Monthly Archives: August 2021

Time to simplify

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The past week has been an unexpected one. I’m one week out from a bad fall and injuries that will take a while to heal. Having to limit my mobility at a time when we are downsizing, getting our house ready to list and working full-time is not easy. I thought about writing a blog this week titled “In an instant” to describe how quickly things can change or “View from the other side” to describe my emergency room experience. Other than being in the ED far longer than I expected, I can only say positives about the hard-working hospital staff and how they took care of me.

But instead, I’m just going to keep it simple.

As I simplify what’s on my to do list, I decided August is a good time for a break from weekly blog writing. Many readers are on vacation and taking well deserved breaks. If you are looking for new content, check out two recent podcasts I did:

Newsday – HIMSS Plans and Pandemic Lessons Learned with Bill Russell.

Healthcare CIO Leadership, Innovation, and the Interim CIO with John Lynn.

I can’t compete with the amount of conference level content that Bill (This Week in Health IT) and John (Healthcare IT Today) produce throughout the year. But I’m grateful to periodically be part of what they do to continually educate and develop next generation leaders.

If listening to podcasts isn’t your thing, they both have much written content to check out as well. Or you can always peruse my past blogs by category and find some of the classics.

Look for my next blog in early September!

Most popular posts in the past year:

Career advice in a competitive market

8 health experts to follow

Rounding in a virtual world

Remote work – writing chapter three

Resources for your digital health journey

Vendor relationship management revisited

When healthcare becomes personal

Looking ahead to 2021 – predictions, emerging trends and some advice

 

HIMSS21 – ready or not

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According to HIMSS there are over 18,000 people registered for the big event next week – either in-person in Las Vegas or virtual/digital. It’s not clear what the split looks like. With the current surge in COVID cases, I assume many registrants may decide to convert to virtual and not travel to Vegas in the next few days. I saw last week some people calling for HIMSS21 to be cancelled. I remember well the days leading up to the HIMSS20 cancellation in March last year. Who would have thought we’d be here again 17 months later? HIMSS appears to be taking all the necessary precautions with vaccine proof required of attendees and now adding a mask requirement while there.

I decided months ago to forego in person HIMSS this year. HIMSS20 registrants did not receive refunds but could apply it to HIMSS21. The conversion value from a full registration to a digital one was not a good one given the significant price difference but there wasn’t another choice as far as I knew.

In past years, I’ve written tips on attending HIMSS and how to make the most of it. Those general tips on education, networking, and vendors still hold true whether in-person or virtual. The education opportunities are probably what digital attendees can get the most from though I’m hoping there are also opportunities to learn about new vendors from a distance.

I’m usually a last-minute planner when it comes to HIMSS. I don’t usually look closely at the schedule and make my specific plans until close to the event. As a digital attendee, I tried to keep my calendar flexible next week so I could attend as many digital sessions as possible. But as busy as I am these days, that didn’t work out so well.

So, I’m down to spending some time this weekend figuring out what is available for the digital attendees, deciding what is of most value to me given my current work and focus, and what’s even possible given my calendar. I’m open to any recommendations on digital sessions from those among you who have mapped out your plans. And any general tips on making the most of a digital registration.

Bill Russell has an interesting plan for his HIMSS time next week which will be virtual after he recently assessed his own personal risk level. Continue reading →