HIMSS: Tech giants get serious about healthcare

HIMSS wraps up in San Diego Thursday morning as 23,500 healthcare tech geeks start to wander home. Most of the action was around the big vertical players like Cerner, Epic, and McKesson, but the tech giants are getting more and more serious about healthcare. Microsoft is introducing products to further collaboration (think instant messaging, plus video, plus Netmeetings) and is working on getting its employees to "eat their own dog food" with Web visits and messaging. Meanwhile, Cisco is pushing both local providers and its technology partners. The company envisions a day when its networks come preloaded with all kinds of healthcare-specific applications--and it's making a start in location tracking with its PanGo partnership. Finally, IBM, with consultants HealthLink on board, is aiming squarely at working with partners and providers to both change healthcare processes and link healthcare data under the RHIO framework. There will be more perspective from HIMSS in coming days in FierceHealthcare. - Matthew