To kick of HIMSS13 here in NOLA, there did need to be a bit of pomp and circumstance. Offered by one of the local charter schools, a young marching band invigorated conference goers at 8 a.m.
 
The opening also featured New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, who shared optimistic thoughts about a city still rebuilding from the disastrous effects of Hurricane Katrina. "We are rebuilding New Orleans the ways she should be; a modern American city." He later noted that "We were ambitious enough to squeeze in a Super Bowl during Mardi Gras."

During his brief talk, conference goers learned how New Orleans is focused on being a metropolis focused on health care and in particular IT jobs. With the nation focused on how to make health care more affordable, Mayor Landrieu observed that "one of the things that is defying gravity is bending the health care cost curve."

As a frequent NOLA visitor, the city is back on her feet with restaurants reopened and many downtown buildings opened with new businesses.

The keynote speech was given by Warner Thomas, President and CEO of Oshner Health System here in New Orleans. Mr. Thomas began by explaining that New Orleans historically had one of the worst school districts in the country. "Katrina washed away the mediocrity of New Orleans schools," Thomas explained. Now 75% of schools are charter schools and New Orleans is the second largest Teach For America site in the country; second only to New York City.

He asked health care professionals to keep this transformation in mind and queried, "has there ever been a better time to be in health care?" Thomas posited that "Today, we will be setting the stage for the next 15 to 20 years."

To demonstrate the type of transformation ahead, Thomas illustrated the change between the airline industry in 1995 to today where there were more employees and half the passengers. Yet, somehow the industry is making money despite an outrageous spike in fuel costs. "The airlines figured out how to transfer work to the customer. And we like it!" Later, he asked "how can we do that in health care?"

Thomas believes that the health care customer wants the following:
  • Safe, high quality health care
  • New therapies and treatments
  • Accessible health services
  • Affordable health services
  • Coordinated, organized health care (although patients never call it this)
  • A friendly user experience
But this experience has to coincide with that bending cost curve observed earlier by Mayor Landrieu. Thomas believes the reduction in costs must be somewhere between 15%-25% of 2013 spending. To get there, he reinforced that Oshner works with venders as partners and that the relationship with the industry must change to reflect joint responsibility.