HIMSS is back in full swing, with brands and healthcare experts swarming the halls of the Venetian Expo to the tune of thumping dance music Tuesday morning.
Vendelux is on site as the 2025 edition tackles some of the biggest issues in patient care and data organization.
The morning kicked off with an awkward performance from a dance troupe, whose lifeless moves were out of sync with their LED light-up suits as they moved about the stage to dramatic, bass-heavy dance music.
“If you weren’t awake before, I know you are now,” said one organizer to the enormous crowd gathered for the opening keynote.
It was smooth sailing from there, as leaders from the Samsung Medical Center in Seoul, South Korea joined HIMSS CEO Hal Wolf for a conversation about the evolution of the hospital since its founding in 1994.
Much of the talk focused on the successful implementation of their electronic health record (EHR) system known as DARWIN, short for Data Analysis and Research Window for Integrated Knowledge, which replaced their older EHR in 2016. DARWIN allows interns and clinicians at the hospital to self-assign tasks ranging from daily patient care to medication prescription.
“Darwin wasn’t a success from the start. We spent a lot of money and time, but from the failure we learned a lot,” said SMC CEO Dr. Seung Woo Park.
Adding some comic relief to the 90-minute keynote, Dr. Park and his colleague, Dr. Meong Hi Son, introduced two AI-powered robot companions, Nova and Lumi, that are currently in use at the hospital. The robots waved, smiled and showed off their nearly unlimited breadth of knowledge, with Lumi asking Nova if he took his medication and teaching him about how it works.
Below are a few other highlights from day one of the trade show:
AI Reigns Supreme
Organizers wasted no time getting to the heart of the conference: Artificial intelligence.
At the opening keynote, Wolf admitted that the HIMSS team started discussing AI ahead of the 2023 conference, but they decided to wait “six months” before considering it in earnest.
“That didn’t happen,” he said to laughter from the audience.
In 2024, the HIMSS team identified key areas where AI could serve the healthcare sector.
“This year,” Wolf said, “I’ll defy anyone to try to find a booth that doesn’t mention AI.”
That much was evident on the trade show floor, where companies ranging from Microsoft to CDW and Epic Systems Corporation, which runs the MyChart medical records app, mentioned the emerging technology in one capacity or another.
Cybersecurity on the Brain
There was endless chatter about properly securing data in health spaces.
At a press briefing with journalists, Wolf got defensive when a reporter described the healthcare sector as a “soft target” for hackers and suggested that cybersecurity is often last in the list of priorities for healthcare institutions.
But at a cybersecurity session, HIMSS Senior Principal of Cybersecurity and Privacy Lee Kim listed the various types of social engineering scams targeting the healthcare sector: phishing, spearphishing, and whaling, the last of which refers to the impersonation of high-level executives as a way to scam their subordinates into divulging personal information.
For all its good uses, AI also came up as a risk. The technology is now allowing scammers to draw up more sophisticated ways to trap people into giving out information, Kim said.
Also discussed at the cybersecurity session was the 2024 ransomware attack on Change Healthcare, the largest healthcare payment system in the US. The attack led to widespread payment disruptions that prevented parent company UnitedHealth Group from processing payments to doctors. It also temporarily forced some patients to pay for their medications out of pocket. Change ended up paying the hackers $22 million in ransom, according to Wired, and the event cost the company more than $2.4 billion in total, according to The HIPAA Journal.
Kim called the event a “wake-up call” forcing hospitals to consider other payment solutions.
“Third party risk management got another look at,” she said. “Who are we doing business with? Should we switch to another vendor?”
Innovative Booths Abound—But Coffee Is King
Eye-catching activations were everywhere.
Guests in the expo hall were greeted by the smell of fresh espresso from the Spectrum Business booth, where they could place orders for lattes, cappuccinos and Americanos.
In fact, several companies went the way of coffee, including Arcadia, eClinicalWorks, AthenaHealth, Visage Imaging and Mindray. For a conference this large, the choice of java from multiple brands felt convenient rather than redundant.
Borrowing from the spectacle of the Las Vegas strip, the Hyland booth employed the talents of David Harris, a charismatic magician who drew unsuspecting passersby to a free show in the middle of the trade floor.
Harris guessed card numbers and pulled giant coins out of thin air while periodically routing onlookers to the booth behind him, a mammoth structure with different stands promoting various services.
SmarterDx offered up the talents of the “world’s fastest Etch A Sketch artist,” who drew portraits of guests on the iconic children’s toy for them to take home.
Several booths went the snack route, including Infor, which handed out free popcorn, and Ellkay, which handed out small, travel-friendly jars of honey—an ode to their bee aficionado founders.
By 4 p.m., a few booths turned into cocktail lounges for happy hour (Arcadia, Infor, Cox Business, Imprivata) or buffets for an early supper (Surescripts, CloudWave).
An Organized Affair
The conference was a well-organized and thought-out effort.
Most of the action happened on the second floor of the Venetian Expo. The venue has ample hallways and restrooms, as well as kiosks selling coffee, water and snacks (in case the free ones weren’t enough). It’s also located an easy $10 to $15 Uber from most hotels on the strip.
The trade floor was scheduled to open at 10 a.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday, a forgiving start time for those battling jet lag or just waking up after a red eye flight.
Check back tomorrow for more HIMSS ‘25 coverage, and follow Vendelux and Adam Manno on LinkedIn for hourly coverage.
