ask for a wake-up call so they could get up early and beat the rush? That’s an amazing thing about Vegas. You see it all because you have to go through the casino to get anywhere. Period.

It was a bit tricky to navigate in and around the exhibit hall, for sure. Large crowds, small halls. The upstairs/downstairs phenomenon in the Sands Expo Center. Booths scattered everywhere. Slow connections. Unusually tight aisles. Not our favorite venue, but that’s water over the damn bridge. Is that how the metaphor goes?

So, our team worked extra hard to notice booth trends and rank our favorites. Here we go.

First up: HIMSS. We thought the tagline “Linking people, potential and progress” could have been a little stronger and more targeted, so we took it upon ourselves to develop some new ones. Here are our finalists:

“HIMSS12: Where am I?”
“HIMSS12: There’s a downstairs?”
“HIMSS12: This way to Hall G!”
“HIMSS12: Business at the speed of dialup.”
“HIMSS12: More traffic. Less bandwidth.”
“HIMSS12: People. People. Everywhere.”
“HIMSS12: Crowded. Confusing. Cluttered.”

As we got going on this new tagline initiative, we started getting used to the trendy, three one-word sentences style. It’s the hottest trend in taglines and strives to combine edgy with descriptive, an objective that has eluded companies for years. Companies are typically faced with a choice—either an edgy, non-descriptive tagline like “Just do it” or “We bring good things to life,” or a more mundane descriptive tagline, like “Revenue cycle management solutions for healthcare.” But once we compiled a handful of these taglines at HIMSS, we’re not sure whether they demonstrated any descriptiveness (descriptivity?) after all. Here are some we found:

MedeAnalytics: Measure. Manage. Lead.

OnlineTech: Secure. Private. Available.

IBM: Build. Collaborate. Engage.

Oracle: Connect. Collaborate. Care.

InnerWireless:  Everything. Everywhere. Everytime.

SpaceLabs: Trendy. Enlightened. Informative.

We like them. (most of them, anyway.) But we definitely label them as edgy, not descriptive.

Thoughts? Comments? Feedback? Oh, there we go again.

Stop. Now. Please.

We also noticed that exhibitors had erected lots of walls this year that kept visitors out of booths unless they approached from the “open” side. We suppose that limiting entrance points gives an exhibitor better control over crowd management, but we couldn’t help but wonder how many attendees never entered a booth because they were on the “walled” side when they approached? Here are some walls that kept us out:

Quippe

Siemens

Epic

OnBase

Cumberland Consulting

Intel

We believe that “open all around” is the best way to maximize traffic, and even if it’s more challenging to manage, the effort translates to more traffic.

Traffic. Conversations. Business.

We also enjoy finding our favorite “huh?” and “really?” moments at HIMSS. And the winners are:

CREEPIEST USE OF TECHNOLOGY: The electronic person that stared at you and reacted to your movement on a flat piece of video wall. We don’t even know how to describe this technology, but it sure was creepy. We bet it cost a lot, too! Did you see it—er, her? After watching for a minute, we all ran away fast and never noticed what booth it was in. Hey, that can’t be too good for traffic, right? We wonder what she’s—it’s—doing today. We remembered seeing this person—thing—at HIMSS last year, too, and noticed something interesting. Her back is the same as her front. In other words, no back. Two fronts. Kinda weird? We suppose you never have worry about someone sneaking up on you. Or whether your jeans make you look fat.

MOST QUESTIONABLE IMAGERY: Digital Persona, Pain in the Password. It doesn’t really translate too well unless you see the graphic. The Dodge team all agreed that we wouldn’t want to work in a booth with an image of a person screaming at a computer, along with a distasteful headline. It goes to the theory that “we need to startle people to make them notice us!” which is a distant cousin to the PR opinion that “any press is good press!” We’re not on board with those positions. We get the idea: Buy our stuff and you won’t have to scream at your computer because you forgot your password. But is this the best way to do it? Really?

