Viva Las Vegas – HIMSS 2025
After a whirlwind trip to New york for meetings, I have now arrived in Las Vegas for my next US health conference: Health Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) 2025. While this might not sound like the most riveting conference in the world, HIMSS is a world-famous conference attracting over 25,000 delegates from more 88 countries around the globe and over 950 exhibitors. If you are working in anything related to Healthcare IT, HIMSS is the place to be and I can’t wait for my first experience of it!
This wasn’t my first time in Vegas, I was (un)lucky enough to attend a conference here in 2023 and hoped at that time that I’d never have a reason to return! Despite its reputation for glitz and glamor, Vegas is a lot less glamorous than the movies suggest. With slot machines around every corner and an air of panic and desperation, it’s definitely not a city I’d recommend. Yet here I am back again, for another surreal experience of walking through a jam-packed casino on my morning commute. Doing expense reports in a starbucks in the middle of a casino was definitely one of my most bizarre ICURe moments (see below!).
One of the highlights of this conference was that I was joined by one of my ICURe colleagues, Alexander Stokes. Alexander is another entrepreneurial lead who is redefining point of care diagnostics, with his company ‘Imprinted Diagnostics’, I highly recommend checking them out! It was great to see a familiar face amidst the chaos of the conference and we kicked off the first evening by meeting on the Venice canals (well, nearly – more like the Venetian casino) and heading to the International Welcome Drinks Reception.
The international drinks reception hosted delegates from all around the world and a particular highlight for me was meeting 2 delegates from Aruba, a Caribbean island with a population of just 108k. Remarkably, we shared many of the same digital health challenges related to procurement, interoperability and adoption. This has been one of the most incredible parts of ICURe, having the opportunity to network with people all across the world and realise that whether you’re on a tiny Caribbean island or in London, healthcare innovators struggle with many of the same headaches – procurement bottlenecks, system interoperability, and getting people to actually use new tech. There is a great sense of camaraderie in these circles and each conference I’ve attended has made me increasingly motivated and excited to contribute to this field.
At HIMSS, one of the most interesting things I noticed was how differently the same companies set up their exhibitor stalls depending on the location of the conference. Back in January, I attended Arab Health in Dubai (detailed in an earlier blog post), and many of the same companies were exhibiting again in Vegas. Yet beyond their logos, everything else, from showcased products to demos and free merch, was completely different. A great example is Philips. In Dubai, their booth focused on their main clinical information systems and offerings and their booths were armed with knowledgeable and serious salesmen, whereas in Vegas, Philips had a fun, playful vibe and they even ran a role-play pop-up with actors playing patients and doctors. They demonstrated the latest advancements and leaned heavily on cutting-edge research and innovation. It really stressed the importance of marketing differently depending on the country and culture, and of understanding your local market rather than applying a one-size-fits-all approach. A flash mob of dancing doctors might have gone down well with a US crowd in Vegas, but it would have likely alienated many delegates from the MENA regions at Arab Health.
When I started my market exploration journey, I knew there wasn’t just one “digital health market” and that different regions would have different needs and requirements. But seeing it in practice made me truly appreciate how crucial localisation and understanding a specific demographic and culture are to running a successful business. The differences go far beyond sales cycles or procurement processes – they extend into how people actually engage with technology and what their real problems and needs are. Social, political, economic, and geographical factors all shape each market, and in most cases, a unique approach is needed for each one. I would say that this learning was one of my key takeaways from HIMSS.
At this point in my journey, I have struggled slightly at HIMSS with ‘conference fatigue’. While connecting with so many people can be energising and exciting it also requires a lot of mental energy and focus to really listen, absorb different perspectives, and make the interactions meaningful rather than just superficial small talk. The layout of the conference centre (located in the Venetian hotel and casino on the Vegas strip) also made it difficult to navigate easily, with endlessly long corridors and an enormous exhibition hall. Similar to my experience at Arab Health and at ViVE, my best networking came from conference fringe events and small networking receptions. Interestingly, some of the best connections I made at HIMSS were UK delegates that had also travelled over for the conference. I didn’t expect to expand my NHS networks in Vegas, but that’s ICURe for you!
Overall, HIMSS was a reminder of just how global and diverse the digital health landscape really is. From chance conversations with delegates from tiny islands to seeing how the biggest companies in the world adapt their message depending on the audience, the conference reinforced the importance of localisation, cultural awareness, and genuine connection. It also reminded me that while the settings might be surreal (expense reports in a casino still feels like a fever dream), the challenges in digital health are still high stakes, and innovation and collaboration are the only way to cash in on real change (sorry I couldn’t resist at least one cheesy Vegas metaphor)!
As I finish this blog, I am waiting for my boarding call for my final internal US flight – from Vegas to Miami. I’ll be attending the Disaster Expo to understand how digital health technologies are being used in disaster management around the world. I’m excited for the final stop and for some warmer weather! As always, thanks for reading and I’ll see you in the next one!