Multiple Privileges Extended to Hospital CIOs at HIMSS

I have been running conferences for nearly thirty years and my mantra has always been the following: no special privileges for any particular subset of registrants regardless of their status. Obviously, HIMSS does not operate under this same principle; CIOs are routed to the short lines and offered special refreshments and quiet rooms to escape the crowds. Here's a Q and A exchange just published on HIStalk about the ongoing HIMSS conference (see: From HIMSS 2/22/11):

From Another CIO: “Re: VIP lines. My title is CIO, but it isn’t worth the ink to print it if all of our staff aren’t working together to accomplish everything that needs to get done.  To this end, I am literally embarrassed to hear about a ‘VIP Line’ at the HIMSS conference and wouldn’t be caught dead in one.”

Mr. HIStalk: I’m sure HIMSS rationalizes its VIP treatment of CIOs by citing the vendor bucks chipped in to provide them with closed-session speakers, food, break rooms, and other perks. It also used to bug me that there was always an area where vendors could book time with HIMSS-pimped CIOs if they were willing to pay the CIOs cash for a ‘briefing’ (i.e., I’ll pay you to listen to my sales pitch). I suppose their other excuse is that it’s even worse than that at CHIME but  nobody’s complaining because non-CIOs aren’t invited there. Some hospitals have strict policies against executives accepting vendor gifts (“touch that vendor demo bagel and you’re fired”) but the rules doesn’t seem to extend off campus.

I have published a number of notes about the HIMSS organization. In my opinion, it comes closer to a trade association than a professional society and it's all about the money. However, it's also the dominant organization in the HIT field, which is burgeoning with special attention and funding from the federal government. If an organization can attract 30,000 people to a conference, it's clearly in the driver's seat. Despite the complaint of the CIO quoted above, I suspect that the majority of his or her colleagues don't strenuously object to being HIMSS-pimped.