BEST PLANET: 3M. In fact, it’s the only replica of a planet that we saw. Some designer must have said “hey, you can make it look like a planet on the outside and make it your presentation area on the inside!” And that’s after they had a meeting to identify the core messaging for HIMSS, where someone must have said, “Hey, nobody on the planet can do what we can do…” and the rest is history. We categorize it as a message that didn’t resonate. It didn’t really look like a planet, and it had tons of random copy all over it. And we don’t know any attendee that would say, “when we learned that you were the only company on the planet that could…”

WEAKEST IMAGERY: MisysOSS. Building Bridges to Meaningful Use. With a picture of the Golden Gate Bridge. Get it? Building brides? Now, we know it’s tough to find relevant imagery in this business. And we see lots of free stock photography depicting smiling, multi-racial healthcare workers reveling in their use of the exhibitors’ technology. Definitely not easy. But pictures of bridges (“Bridges to meaningful use!”), stethoscopes (“We’re in healthcare!”), puzzle pieces (“Putting all the pieces together!”), and chain links (“We’re the missing link!”)  are not cool! C’mon people, be more creative! The most effective way to see if your imagery resonates is to test it with the market. It’s easy to test, and it doesn’t take long to realize that your audience doesn’t think it’s cool either.

BEST IN SHOW: GE Healthcare. Now, we evaluated all the mega booths, and many of them were outstanding. Excellent use of color. Strong visuals. Creative execution. And despite the fact that many of these booths seemed to be on top of one another given the small aisles, it was nevertheless a very impressive display. So how did we pick a winner? We think it came down to two factors: approachability and messaging. The GE Healthcare booth gave us a wide-open-come-on-in kind of feeling. (At least on the side from which we approached!) And the 2 foot high curved hanging Moss header that played the messages was clean, simple and effective. 3 key message played across the board: the first was a graphic illustrating connectivity. Next a descriptive tag line: “Helping deliver great care with true knowledge.” And last, an edgy tag line: “Knowledge. Naturally.” We all know it’s tough to effectively describe a full suite of products and services so briefly. At the end it comes down to emotion. And this made us feel good. (BTW, that’s not a full moon in the booth. It’s the simple, round lit up sign with the classic GE logo on it. Overexposed. Do we need a better camera?)

Well, that’s it for our HIMSS12 report. For any company that wants to talk more about using integrated communications strategies to build your business, we’d love to hear from you. Reach out at info@dodgecommunications.com, tweet us @dodgecomm, or call 770-998-0500.

Signing. Off. Now.

Over the last week at the annual HIMSS Conference I had the opportunity to participate in conversations about what medical organizations are doing to reduce healthcare costs and improve care. Of all these conversations one panel session on patient-centered medical homes (PCMH) stood out to me as showing concrete ways to achieve these goals.

The session brought together four stakeholders (a patient advocate, a care coordinator, a primary care physician (PCP) and a payer) to showcase how a well-planned PCMH can significantly improve patient health and reduce costs. Each panelist detailed how the new model impacted them and why they decided to move forward with this plan.

To start the panel, the patient advocate, Helen, recounted how in 2007 her already busy family suddenly became the sole care givers to both of her elderly parents, who were battling multiple chronic diseases. Over the next few years, the family made numerous trips to the hospitals because of these diseases, which became financially and emotionally taxing.  A few years into this routine, Helen received a phone call from her parents’ PCP explaining that the practice would now operate as a PCMH. This new model meant that Helen’s parents, who were considered high risk patients, would be monitored by a care coordinator to ensure that they received the necessary treatment to improve their health.

Over the course of the panel discussion, the care coordinator and the PCP explained that reducing costs and improving care drove them to the new PCMH model. The basis of the model was that if diseases are treated proactively, the cost and frequency of care would be less. The care coordinator was crucial to this model because she monitors high-risk patients to ensure patients follow treatment plans accurately and that the desired results were being seen. Since the practice moved to this model two years ago, they have seen patients – including Helen’s parents – become healthier and overall, costs have decreased.

Finally, it was revealed that this new model was funded by the payer – specifically the payer provided the care coordinator. The theory was that the care coordinator could ensure proactive management of care, so the sickest patients who account for the majority of healthcare costs would become healthier. From the very beginning, the insurance company realized cost savings and is now working to implement this same system in 100 practices around the nation by the end of the year.

This panel proved that costs can be reduced and quality can be improved just one practice and payer at a time. Over the next few years, it is anticipated that the number of practices participating in the PCMH model will grow and the quality of healthcare will improve. All leading to healthier patients and cost savings.

