HIMSS24 Conference Wrap: Keith Duemling Says Recent Events Prove Cyber Warrants Main Stage Billing healthsystemCIO.com

There’s an old parenting saying, “Do as I say, not as I do.” Of course, it’s meant to get parents off the hook for not demonstrating the behavior they want emulated. Unfortunately, it rarely works, as the disconnect between talk and action isn’t lost on the little ones. When it comes to recent conferences, some have cited a disconnect between saying cyber is as important as anything else and showing that’s the case by bringing security-related talks to the main stage. In fact, both shows had cyber theaters or pavilions that were a tad off the beaten path. This dynamic was not lost on Keith Duemling, Senior Director of Cybersecurity Technology Protection, Cleveland Clinic, who said the solution isn’t putting the two side by side, but weaving cyber presentations into the main stage content. In this interview with healthsystemCIO Founder & Editor-in-Chief Anthony Guerra, Duemling also discusses how the shows treated provider executives, and his conference plans for the future.



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Bold Statements

I was trying to think of an analogy that would be helpful in comparing the two. I came up with the idea that ViVE felt like the holidays with your immediate family, where you’re focused on those intimate connections and opportunities to really reminisce; and HIMSS felt like holidays with the entire extended family; great to see everyone, catching up with people you’ve not seen before, learning about those changes that have happened.

I think one of the challenges for cyber at any type of multidisciplinary conference is – just like technology in general 20 years ago – how do you not get put over on the side, as in, ‘That’s the place over there where the cyber people gather,’ and everybody else goes (to the main area) for their other things.

There’s always a healthy amount of communication and invitations and things like that. But it felt very refined, and it was better. If you said, ‘I’m not available or please put me as tentative,’ you were respected, and I didn’t feel like I had to hide my badge when I was walking through the solution provider hall for fear of being chased down into a booth or something like that.

Anthony: Welcome to healthsystemCIO’s HIMSS Wrap-up interview with Keith Duemling, Senior Director of Cybersecurity Technology Protection with the Cleveland Clinic. I’m Anthony Guerra, Founder and Editor-in-Chief. Keith, thanks for joining me.

Keith: Great to be here, Anthony. Thank you for the opportunity.

Anthony: I know you went to ViVE and HIMSS. What were your impressions, specifically of HIMSS?

Keith: Well, I appreciate the question. Yes, I’m recovering from attending both conferences, both great experiences but as you can imagine, whirlwind experiences. To your questions, I think without showing exactly my age, I’ve probably been to at least 10 of the HIMSS conferences, probably like most people, the vast majority pre-Covid. I’ve definitely seen the conference evolve over those years, especially with Covid being a major point of evolution for pretty much everything in society.

Anthony: Your thoughts? What was your experience this year? Do you think this is on the upswing, this is on the downswing? Just any impressions on how the conference is trending?

Keith: I think HIMSS is definitely on the upswing, in my opinion. It has a very expansive program. You really have to be strategic on how you approach it because it can be overwhelming if you’re not very intentional.