“American healthcare is embarrassingly deficient,” said Blackford Middleton, MD, chairman of HIMSS, this morning in his remarks welcoming attendees to this year’s annual convention in San Diego. “The overriding challenge is righting what is wrong while keeping what is excellent.”

The annual Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) 2006 conference kicked off yesterday in San Diego with a bang, and those lucky enough to attend the preconference educational sessions experienced a variety of provocative sessions. The conference will continue through Thursday with much of the emphasis being on movement within governmental bodies, IT vendors and healthcare providers designing and implementing interoperative EHRs.

The message to HIMSS attendees this year is to decide if your present vendors are going to still be with you two to three years from now.

Regional health information organizations (RHIOs) may top the list of buzzwords in the clinical information systems category at HIMSS 2006.

A number of computerized physician order entry (CPOE) systems and components will be on display at HIMSS this year.

The big buzzword in electronic health records this year is "integrated workflow." Vendors are showcasing systems that focus on streamlining everything from image access to billing.

The desire for anywhere, anytime access to patient information is driving handheld device vendors to highlight new features such as security, integration services, and remote physician signature.