HIMSS is only a week away, and everyone is on information overload. More emails, more meetings, more news. So, how do you prioritize what you read and what you skip?

HIStalk has been around since 2003 and remains one of the premier online resources for healthcare technology news as well as one of the most popular sites to sponsor. We’ve invited Inga to discuss how the blog rises above the ever-increasing online “noise,” her tenure at HIStalk and what she looks forward to at this year’s HIMSS.

Dodge: HIStalk was one of the first must-read blogs in the healthcare space. Did you and Mr. H have any idea it would turn into what it is today?

Inga: No, neither of us anticipated this level of success! This month we should hit our 5 millionth visitor, which is mind-boggling. Mr. H would tell you that in the early years he was thrilled when 20 people a day read the blog and was amazed when a company offered to sponsor. When I came on board five years ago, we had about 12 sponsors and today it’s pushing 150. Mr. H is the star and the genius behind it all, and I am just happy to be along for the ride. I never anticipated my few hours a week of writing would turn out to be what it is today. It’s the best job ever.

Dodge: As online editorial becomes a primary platform for publishers, how does HIStalk manage to rise above the “noise”?

Inga: Mr. H refuses to sell out. For example, when we have a sponsor sign on, we let them know that their sponsorship does not preclude them being called out for a misstep. Thus, when an ugly story comes our way, we don’t hide the truth or even sugarcoat it, just because a company is a sponsor. Mr. H is also a master at examining a complex situation and explaining its meaning in simple terms. He is able to look beyond the obvious and identify the bigger implications. His opinions are heavily influenced by his years of experience on the provider side, but balanced by his solid grasp of the business world.  Thus, I think HIStalk rises above the noise because Mr. H “hears” better than everyone else.

Dodge: Online advertising and sponsorships are also becoming more relevant to healthcare organizations, especially as they engage in social media and place emphasis on SEO. What tips would you recommend to those looking for the best fit among so many ad/sponsorship opportunities?

Inga: When looking at online marketing, I think the first thing companies need to do is identify how they intend to measure the success of their campaign. Many marketing people seem to think ad clicks are the best measure. Others believe that the mark of a good campaign is having a marketing email hit as many CIO mailboxes as possible. Still others focus more on raising awareness of their company and its offerings. Marketing folks also need to consider whether a particular publication reaches the intended target audience.

The HIStalk model is a bit unique because we focus less on ad clicks and never spam our subscribers with marketing emails. While sponsors do get plenty of ad clicks, we see our value more in terms of company mentions. Our audience, for example, includes a mix of IT execs and worker bees in HIT and the employees of HIT vendors. We think there’s more value in having a CIO read about the successful implementation of a sponsors’ product than having that same CIO click on the sponsor’s ad. We also know that same CIO is more likely to read the post than click on the ad.

The bottom line is that companies must figure out which publications best support their campaign objectives, however the objectives are measured.

Dodge: What do you like most about writing and reporting for HIStalk?

Inga: It’s hard to come up with just one thing! Having been in HIT my whole professional career, I am passionate about the topic, both in terms of the ever-evolving technology and the greater implications for improving patient health. When I was working strictly in the vendor world, my industry exposure was more narrowly focused on the ambulatory world; I have enjoyed learning more about the inpatient side, which has so many little niche requirements beyond billing and medical records. The last couple of years have been fascinating in terms of governmental policy and its impact on HIT (Meaningful Use, HIEs, ACOs, etc.) I love the interactions I have with readers and sponsors, who are appreciative, intelligent, and fun.  But, most of all I guess the best part of my job is working with Mr. H, who is incredibly supportive, both professionally and personally. He’s helped me grow as a writer, he asks for and respects my input, he is generous in recognizing and rewarding me for my contributions, and he is very, very smart and funny.  If he weren’t all those things and more, I doubt I’d still be at HIStalk.

Dodge: What are you most excited about as we approach HIMSS?

Inga: I love the whole networking aspect of HIMSS. I love people, yet I spend my whole working day in front of my computer and rarely talk to anyone on the phone (in fact, Mr. H and I haven’t spoken since HIMSS last year).  I have met quite a few people in HIT over the years and I love the opportunity to catch up with former co-workers and meet new people.  I’m always on the look-out for HIT rock stars and always get excited when I see a big-name CIO or certain vendor CEOs. It’s totally a nerdy reaction and I have to remind myself to act cool and not like a 14-year-old who catches a glimpse of Justin Bieber.

