HIMSS seems to be up to one of its revenue-generating, marketing, and sleight-of-hand tricks according to a report by Inga who blogs with Mr. HIStalk (see: News 10/29/10). Here's her account about registration for one of its virtual conferences:
HIMSS is hosting another virtual conference November 3-4. I “attended” the first one two or three years ago, mostly because I was curious about the virtual format. The conference is free for “qualified” participants and $99 for “non-qualified” HIMSS members. I can’t find anywhere on the HIMSS site that clarifies what it takes to be qualified, but I can say that when I tried to sign up for a conference a year ago, I didn’t have the secret requirements. I am mildly amused because my status must have recently changed, having received two separate invites from HIMSS this week. I should clarify that neither invite was for “Inga,” but for her counterpart in the “real” world. Since not much has changed on my end, I have to assume HIMSS is under pressure to boost attendance, probably to please its 25+ sponsors. If I have time, I’ll probably accept an invite and lurk around a bit.
To my way of thinking, if Inga can't figure out what it takes to be qualified for the virtual conference, the requirements must be obscure. Your can count on the fact that any "educational" event sponsored by HIMSS will have some twist on it to please the participating vendors. My guess is that you need to be on some vendor list to qualify for the reduced registration fee and the company will then cover the fees for its invited guests. As I have stated previously, HIMSS is a marketing and revenue-generating organization masquerading as a professional society (see: HIMSS Describes Itself as a "Trade Association" in a Press Release; A Curious Aspect of the HIMSS Registration Process; Dropping Out of HIMSS: A CEO Speaks His Mind).
Just yesterday, suspicion of HIMSS was cast when I read their report on hospitals' readiness to meet MU. The data seemed "spun," considering that their graphs of percentages of hospitals ready to achieve Core and Menu set objectives leave out the substantial numbers that can meet NONE (22 and 33%, respectively).
Might this be because they fear offending sponsoring vendors whose products aren't cutting the mustard?
Posted by: Doug Mitchell, MD | November 17, 2010 at 09:23 AM