From MGMA 10/23/12

It’s bright and early Tuesday morning. I intended to do a longer post but the Internet connection at my hotel keeps dropping. For now I am posting  a few photo highlights from Monday.

From my scenic early-morning walk to the convention center.

There was a packed house for the opening State of the Healthcare Industry panel discussion. While informative, I think it would have been more effective with fewer panelists and more diverse opinions. AMA president Jeremy Lazarus, MD did the best job staying on message and keeping his comments relatively brief and to the point.

athenahealth was offering free Kindles if you watched a demo. Needless to say their booth was hopping.

athenahealth’s Maria Chow sent me a photo of her booth shoes. She’s my hero.

I noticed overflow crowds at several of the sessions, especially ones related to physician compensation and managing the financial health of practices. Anyone unclear about practice administrators’ biggest worries?

Thanks VaxServe and Passport Health for the free flu shot. Booth 1620 if you want to get one Tuesday morning.

Longest line of the day: waiting for just-out-of-the-oven cookies at the MGMA booth. It was worth the 10 minute wait.

A glimpse of the exhibit hall.

Thanks David Harlow for the informative session on healthcare social media. Good tips on why practices should maintain a social media presence and cautions for staying out of trouble.

Dr. Jayne and I hit seven parties in six hours last night. My feet will never be the same. Here’s the incredible guitarist who provided the entertainment at Practice Insight’s  cocktail party.

Things were hopping at the NextGen cocktail party, which was mostly outdoors. I think this was party #4 and by this time Dr. Jayne and I were glowing in perspiration from the muggy weather. We attempted to keep cool drinking margaritas but I’m not sure that helped.

Why was this man playing bagpipes in the street? We have no idea.

We were sad not to score an invite to the Vitera party. Dr. Jayne banged on the fence in an attempt to be a party crasher.

As we peered over the fence I did manage to take a stealth photo of the Vitera party.

Salsa dancers at the athenahealth Fiesta bash. I immediately thought of Mr. H, who would have loved the girls’ skimpy attire. I took this shot moments before I was dragged to the dance floor. Since it was party #5, it seemed perfectly reasonable to salsa dance in my five inch heels. Dr. Jayne was snapping pics of me for later bribery opportunities.

athenahealth actually hosted two parties. At the later event, Jonathan Bush donned a skimpy wrestling outfit and took down an opponent. It had something to do with the cloud beating up software. Personally I think JB just likes any excuse to wear skimpy costumes. Dr. Jayne and I thought he looked pretty buff, though.

Party #6 at Pat O’Brien’s. Got there a little late but things were still hopping when we arrived.

When Dr. Jayne posts her MGMA summary I am sure she will brag about the fact that she was able to party much later than me. Let the record reflect that my heels were higher. The translation: she was smarter and and my feet were crying. As she stayed out all night finding trouble, I was the one heading back to the hotel at 10:30. And yes, I was that person walking barefoot along the River Walk holding her shoes.

E-mail Inga.