I also enjoy the exhibits. It’s fun to see what the buzz is and what new things vendors are promoting.  I like seeing which vendors are over-the-top in terms of their marketing efforts and enjoy chatting with the smaller vendors assigned to small booths on the outer edges of the show floor.  It’s a circus but I wouldn’t miss it.

Of course I am most excited about HIStalkapalooza. This is the fifth year we have had an event to announce the annual HISsie awards. The first year a sponsor approached us about hosting a cocktail reception in our honor we were simultaneously thrilled and humbled. We were giddy when 200 people showed up to the party. This year over 1,000 people asked for invitations and I don’t think it is just because our sponsors are buying the drinks! Seriously, it is surreal on so many levels.  Words can’t describe how appreciative Mr. H and I are that so many people are fans of HIStalk and are choosing to spend their evening in our honor – even if they don’t know who we are. Of course, HIStalkapalooza also means I get to dress up in a fancy dress and glamorous shoes. Gotta love that, too!

In the latest installment of our HIMSS12 blog series, David Peterson, vice president of product marketing, for Emdeon is interviewed. David is also the creative director and heads Emdeon’s market research function. To view earlier installments click here.

Dodge: What do you think will be the theme of conversations at HIMSS this year?

Peterson: I expect it will center on the exchange of information. It’s been a building theme for the last couple of years, ever since the healthcare reform, in particular the HITECH act. Certainly EHRs will remain a theme, but the whole notion around the meaningful use component and the need to exchange that information has really been driving the industry towards how you move information, how it is interoperable and how to operationalize it to drive positive outcomes.

Dodge: How is Emdeon approaching its overall strategy at HIMSS this year?

Peterson: We historically are thought of as the leading administrative and financial clearinghouse in the US, and we are, but today we couple that with our clinical solutions to form the single largest clinical, financial and administrative health information network in the nation. In 2011, we processed more than 6 billion health information exchanges. Our approach at HIMSS is to demonstrate the vast benefits of our network and how it can help deliver higher quality care and reduce costs, but more importantly to help educate the industry about how interoperability is already available – that it’s not necessary to “recreate the wheel”. Our goal at HIMSS is to provide an educational forum that helps attendees gain a better understanding of how to leverage existing interoperability that can unite healthcare communities to help improve business and clinical outcomes.

Dodge: What are you looking forward to most this year at HIMSS and what are you hoping to gain from attending?

Peterson: We’re definitely looking forward to seeing where the industry is with information exchange. There is a lot that still needs to happen, but a lot already exists. It’s a very exciting time in healthcare, in that we are finally beginning to see the technological modernization of the business side of healthcare. Liquidity of data that enables very advanced analytics is taking shape and that will help new payment models to support improved care.

We’ve had a strong focus on providing leading clinical information exchange solutions and look forward to learning how other industry stakeholders are collaborating to advance the business of healthcare through intelligent data and information exchange.  And in return we hope attendees gain a greater understanding of how our focus on exchanging clinical information complements our traditional revenue cycle solutions.

Dodge: What do you think the most important issues your clients need to explore in an environment like HIMSS are?

Peterson: Our clients have a great opportunity to explore what alternatives exist when looking at information exchange. There are routes that are historically or traditionally software centric and can be very expensive. In the current climate, where margins can be razor thin for many hospitals and physicians, there are alternatives that are less expensive. In many cases, there is less of a need for direct competition and more of a possibility for companies to provide complimentary and supplementary solutions. I think clients in our space should be on the lookout at HIMSS12 for just these type partnerships that can deliver a real added value to their business needs.

Dodge: Anything else you think will be interesting this year?

Peterson: Definitely the Interoperability Showcase. Emdeon is excited to be a participant because it is a clear statement of how HIMSS really understands the importance of this, and is an advocate. Interoperable standards-based systems that enable healthcare stakeholders to use different systems to share information while maintaining the consistency and integrity of the data is what our industry needs. I would encourage every HIMSS attendee to stop by the showcase and watch the live demonstration given by hospitals, health information service providers and other healthcare providers that have deployed these solutions using industry standards. It’s what we as an industry need to be for the next generation – the connected generation of healthcare.

