HIMSS + 2 weeks
Everything is exciting when you're actually at the conference. Now that I'm two weeks removed, here's what still has my attention:
1. Azyxxi - yes, it's our product, so it to be listed first! I had a chance to take a look at Azyxxi when we first purchased it (MedStar is one of the customers I support), and the product has come a long way in the 8 months since we purchased it, especially around the user interface. It's much cleaner, sleeker. When clinicians are interacting with patient information, they want it accurate, fast, and easy to work with. Frankly, they don't care how elegant the back end design and implementation is (Azyxxi is on both counts). They want the right information, right now, and right where they can find it. That's why the user interface matters. And there's more to come. I have a couple customers who are looking at creating a new patient care model over the next 8-10 years. While they are very interested in data integration, predictive modeling, and collaborative care, user experience is a tier 1 priority for them. The greatest system in the world doesn't get used if users can't work with it.
2. Speaking of which: Real clinical GUI's are starting to appear. Many clinical systems display their information in grids, which is better than green screen, but still not especially intuitive - you have to take time to figure out the interface before you can figure out what to do with the information. Think of an interface where you don't have to attend training to figure out how it works; you walk up, and start interacting with the system intuitively. That's the type of GUI I'm talking about. We showed off some work that we're doing/we've done with Britian's National Health Service, putting a very nice front end their systems using the Common User Interface guidelines. I also saw a Flash based interface to a touch screen, which was very interesting. I know that demos are very optimized, but that one was slick.
3. Medixine - This partner was in our booth, and I'm planning to introduce them to several of my customers. They "specialize in multi-modal information and communication software for healthcare and wellness." For me, and for my customers, they've developed easy, effective methods of reporting and tracking health related activities. Think reporting blood sugar levels, BPs, that my mother took her medication at 8, 1, 5, and 9 today, all without any significant training/learning needed by the user. I see opportunities in my senior living/retirement community customers; my federal counterpart sees opportunity in clinical trials. Very cool stuff using cell phones, RFID, and web/SOA technology.
4. Steve Ballmer - It's always nice to see the boss. The keynote was good, and had a couple videos included. One of them was a new "healthcare sometime in the future" video. Pretty cool, and there was a bit of buzz in the hall. What's interesting is that most of what is in the video, I've seen demo'd by either our product groups or MS Research. Watch for the exercise performance watch (hello iPod/Nike!), reminders built into entertainment systems, auto-recognition and suggestion for which medication to take (and not to take!), and new display technology. Overall, interesting, cool, and maybe not as far off as we think.
What still has your interest two weeks later?
