HIMSS: A view from the floor

HIMSS appears to be getting bigger and bigger. There are 23,500 people here and over 800 exhibitors, but segregation is the watchword. The big guys are downstairs in the main exhibit hall, while the smaller companies are in an upstairs gulag. Cerner has perhaps the most interesting approach, taking a huge space in the middle of the hall, but featuring its clients rather than itself. Several other big companies are hosting smaller ones, with Microsoft devoting seemingly all its space to lots of vendors who use Windows, and maybe one day Vista. Meanwhile, the other Vista, as in the VA's system, is the core of Medsphere's new offering for the mid-range hospital market. CMO Scott Shreeve told me that "Epic is a Jaguar, but not everyone can afford a Jaguar."

I'll report more this week on wireless tracking, ePrescribing, RHIOs, and interoperability--the IHE has a large part of the gulag showing its interoperability forum. Brailer's keynote yesterday continued the inter-operability message.

- see this article from a HIMSS insider