For our part, we will be demonstrating the capabilities of Emdeon ePayment which replaces paper-based claims payments with electronic payments that are directly deposited into the provider’s bank account.

Dodge: Where can we find Emdeon at HIMSS?

Peterson: We’ll have five in-booth educational sessions on a variety of topics that include gaps in care, CPOE implementation and data and analytics all taking place at booth 3616. In addition, as I mentioned above, we’ll be participating in the HIMSS Interoperability Showcase at booth 11000 and we are also sponsoring the Public Policy Networking breakfast on Wednesday morning.

CardMunch: If you find that your business card collection is getting unmanageable and you can’t find contact information for the one person you need to call, the CardMunch app from LinkedIn is the perfect solution. This is a free app for iPhone users that allows you to simply take a picture of any business card, and all the contact information is imported into your phone. Once you have signed in via LinkedIn, the app will tell you what connections, if any, you have in common with your new contacts and allow you to connect with them right then and there. This is a very useful app for the business person on the go, or for anyone in the healthcare industry gearing up for HIMSS12.

Past Words of the Week

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In the latest installment of our HIMSS12 blog series, Gary Palgon of Liaison Technologies is interviewed. Gary serves as Liaison’s vice president of healthcare solutions. To view earlier installments click here.

Dodge: What do you think will be the theme of conversations this year at HIMSS?

Palgon: Three things:

• Cloud services and how they can help organizations
• Mobility and how it can facilitate better patient care
• Social networking, benefiting both the business and patient sides of healthcare

Dodge: How is Liaison approaching its overall strategy for HIMSS this year?

Palgon: Being the largest healthcare show of the year, beyond meeting with prospects, we see it as an opportunity to network with the journalists and analysts that are there. We also see an opportunity at the conference for brand awareness and business development with other companies that we do or should partner with that are attending.

Dodge: What are you looking forward to most at HIMSS?

Palgon: We are mostly looking forward to creating more brand awareness and the opportunity to meet the mass amount of people that are there. Liaison Healthcare Informatics is one of the best kept secrets in integration and data harmonization.

Dodge: Cloud’s a big topic of conversation right now and will likely continue to be during HIMSS. As an expert in this area, what types of conversations do you anticipate hearing during the conference and how do they play into other trends in healthcare like care coordination, ICD-10 or Meaningful Use?

Palgon: In 2009, people were beginning to learn what the cloud was. In 2010 people were looking at the cloud, seeing the use, and beginning to take advantage of it. In 2011, we saw hospitals and other entities actually run production systems and applications within the cloud.  Here in 2012 we have the recognition for services beyond the basic applications, and how the cloud can speed up and improve the efficiencies of health systems and hospitals as they look to meet their goals. For us, Liaison plays in the integration and data harmonization areas, and our customers benefit from these services being run in the cloud. As a result of that, hospitals and other entities throughout the healthcare ecosystem can connect to one another and make sense of the information much faster because of this.

Dodge: Where can we find Liaison Technologies at HIMSS?

Palgon: We will be at booth #2375.

In the latest installment of our HIMSS12 blog series, John Tempesco of ICA is interviewed. John serves as chief marketing officer, is an ACHE and Life Management Institute Fellow, and has 34 years of healthcare experience. To view earlier installments please click here.

Dodge: What do you expect will be the theme of conversations at this year’s HIMSS show?

Tempesco: I think there will be three key threads that will run through the conference. One will be about ACOs, their value proposition, and how they will affect all kinds of technology, especially interoperability. This thread will give a good value-based reason for exchanging information, creating interoperability solutions and lead toward the next thread, which is value reimbursement.

Secondly, in addition to ACOs, there is a real focus on value-based reimbursement. Everyone wants to get out of piecework healthcare and start reimbursing healthcare based on results.

The last topic, since we are in an election year, will be about the politics of healthcare. There will be discussions about who will win the election, and what will happen to healthcare especially as it relates to healthcare IT. And, will there be a continued push for interoperability solutions, health information exchange, with the future of direct – all of those things that the current administration is pushing.

Dodge: How is ICA approaching its overall strategy for HIMSS?

