As a youngster, I would wait home in anticipation for my parents return from conferences. All the free swag and food sounded too good to pass up. I couldn’t wait to smooze with people and grab free pens along the way! Well, this past week I have become a conference enthusiast. It’s only Thursday and I have already met new and interesting people from all walks of the healthcare sector. It amazes me how there are thousands of passionate people out there who invest their whole lives into what they do. I see it every day at work (love my Practice Fusionistas) but to see it in other places, is truly incredible.
Take for instance the DC to VC summit, where visionaries and leaders in the Health IT sector flocked together at the fabulous St. Francis Yacht Club, to discuss the future of healthcare. Now, in most cases we can’t predict the future, if we could we’d all be rolling in money. But in the healthcare sector these people are creating the future with their blood, sweat and tears. The summit consisted of a keynote presentation by the one and only Aneesh Chopra, the Chief Technology Officer for the United States. You’d think a guy that is the right-hand man for the President wouldn’t be very approachable, but this guy was AWESOME. First, of all he had such personality, he lit up the room. Every time he would leave the room, you’d see others follow, hoping to get a handshake with the A-list geek. The best quote of the day came from Rebecca Lynn from Morgenthaler, “Aneesh Chopra is the Indian George Clooney”.
Our very own API Challenge Winner, Pete Gordon of Critical Systems, demoed his prizewinner. Pete and his team hacked a standard bathroom scale to connect real-time weight values to Practice Fusions PHR, Patient Fusion. This information could potentially be tracked through a secure patient-track record that the doctor could then use to signal dangerous condition changes.
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| In the midst of the conference madness! |
The conference fun didn’t stop at DC to VC; it’s still going strong as we speak at Health 2.0. Health 2.0 attracted about 3,000 health enthusiasts ready to see, hear and touch all the newest and latest gizmos and gadgets. Decorative booths filled the rooms with everything from avatar health trackers (you’re old news James Cameron) to hospital price comparison companies. Again our newest rock star, Pete Gordon demoed his mouth-dropping creation, along side Matt Douglass, our VP of Product Development. Obviously, Practice Fusion was there; ready to introduce people to the fastest growing EHR in the country. It’s pretty hard to miss the PF team seeing as we all wear matching sporty jerseys and stand next to one of the biggest and brightest booths in the room. We mean business and we take charge.
To say that this wasn’t an eventful week would be a lie. It was intense and eye opening and if I’ve learned one thing out there, it’s that I work for an elite team of experts. These people can answer a question about our EHR faster than a contestant on “Who Wants to be a Millionaire”. I feel like a VIP because I got to see and hear all the amazing things people are doing for our country and for healthcare in general. Healthcare has been lagging in technology adoption for way too long and finally I can confidently say that stint is over. Get ready world, you’re about to be rocked, digitally.
