Recapping Our Odyssey to HIMSS 2019

Last month the annual HIMSS Global Conference & Exhibition took place in Orlando. The NJHIMSS team was pleased to join over 45,000 health information and technology professionals, clinicians, executives and market suppliers from around the world. It is one of the industry’s largest shows, if not the largest.

Here is a brief recap of what took place at the show. This year, there was a heavy emphasis on interoperability and cybersecurity.

Interoperability

Many of the sessions at the show focused on interoperability, so it was not difficult to see why the HIMSS Interoperability Showcase™ was the highest trafficked area of the exhibit floor. As patient health data continues to span multiple systems and applications, the need for PHI and other data to flow is paramount. That said, with all the attention surrounding interoperability and solutions that focus on streamlining patient data exchange, there seemed to be a lack of substance on how to actually facilitate this.

Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity is still one of the biggest concerns in healthcare. Organizations need to be flawless when it comes to defending their networks, whereas a hacker only needs to be right once.

For one of the sessions at the show, Rod Piechowski, Senior Director of health information systems at HIMSS presented the results of the 2019 HIMSS Cybersecurity Survey. Fifty-nine percent of the participants acknowledged that email was the most common point of information compromise. With 2019 well underway, phishing emails continue to haunt healthcare organizations as a top security threat.

Seventy-two percent of participants indicated their cybersecurity budgets increased by five percent or more (38 percent) or remained the same (34 percent).

Annual Luncheon

We had a great turn out for our annual chapter luncheon with HIMSSNYS that took place Tuesday, February 12. Our keynote speaker, Dr Denise Hines, VP of the Americas, HIMSS National delivered an outstanding opening address. She addressed a crowd of nearly 300 NY & NJ members. Dr. Hines outlined the future direction of healthcare from telehealth to artificial intelligence (AI).

Jennifer D'Angelo, President of the NJ Chapter stepped up to the podium next, to outline the coming months of activities within the NJ Chapter. Anthony Ferrante, Co-Secretary of NY Chapter followed with the Chapter's mission for the balance of the fiscal year. Both implored members to become more involved with each respective chapter business. Much of the luncheon was spent networking with other members.

Thank you to everyone who came out to HIMSS19 - we look forward to seeing you next March in Orlando at HIMSS20!