Tempesco: Our strategy this year is to engage other vendors to be more collaborative in their approach to solving healthcare issues. None of us can do what is necessary to really change healthcare in isolation, so we want to engage as many vendors as possible to share data with each other in a way that will result in improved quality, reduced cost and satisfying patients, providers and payers. We believe that this approach will form that basis for the overall health IT industry to work toward a single goal of creating an infrastructure that will enable healthcare entities to form ACOs, gather necessary information and report back to payers, patients and employers as to whether or not they are getting value for the dollars they are spending.

Dodge: What are you looking forward to most this year at HIMSS and what are you hoping to gain from attending the conference?

Tempesco: We have two key areas we are looking forward to this year. The first is launching our new stepped approach to establishing rapid value-based interoperability across the healthcare continuum.  This approach defines and segments the steps necessary to achieve an ACO, a value-based reimbursement model or a private or public HIE. What we’ve seen in the past is that people are buying a solution they think will get them to HIE nirvana, when they aren’t conceptually ready for the many steps necessary to get them there, and they don’t see the actual success they’ve achieved along the way. What we’ve done is break our application into five solutions, some separate and some interconnected, all of which enable rapid deployment and results. They include a standards based interoperability solution; a communication capability; collaborative care enhancements that allow building on the first two and create advanced care coordination capabilities; data analysis and reporting; and a full ACO capability. We’re looking forward to rolling out this new CareAlign methodology, and showing the industry how to progress through those steps when creating an HIE or ACO.

The second big item, going back to our collaborative approach with other vendors, is launching our ICA Extreme Testing Center, or ICAetc. It is a free virtual playground where vendors can test their interoperability capabilities anytime. It is free, vendor-agnostic and allows end–to-end transactions between vendors without restrictions on scenarios or data elements. Vendors can see whether or not what they’re developing is going to meet the requirements of others in the marketplace.

Dodge: What can we expect to see in the HIE space in 2012?

Tempesco: Over the past year, it has become very difficult to define what exactly an HIE is. Last year HIE was a big theme of HIMSS and was a major part of most vendor booths. I believe we have now reached a tipping point in the industry. There are currently enough HIEs deployed that we’re beginning to see the same issues with sharing information among HIEs as we saw with vendors. There will be two major issues in the HIE space this year. The first is how to get the standards to work with each other so HIE and HIT vendors can share information in a collaborative way. The second is the question of where do we go from here.  Once there is information being shared, how can it be used to make a difference within healthcare by reducing costs and improving quality and satisfaction?

Dodge: Where can we find ICA at HIMSS12?

Tempesco: We’ll be at booth #4831 and our client Janet King, executive director/eHealth director of Middle Tennessee eHealth Connect/THA will be presenting a lecture on strategies for building a sustainable HIE through expansion and continuum-wide provider inclusion.

In the coming weeks, Dodge will be sharing a series of guest blog posts leading up to the HIMSS12 conference that will be taking place February 20-24, 2012 at the Venetian Sands Expo Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. The blog series will allow a sampling of our clients to share their expectations for the show and comment on what 2012 holds for healthcare IT.

Dodge will be attending HIMSS12 and conducting interviews throughout the conference. We’re looking forward to sharing our experience with you.

Our first interview is with Kristen Heffernan who oversees the marketing of Henry Schein MicroMD Practice Management and EMR software. Heffernan joined the company three years ago.

Dodge: What do you think will be the theme of conversations at this year’s HIMSS conference?

Heffernan: I think the themes at this year’s conference will center on the hot topics in the industry – the things that still aren’t fully vetted out either by CMS and other healthcare regulatory organizations. We are still learning about healthcare information exchange and ACOs, specifically how they can best operate. One of the hottest topics I think will be about ACOs and interoperability between all of its parts, specifically health IT. As healthcare organizations take the first step of adoption towards EMR, healthcare analytics will be another big topic among attendees as they recognize the value of how to work with the wealth of accessible data that’s now being collected. And obviously, ICD-10 will also be a popular subject as we just made the leap into 5010, and now we’re focusing on how the industry will go about implementing ICD-10 and how it will impact the payers, the physicians, the clearinghouses and the hospitals.

Dodge: How is Henry Schein MicroMD approaching its overall strategy at HIMSS?

Heffernan: There are a wealth of opportunities for us at HIMSS: networking, continuing educational opportunities from the extensive programs, competitive research and more. Members representing all areas of our operations will be attending, each with their own goals and strategy for attending HIMSS this year.

