Next Monday kicks off HIMSS12 – the largest and most anticipated event in the healthcare IT industry. Hundreds of healthcare providers and vendors – including PAN clients Arcadia Solutions, Capsule Tech, Inc., SUSE and Pegasystems, Inc.  – will make their way to the annual convention to share insight and best practices and help shape the healthcare IT agenda.

In preparing for the big event, we thought it would be helpful to hear the perspective of a veteran journalist on what will be the focus of this year’s show as well as how healthcare IT providers can stand out from the crowd. We spoke with Don Fluckinger, Features Writer for TechTarget’s SearchHealthIT.com, who has spent more than 20 years in the journalism industry covering everything from document technologies, hospital safety, nutrition, respiratory care department management and clinical research regulations. This year will mark his third appearance at the HIMSS event.

What is your take on HIMSS12? What is the value you derive from the event as a journalist?
The HIMSS Conference is the biggest and most educational health IT trade show in the industry, giving journalists a chance to connect with both IT pros and healthcare leaders to hear about the newest technologies and how they are applying them to important compliance issues like ICD-10 and Meaningful Use.

At the event, the vendors are on the hot seat – especially this year – to keep up with customer needs and requirements as they relate to these compliance issues. The show is a great forum for vendors and providers alike to share how they can help other providers meet these mandates. It’s a chance for small-mid-sized hospitals to learn what the big hospitals are doing and how it is working. For journalists in particular, it is truly an event where you can get the lay of the land from all segments of the healthcare industry – there is nothing else like it.

What do you expect to be the big focus of this year’s show? What trends will evolve?
The two major topics in play that will dictate the focus of the event have not yet been resolved: ICD-10 and Meaningful Use Stage 2.

Right now, we are waiting to find out if ICD-10 will be delayed. Healthcare providers will need to set their schedules based on when they need to do to get this up and running. And if CMS [Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services] delays it, then ICD-10 drops on the priority list. How healthcare organizations approach it will be directly related to whether or not CMS pushes it out.

The other issue we are waiting to hear from CMS on is Meaningful Use Stage 2 criteria – and it is likely we will have an answer one way or the other this Friday. CMS has not yet issued proposed criteria for Stage 2. If it comes out Friday, it sets our agenda for what we will be talking about at HIMSS.

If CMS is quiet on both of these fronts, then I think there will be a lot of interest around mobile technology at the event; everything from m-health for smartphones to patient monitoring via mobile device to RFID – devices feeding data into the EMR. The other area I think will be of interest is the intelligent hospital – the idea of integrating analytics, HIE, etc. This will likely be a part of the Interoperability Showcase at HIMSS and will inspire CIOs to try new technology pilots at their own hospitals. I am excited to see what is going on.

How can vendors stand out at these types of events?
In my opinion, there is one big thing vendors can do to attract attention – from media and prospects alike – and that is to have their superstar customers share their real-world integration stories. Attendees and journalists want to hear it from healthcare providers who are actually doing it – not just the vendor perspective. It’s one thing to have an interesting device or solution, it is another thing to have someone talk about how it has helped fix problems or save time.

How has social media changed the landscape for companies trying to gain visibility at events like HIMSS?
I have a mixed perspective on this; on the one hand, social media can be very effective in connecting people who were once virtual strangers. For example, we are having a tweetup for SearchHealthIT on Monday night at Caesar’s Palace. We have a lot of people attending from vendors to physicians to providers that we met on Twitter and now it is a chance to meet in person.

On the other hand, I personally am not following vendors to get information on Twitter. If the tweets are pure “come to our event,” it is just noise. But if vendors are participating in conversations and adding to conversations it becomes more relevant. My recommendation to vendors looking to use social media to drive traffic at events or increase awareness of their presence there is similar to what I think makes them standout from a traditional media perspective – customers. Use social media to connect people – journalists, attendees, etc. – with customers.

Be sure to check out SearchHealthIT’s extensive pre-show and event coverage here.

What are you looking forward to at HIMSS12? Do you agree that ICD 10 and Meaningful Use Stage 2 will shape the direction of the show?

If you’re attending, we’d love to meet up – tweet us @PANhealth to set something up!