February 2008

Report from HIMSS

Another year, another HIMSS.  Florida was a nice break from the cold of Massachusetts. We had about 10 clients at the show, fielding a combined 100 media interviews.  Plenty of others whose job it is to analyze have covered the show, such as Healthcare IT News.  So I’ll just share some photos.
 

Sniffing out prospects. Attendance seemed lighter than last year, though HIMSS claims otherwise.
 

Klaatu barada nikto. The aliens have landed, and they come bearing interoperability.
 

This doc looks smart enough to buy an EMR.
 

Hyland not only had the most popular booth - a sports pub serving beer - but also a novel marketing idea using baseball cards.
 

Vroom, vroom. Driver decision support and PHR come standard.
 

The GE Kingdom. Will they follow Cerner and not return next year?
 

These sleek filing cabinets hold up to 200 patient records per drawer ;)
 

Organic, green, enviro-styling booth, though I can’t recall what they do.
 

R2-D2-EMR. Good for carting around rebel IT secret plans.
 

The wheeling and dealing home base.

Posted by Shawn Whalen on February 27, 2008 at 3:15 PM
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High Tech in Its Day

Healthcare technology’s latest and greatest will be on display next week at HIMSS in Orlando. Before covering that, I wanted to take a look back 150 years or so ago at what was then high tech.  A friend who collects medical antiques shared these pictures.  I wouldn’t want to be a patient back then.  Just think, they didn’t have EMRs ;)

Amputation Set, Paris. Circa 1780

Cylindrical English leech jar, 1850

Charriere circular geared bone saw, c. 1840

Microscope, 1915

Posted by Shawn Whalen on February 20, 2008 at 4:26 PM
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A Technical Note

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Posted by Shawn Whalen on February 13, 2008 at 5:18 PM
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Mo' Money Mo' Money

Picking up from the Jan. 3 post about the 2008 budget for the Federal Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, the 2009 budget proposal came in at $66 million. A whopping $4.7 million more than 2008’s $61.3 million.

On the positive side, beyond the Office budget are several other budget proposals including $45 million for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to advance health IT to boost patient safety; $26 million to continue trial implementations of the Nationwide Health Information Network; $3.8 million for CMS to fund the second year of a EHR demonstration project; and $3 million for the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation to conduct independent evaluations of EHR adoption
 
The complete Health & Human Services 2009 budget proposal is here.

To echo past advice, these budget discussions give healthcare IT vendors a PR opportunity to highlight how they are making the government’s vision a reality. Consider thought leadership PR for your executives to comment on the government fiscal short-comings, and how private sector companies such as yourselves are solving healthcare's problems today.

Posted by Shawn Whalen on February 12, 2008 at 10:36 AM
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HIMSS Tips from Heathcare IT News

HIMSS is a few weeks away. I provided some HIMSS PR tips in a past post you can read here.

Healthcare IT News Reporter Fred Bazzoli sat down with colleagues Brian Bogie and Rebecca Phillips for a Q&A to provide his perspective on what the media is looking for during those few moments you have together during the show.

Q: Describe how Healthcare IT News covers HIMSS.

A: Because of the size and scope of HIMSS, it is a difficult show for the media to cover. It's typical for media staff to spend two to five days at the conference, and just like everyone else, we have long days at HIMSS. There's lots of meeting people, note-taking, writing at odd hours, late meals. Depending on responsibilities, reporters schedule zero to 12 meetings a day. In fact, our reporters will probably have 100 overall meetings with companies at HIMSS.

Given this hectic schedule, our time together is short. However, there are several things that companies can (but all too often don't do) to stand out. Your goal during the briefing is to build a long-term relationship with the media, one that begins at HIMSS and lasts beyond.

Q: What are your tips for standing out from the vendor crowd at HIMSS?

A:  Recognize that that each publication has a particular niche, specialty, or purpose. Some publications are looking for case studies from the provider standpoint; some are looking for vendor information; some are looking at how IT relates to specific modalities. Our publication, Healthcare IT News, highly values time-sensitive news. Know and be ready to provide the media with what they are looking for.

Q: What are some secrets to good briefings?

A: If you or your PR firm "pitched" an angle - an exclusive, a customer case study, a specific executive or spokesperson­ - make sure that is what you provide us with during the briefing. Not coming through, or baiting and switching, is the fastest way to burn bridges with the media.

Continue reading "HIMSS Tips from Heathcare IT News" »

Posted by Shawn Whalen on February 7, 2008 at 4:05 PM
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Social Media - Get A Life

There has been much ado about the social media, the FaceSpaces and MyBooks and YouLifes and SecondTubes. I think it's a bunch of hype largely irrelevant to the intended HCIT vendor readership of this blog, who are selling to hospitals, medical groups and managed care organizations. All of these markets are well-known IT laggards who wouldn't know what was wrong with the first sentence of this post.

If you're selling to consumers under 30 it may be a different story. Or if you're in the insular and me-too world of high school, college or high tech. Even in those cases, it's still a lot media-driven hype. Most people are busy enough with real life and real friends.

It will take a complete generation for a majority of folks to care about or participate in social media, which by then will be very different. Very few of my peers here at Schwartz have Facebook pages (plenty of interns do, and about a quarter of the twentysomethings.) In the media, some reporters do if their beat happens to include technology and the Internet.

This perspective on social media shouldn't be confused with the Health 2.0 trend. As discussed in an earlier post, this is a new set of companies targeting consumers and as such their use of social media is expected and required. Indeed, many of these companies are social media in and of themselves. One client example is icyou.com, called the "YouTube of healthcare" by the San Francisco Chronicle.

But I'm a PR guy and the question comes up about how healthcare IT marketers can capitalize on this latest trend. So this week brings a guest blog post about Facebook by colleague Mark McClennan.

Continue reading "Social Media - Get A Life" »

Posted by Shawn Whalen on February 1, 2008 at 11:06 AM
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