Dodge: What are you looking forward to most this year at HIMSS and what are you hoping to gain from attending?

Heffernan: HIMSS provides us with the opportunity to meet with a lot of our existing clients and talk about ideas, as well as speak with new strategic partner vendors that can enhance how providers utilize our software. We also look for new software development ideas, along with anything that helps us improve our client relations and EMR implementation. We know that EMR implementation is a pain point, especially with providers new to using EMR, and our goal is to improve the user experience.

Dodge: How will current government regulations and the delay for stage 2 of meaningful use factor into the conference this year?

Heffernan: I think there will be a big sigh of relief at HIMSS for the delay of stage 2 meaningful use. Both providers and vendors have more time to adjust and have been given a little more leeway. There will be a lot of talk associated with payments; who is registered for the CMS incentive programs, who is receiving payments, and who is holding off and why.

Dodge: Where can people find Henry Schein MicroMD at HIMSS?

Heffernan: We’ll be at booth 13423.

I spoke with Mark Hagland, Editor in Chief at Healthcare Informatics, at the awards ceremony for the Healthcare Informatics Innovator Awards Program held during HIMSS11 at the Loews Portofino Hotel and asked a little bit more about the program.

Dodge: Can you give our readers a quick history and overview of the Healthcare Informatics Innovator awards program?

Hagland: The Healthcare Informatics  Innovator Awards program has evolved considerably over the years. For a number of years, the program was focused on identifying one individual–a CIO or other health care IT leader–who had distinguished her/himself as an exceptional leader in health care IT. Beginning three years ago, the program shifted forward to honor three teams of leaders from different organizations, with winning teams being judged as having created IT-facilitated and -leveraged innovations that have improved care quality or patient safety, enabled clinician workflow, or facilitated financial or operational improvements. And, this year for the first time, the program was opened to non-hospital organizations; and indeed, the top three Innovator teams honored at Healthcare Informatics’ Innovator Awards reception in Orlando in February represented a hospital, a medical group, and a health information exchange, respectively.

The goal of the editors at Healthcare Informatics in sponsoring the Innovator Awards program is to recognize and honor innovation in health care that is IT-facilitated; the innovation involved can be clinically or non-clinically focused, but in either case, we want to shine a light on the innovation itself, and on those who have shown the leadership needed to use IT to facilitate that innovation.

Dodge: How did your judges select the winners this year, and what were the overwhelming programs that gave these winners the edge?

Hagland: In the cases of all three winning organizations this year, there were elements of individual personal leadership shown, as well as a visionary quality about their initiatives. CIO/CMIO George Reynolds, M.D., helped infuse the entire Children’s Hospital & Medical Center (Omaha) organization with a passion for using dashboards to analyze and improve performance–both clinical and non-clinical–enterprise-wide. At Southeast Texas Medical Associates, CEO Larry Holly, M.D., used a combination of dashboards and other IT tools to help his fellow physicians evaluate their management of the care of their patients, particularly those with chronic illnesses. and Devore Culver, executive director of HealthInfoNet, helped lead his fellow Maine health care IT leaders in creating a truly robust statewide health information exchange. In all three cases, the leaders of the teams honored had a vision of something greater than what had existed before, and moved forward with their vision, convincing colleagues to join them to build something new. Those were the elements that stood out for us at Healthcare Informatics.

Dodge: What should the vendors do to watch for potential award winners for 2012?

Hagland: Vendors can help us by reading the Innovator Awards cover story packages from the past three years in Healthcare Informatics (February 2011, March 2010, and April 2009), and then reach out to CIOs, CMIOs and other health care IT leaders at customer organizations that are doing really exceptional things and showing themselves to be particularly innovative. Vendors can’t submit to the program, but they can certainly work to identify outstanding customer organizations and encourage them to submit to next year’s program.

I just returned to my office in Atlanta after spending some time this week in sunny Orlando for the Annual HIMSS Conference. Ok, I was on the show floor inside the Orange County Convention Center for eight hours, but the weather outside was absolutely perfect!

