It’s 4 Feb, and while All Is Not Right With the World, we should be reassured that a real, in-person HIMSS 21 Global conference is apparently still On Target for 9-13 August in Las Vegas. What’s new is that it will have a virtual component (the ‘hybrid’) in addition to the Three Ring Circus spread among the Venetian-Sands Expo Center, Caesars Forum Conference Center, and the Wynn. t Hotel reservations ARE open, but registration is not. (Those who wish to transfer the 2020 registrations to 2021 will have to wait for an email.) HISTalk, which always seems to have the Inside Line on the conference, confirmed that HIMSS is kicking the can down the road on an in-person conference. It’ll depend on vaccination rates, infection rates, and federal guidelines, all of which are indefinable bars to something six months down the road. The next HIMSS21 update will be published on 19 February. It may include an announcement of the registration opening date. As the HIMSS update page is singularly uninformative, this Editor is subscribing to their update emails as offered.

Reading further down on HISTalk, the long-standing co-located CHIME (College of Healthcare Information Management Executives) annual conference is no more. CHIME will be holding a hybrid Fall Forum in October and virtual events in April and June. Will this mean that a lot of CIOs and senior IT people–the deciders–will not be as eager to go to Las Vegas and HIMSS will turn even more into a ‘boat show’, in HISTalk’s words? 

Meanwhile, in Singapore on 18-19 May, HIMSS APAC is full hybrid with both in-person and virtual sessions. The theme is Future-Proof Healthcare: The Emergence of Asia. If you’d like to nab a speaking or panel spot, act fast–it closes on 28 February and is only open to government/healthcare providers. More info is on their website.

The American Telemedicine Association just wrapped its four-part ATA EDGE virtual conference. Like a lot of virtual events, it’s split into relatively short sessions (about 2.5 hours) and multiple days. EDGE was on Tuesdays starting 12 January and wrapped 2 February. Announcements and related news from EDGE and ATA include an announcement for ATA2021:

• The Telehealth Equity Coalition (TEC) launched. TEC is a data-driven project to review public data on telehealth adoption in communities across the country. The objective is “to improve access to quality and affordable healthcare by increasing adoption of telehealth, especially among those who have been left out or left behind. Together with nonprofit, academic, and industry partners, TEC will offer a unique voice to optimize equitable telehealth delivery and utilization.” Founding members are Hims & Hers, the ATA, and the National Health IT Collaborative for the Underserved. Release
• ATA2021 will be full virtual in June and take place on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This year’s theme is Telehealth: Enabling Flexible, Inclusive and Contemporary Care Delivery. More information on the content and program, including links to proposal submission forms, is here. Deadline for General Program speaker nominations and Research Presentations/Posters is 26 February. The registration page is not yet active.
• On the policy front, ATA commended Texas Governor Greg Abbott on his advocacy of telehealth expansion as key to quality care for Texans. In his State of the State annual address, he outlined goals for the executive and the legislature in expanding both telehealth and broadband access. Release  ATA also sent a letter to the Arizona State Legislature in support of House Bill 2454 which makes some comprehensive changes to telehealth policy that will increase telehealth options in that state. Letter

And in the Continuing Story of Big Company Buys Little Company’s Tech, Hillrom, which just acquired cardiac monitoring company BardyDx, has now acquired contact-free continuous monitoring technology from EarlySense. Hillrom already has equity in the Massachusetts and Israel-based company. A portion will go in payment for the monitoring technology, plus a cash consideration of $30 million with potential payments based on the achievement of certain commercial milestones. EarlySense will also have a license to the technology, useful as EarlySense continues to develop next-generation AI-based sensing technologies specifically for the remote patient care market. Hillrom is incorporating it in its Centrella Smart+ med-surg bed and ecosystem of connected devices for the monitoring of heart and respiratory rates over 100 times per minute. Release