The annual Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) conference is health IT vendors’ Mecca. The HIMSS event this year attracted nearly 40,000 attendees to Chicago, and its giant exhibition halls in the McCormick Place were filled with more than 1,000 booths. The overall spirit at the event was buoyant and optimistic—and why not? The health IT industry has enjoyed several years of boom, thanks to health IT incentives and penalties from Uncle Sam.

I was one of the 40,000 visitors who strolled on the show floor, looking to spot themes and for signs of exciting innovations on the horizon. To my amazement, the health IT industry continues to excel at minting new buzzwords and spreading them like wildfire. When I first started covering the health IT market in the late 1990s, these fancy terms included “clinical decision support,” “Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE)” and “Picture Archiving and Communications System (PACS).” In the middle of the last decade, “electronic medical records (EMR),” “patient portal” and “health information exchanges (HIE)” were the staples. During the last couple of years, “meaningful use,” “interoperability” and “accountable care” seemed to be everywhere. This year, my show floor trail was shadowed by banners and wall posters marked with “population health” and “health analytics.”

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