The Informatics Review : What are the differences between the major healthcare informatics meetings?


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What are the differences between the major healthcare informatics meetings?

HIMSS (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society) provides a huge exhibit hall. I categorize its content as oriented to the practical aspects of information systems in healthcare.
TEPR (Towards the Electronic Patient Record) also has an extensive exhibit area. It's content is focused on the electronic patient record and provides national and international perspectives on the many issues and aspects of electronic healthcare. I've heard that this year (2000) TEPR is including in its program an interesting approach to evaluating vendor products. It is called the Clinical Documentation Challenge. 10 vendors will demonstrate exactly how they would document a role-played client-physician encounter. The audience and, I think, a panel of judges will question each vendor about the product and the approach to documentation. Sounds interesting!
AMIA's (American Medical Informatics Association's) Fall meeting is the other conference I regularly attend. It has many of the same exhibitors as the others, but it smaller than HIMSS exhibit area. I characterize AMIA as the "scholarly" conference - research presentations and papers on innovative concepts are a mainstay.
Click to read a review of the 2001 AMIA Symposium -- A Medical Odyssey: Visions of the Future and Lessons from the Past
Note that these are my personal opinions built over 20 years of attending these conferences.