HIMSS 2025 Preview

If it felt like we just attended a massive health IT conferece and now we’re about to attend another one, then you’d be right.  We attende a lot of healthcare IT conferences every year, but there’s nothing quite like the nearly back to back conferences of ViVE and HIMSS.  ViVE 2025 is now in the rear view mirror and next week we’ll be attending the HMSS conference where we’ll do our best to bring you some of the best health IT content from the event.  We’ll be sharing a number of short videos on LinkedIn from the event, so be sure to follow me and Healthcare IT Today on LinkedIn to get the latest updates.  We’ll also be sharing them in articles on Healthcare IT Today in case you miss them.

Along with the videos we’re doing at the conference, we wanted to point you to a number of other places you’ll find us at the event along with some areas, sessions, and parties that we’re interested in at the event.  Check out our list:

Pre-Conference #HITsm, #pinksocks, Swaay.Health Meetup – Gilley’s inside Treasure Island – 7:00 PM After Opening Reception
It’s been tradition for the #HITsm, #pinksocks, and Swaay.Health community to meet up somewhere after the Opening Reception of HIMSS.  If you want to meet up with the community before the exhibit hall opens, join us Monday night at about 7 PM at Gilley’s.  This is just a casual meetup of the community, so drinks will be on your own.  However, there’s bound to be a great mix of people and a fun time together.

Healthcare IT Today Booth – #232 – Exhibit Hall Hours
Be sure to come by and say hi to Colin Hung, Brittany Quemby, Lea Chatham, myself, and the rest of the Healthcare IT Today crew.  We’ll have mutliple video studios set up in the space so you can watch some our interviews live or get a selfie with Colin or Brittany (we know how valuable those are).

Interoperability and HIE Forum Keynote – Brendan Keeler (separate registration required) – Venetian | Level 3 | Lido 3101, Mon 3/3 8:30-9:00 AM
They couldn’t have made a better choice for the keynote, Brendan Keeler, for the Interoperability and HIE Pre-conference forum.  The only question is why is it only 30 minutes and not an hour.  I’m excited to see what knowledge Brendan drops and also what kind of meme game he brings to it as well.

Executive Summit (separate registration required) – Caesar’s Forum 119 – Golf and Reception Sunday/All Day Monday
For those not familiar with the Executive Summit, it’s what replaced the CHIME Spring Forum that always happened the day before HIMSS.  After COVID, CHIME created ViVE with HLTH, but HIMSS continued to hold the event for executives the day before the main HIMSS conference.  I missed last years because of scheduling, but I’ve heard good things about it.  I’m excited to check it out this year and see how HIMSS has done with the Executive Summit.

From Data to Decisions: Advancing Healthcare with Smart Analytics and Intelligent Interoperability – MEDITECH Booth #972 – Tues 3/14 at 12:15-12:35 PM
Always nice when there’s an interoperability session that’s focused on actually sharing data and what that means for an organization.  I think that’s what this session will deliver as MEDITECH shares how they’re helping their healthcare organizations get access to the data they need to better care for patients.

#HITsm and Swaay.Health Meetup and Picture
The number one question we get before a health IT conference is – Where are the #HITsm and Swaay.Health communities planning to meet up?  We’re planning to do our annual HIMSS picture with the #HITsm and Swaay.Health comunities on Tuesday 3/4 at 1:15 PM PT We’ll meet at the lobby of the exhibit hall by the HIMSS sign (we think the HIMSS sign will be there like usual). The plan is to meet there at 1:15 to catch up with old friends and meet new ones.  Then, at 1:30 we’ll take a community picture with everyone that’s there.  We hope you can join us.

Transforming Hospital Operations with Innovation and AI – Dell Technologies Booth #2560 – Wed 3/5 10:30-11:15 AM
We’ve been doing these meetups with Dell Technologies for so many years at HIMSS and are second year partnering with AMD on these as well.  They’re always a lively discussion with some of the smartest and most interesting people in the industry.  Stop by and become part of the discussion.  We have some amazing CIOs and industry experts that are going to be talking about what will be the hottest topic at HIMSS: Innovation and AI.  More details>>

Preparing your organization to harness the potential of AI – Brunch Briefing (Registration Required) – Wed 3/5 10:30-11:45 AM
Colin will be covering this brunch briefing to learn from an expert from MIT and Notable.  Watch for his live sharing from the session to learn about harnessing the potential of AI.

AI Strategy: The Critical Role of Data Integrity and Validity – Venetian | Level 2 | Venetian F – Wed 3/5 3:15-4:15 PM
We all know that AI is only as good as the data that powers it.  This session has an incredible speaker, Sonya Makhni from Mayo and a man who needs no itntroduction, Zafar Chaudry, CIO at Seattle Children’s, that will be sharing the importance of data integrity and validity in your AI strategy.  I’m told that Ajay Kapare from ELLKAY will be moderating the discussion, so you know it will be a good one.

Various Focus Areas
Seems like this year there are a number of different focus areas worth checking out.  The AI Pavillion is next to our booth, so I’m sure I’ll see how it’s doing. The Emerge Innovation Experience sounds interesting and is being keynoted by Robert Herjavec from Shark Tank.  The Cybersecurity area is always hopping with healthcare being hackers favorite target.  I believe the Interoperability area is under new leadership and so I’m interested to see what they’ve changed there.  And my colleague Brittany would be mad if I didn’t mention her need for a visit to the Puppy Park.

#HIMSS25 Hashtag
Do hashtags matter at events now?  It used to be a really big deal to follow the hashtag at an event.  You could almost be in a session without actually being there since people shared on the hashtag so much.  Is that true now?  Looks like the official hashtag is following their previous approach and will be #HIMSS25  Be sure to follow that for much of the content we share.

This list could be much longer, but hopefully this gives you an idea of where we’ll be at HIMSS 2025 and some of the things we’ll be looking forward to seeing.  What’s on your list?  Let us know on social media of any sessions, parties, events, etc that we should consider adding to our crazy schedule at HIMSS.