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The 2nd World of Health IT Conference and Exhibition

REVIEW

Healthcare IT needs a ‘people side’ too, says Guido Gebhardt, assessing this year’s event, held in Vienna

Healthcare IT is set to represent 10% of the predicted EU healthcare budget by 2010. However, with the advent of any new technology come teething problems – and that particularly shows in the health sector. Interoperability is obviously a key issue – hi-tech companies can invent what they want, but, if a new machine or idea does not work well in tandem with other systems, it is effectively a waste of time and money.

Other problems involve people. Human beings in all sectors can be resistant to change and even those keen to grasp new technologies probably will need training. Put bluntly, if the people at the business end of patient care are unable or unwilling to embrace the future of their industry, then the road forward will come to a sudden end, somewhere in the dark alley.
Hopefully this scenario will not apply to the HIMSS* itself. In the United States it is well established, but in Europe this second attempt again appeared to be not very successful. Europe with its multi-country, multi-health systems and multi-language environment has a different need. In each country there are multiple – in some already too many – congresses and exhibitions that cover health IT.

Third time lucky? Copenhagen in 2009 will test the future for the World of health IT event. If, at that show, some exhibitors again tell colleagues ‘Better to stay at home than come to this’, it will be time to react. Health IT conferences need a ‘people side’ too.
* HIMSS Established in 1961, the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) is the healthcare industry’s membership organization, which is focused on ‘… providing global leadership for the optimal use of healthcare information technology (IT) and management systems’. The Society represents over 20,000 individual members and over 300 corporate members, all of whom represent organizations employing millions. HIMSS has offices in Chicago, Washington DC, Brussels, and other areas in the USA and Europe.

This article was published on 11/15/2007

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