HIMSS15: Health IT Leaders 3.0 & The Venture + Forum

I made it to Chicago Sunday morning and hit the ground running. After arriving at the mammoth McCormick Center I headed to the CHIME meeting just as several hundred CIOs were returning from lunch

Three of the industry’s most prominent CIOs were the keynote speakers for a session entitled, “Health IT Leader 3.0 Great Ideas In Action.” Ed Marx of Texas Health Resources shared his insights on employee engagement, while Patricia Skarulis of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center discussed security. Finally Timothy Stettheimer of Ascension Information Services offered some great wisdom on life and work balance.

I then trekked to The Venture+ Forum, which focuses on new and emerging healthcare solutions. The format is very face-paced with entrepreneurs pitching their companies in five minutes or less, and then answering a few questions from a panel of four industry veterans. I sat through about 10 of the pitches and was struck by the variety of technologies that were being promoted, as well as the quality (or lack there of) of the presentations. It’s a tough format if you are not a polished speaker as you have just a brief amount of time to present your story. A couple of the pitches were so confusing that I never quite figured out what their product was or the solution it solved. One thing I did learn was that if you are answering questions, it’s best not to begin every single response with, “that’s a great question.”

I spent a few minutes chatting with Imprivata CEO Omar Hussain and CMO Clay Ritchey. Omar shared news of the company’s just-announced proximity-based, hands-free two-factor authentication solution. Imprivata will offer the product with its Confirm ID platform for EPCS. We also discussed the industry in general and how we are now entering the post-EMR-implementation era and the emphasis is now shifting to solving other problems, such as security issues and workflow headaches. As Omar said, “The exciting part of healthcare is happening now.”

The next stop was the opening reception, which was a bit on the cheesy size. I understand the desire for having a theme that highlights the city’s identity, but I thought the big band/roaring 20’s theme was a bit lame. Oh well, the drinks were free.

I topped off the evening with a small cocktail party at the Trump Tower with the folks from healthfinch. The venue was beautiful with a lovely view of the river. More news to come!

Michelle Ronan Noteboom covers the health IT beat for THCB.