HIMSS Updatenot

Visited HIMSS in Orlando yesterday and here's the highlights:

- McKesson's $3.8M booth dwarfed the exhibits like a high-tech cathedral - Epic's homey setting was replete with Prairie-home companion furniture - Siemen's high-tech lighting effects soared (no pun intended) - GE has more square footage than recently-acquired products... - Cerner's monster booth was rumored to be not coming back next year!? - Microsoft was swarmed with Microserfs trying to spell Azyxzii in Thai... There were 26,000 attendees: about 25,900 vendor reps & consultants, chasing about 100 CIOs. At an average of $3K each for airfare and a week of out-of-pocket, plus an average of $100K per booth for the 900+ vendors, now you know why health care costs are 20% of our GNP and Medicare reimbursement is being cut. Wonder what all those dollars invested into actual R & D might accomplish?