HIMSS, aka the Super Bowl of the healthcare IT world, has come and gone, and with it some very typical HIMSS moments—one’s that Scott Collins, our president, dubbed #ThatsSoHIMSS.  These are the things that, after 15+ years attending the conference, our team comes to expect, and actually even looks forward to each year.  So, instead of posting another traditional HIMSS round-up, we are taking a deep dive into those quintessential HIMSS moments. Read more below to find out the #ThatsSoHIMSS moments that captured our team’s attention this year:

This week is U.S. National Health IT week (#NHITweek), a movement organized by HIMSS and the Institute for e-Policy that focuses on sharing stories and raising awareness of the real-world impact of healthcare information technology. NHIT Week engages constituents, including congressional, federal, and state agencies; healthcare providers; non-profit organizations; and vendors, to host both virtual and live events with the sole purpose of amplifying conversations around the power of healthcare IT.

As an agency centered on healthcare IT, NHIT Week is singularly important to us. This weeklong initiative aims, as we do every day, to demonstrate the universal value of healthcare IT and its significance to the betterment of every single community.

2020 is a year for the record books (thanks COVID-19). As healthcare PR professionals, we will always remember 2020 as the year that the HIMSS annual conference was cancelled for the first time ever. While the cancellation of HIMSS20 was a painful blow for both our clients and the Aria team, we can all start looking forward to HIMSS21, which is scheduled to take place August 9–13, 2021 in Las Vegas. With the 2021 date set, it is time to start thinking about HIMSS speaking proposals (the speaking portal officially opens October 5).

It’s that time of year again! You guessed it. It’s HIMSS time. HIMSS, otherwise known as the Healthcare Information Management Systems Society, is hosting its annual global health conference and exhibition in Orlando next month. The event brings together tens of thousands of health IT professionals, clinicians, executives, and market suppliers around the world – and consequently, healthcare media, who flock to learn more about the latest industry trends and innovations. As such, it’s always a highly prioritized event for the majority of our clients. HIMSS, or as we (and the rest of the industry) fondly refer to it, “HIMSSanity,” is considered one of the most prominent events across the entire healthcare industry.

With double-digit client attendance and dozens of meetings staffed over four days, the Aria team is exhausted, but happy to be home and looking back on another successful HIMSS conference. As always, there were many themes and buzzwords that permeated this year’s show: AI, big data, population health, blockchain and predictive analytics, to name a few. But, the biggest buzz had to be around the remarks from Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator, Seema Verma, and her surprise guest, Jared Kushner (who is supposedly the Director of the White House Office of American Innovation).

I feel like I am really aging myself here, but by my calculation this year will mark my 13^th trip to HIMSS, the healthcare IT version of the Oscars. Everyone right now is blogging and tweeting their predictions for HIMSS 2020 (hello ONC Information Blocking Rule!), but I decided to mix it up a little and instead write about the top three worst experiences I have had at the annual ‘who’s who’ of HIT.