While sitting in meetings with clients, ad reps and editors from Healthcare IT News, Health Data Management and Healthcare Purchasing News, I learned that this year’s HIMSS conference was the biggest to date with the number of attendees roughly at 31,000. It was my first HIMSS. Not my first tradeshow by any means, as I’ve worked many tech/telecom focused shows over the years, but this was HUGE.

As I walked for what seemed like miles across the trade show floor, I wondered, if I was a company exhibiting here, how could I attract people to visit my booth? Especially if my booth isn’t a 2-story mansion with video walls from floor to ceiling flashing my company’s name, taking up 3 rows of real estate on the floor. And how do I keep people’s attention long enough to learn what it is my company is trying to promote? After all, tradeshows are all about enhancing brand awareness, increasing sales leads and expanding your customer base, right?

When pulling together your tradeshow marketing plan, plan it out in three integrated communications stages: pre-show, during-show and post-show.

Pre-show

Get the word out to your customers and prospects that you’ll be exhibiting. Use a direct mail and email campaign promoting what your company is going to be announcing during the show. Promote some kind of giveaway you’ll have at the booth (such as a chance to win an Apple® iPad®) to entice customers to fill out a registration form and have to physically bring it to the booth.

During the show

Develop a strategy that makes your organization’s booth stand out from the others. This is probably the most important stage as you have the opportunity to directly reach thousands of people per day. Remember, many people did not receive your pre-show information.

If you can get just a few people to gather round, the small crowd will naturally attract more people until you’ve got a decent audience. Once the people are in your booth, it’s up to you to deliver the message and capture their information for lead generation!

Live entertainment, interactive activities, audio/visual presentations and friendly, knowledgeable staff are all very effective ways to help attract foot traffic to your booth.

Here are a couple of booths I noticed at HIMSS that seemed to successfully generate traffic.

NextGen – Splash Artists
This was very cool. “Splash” artists created sports themed paintings throughout the day. Two artists worked on the same painting together, dancing to music and ‘splashing’ the canvas with paint. The neat thing is that they would paint the picture upside down and at the end spin it upright to reveal the finished painting. While the artists did their thing, a gentleman talked to the audience comparing the two artists working together to how the company’s solutions work together.

A member of the audience could win one of the final paintings – but only if they stayed for a NextGen product demonstration. Making people stay for a demo before they can enter to win a prize is an excellent way to capture leads. It can help weed out the serious leads from the people who just want something for free.

This particular booth attraction created quite a buzz. I heard several groups of people talk about this throughout the conference center.

OnBase – Sports Bar & Grill
This was one of my favorites. Perhaps it’s because I’m a huge baseball/sports fan. Or maybe because I also enjoy the frequent pub from time to time. Anyway, the two coupled together caught my eye. They literally had a full bar (and a good sized bar at that) in the middle of their booth with plenty of bar stools. Every time I walked by, people were going in and pulling up a chair. I can’t blame them – you’re feet get really sore walking this trade show floor.

While seated, company representatives would come up and chat with you about their solutions. People didn’t seem to mind the quick elevator pitch as long as they were bellied up to the bar and off their feet.

Overall, it was simple, not very flashy, but extremely effective as there was a continuous steady flow of traffic. A steady flow of traffic equals a steady flow of leads. I later found out that OnBase has used this booth set up for quite some time now. I guess ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’

Other booth attractions I saw that were successful at drawing crowds:

• the gymnasts from Cirque Du Soleil – if you’ve seen a Cirque show, you know how amazing these performers are
• a wall of arcade games – definitely eye catching; who doesn’t want to take a timeout to play free video games
• an electric vehicle from Tesla motors – the newest and coolest, electric sports car – you do not expect to see a car on the show floor at HIMSS
• a flash mob dancing to hip-hop – I don’t think we’ll see them on Dancing with the Stars anytime soon but it sure did create quite a buzz – and many puzzled looks
• and of course magicians – about as sure of a thing you can hire; people are fascinated by magicians – very interactive with the audience

After-show

Follow up with your leads within two weeks of the tradeshow ending. An email including highlights from your company’s success during the show (along with some product/service brochures if requested) is a great way to continue the conversation you had with a prospect. For solid leads, don’t be afraid to pick up the phone and call them, thanking them for stopping by.

What has your organization done to attract people to the booth during a tradeshow? What was your favorite booth this year at HIMSS? We’d love to hear your thoughts.