Can you believe it? Connectivity started in the 1980s, and it's taken over 25 years for the first medical device connectivity conference to be held. I am fortunate to be serving as the program chair for the conference, responsible for the topics covered and finding speakers (you can download a program here -- pdf). Unlike other conferences that address connectivity as one of many issues, this meeting is all about medical device connectivity. This is the first of what will be an annual meeting delving into connectivity in depth, tracking changes over time.
Here's an overview of the agenda:
- Define and frame medical device connectivity for this event
- Industry standards
- Regulatory issues
- "Systems of systems" patient safety issues
- A review of the real costs of connectivity
Day two is divided into three tracks:
- Infrastructure, especially converging medical device and enterprise networks
- Connectivity solutions, a review of the most common connectivity applications (it's not just about EMR integration)
- Clinical and workflow impacts of connectivity
Friday afternoon, there are two great post-conference workshops. One workshop delves into Distributed Antenna Systems (DAS), describing 
best practices for the selection and implementation of DAS. The second workshop is for providers and manufacturers getting ready for IEC 80001. You are getting ready, aren't you? This workshop details the standard's requirements with special focus on the risk management process that's at the heart of IEC 80001.
The conference well be September 10 and 11 (Thursday and Friday) in Boston, at the Joseph B Martin Conference Center at Harvard Medical School. This is a pretty snazzy venue, as you can see by the photo.
This conference includes an innovation that's just starting to appear in conferences like this. On the second day, there is an additional track where attendees can meet with conference sponsors. This is your opportunity to get an indepth demonstration or have a meaty discussion with one or more of the sponsors.
Sponsors for the event are many of the leading manufacturers in connectivity or patient care device integration (PCDI) market:
Just today, I heard that Fluke Networks has joined as a sponsor.
That is interesting. Unfortunately this confernce has been announced short-term.
Are some members of MDPnP involved?
Why is there no comprehensive info about speakers, registration and so on?
Please see the links in the post above to visit the conference web site, and download a program.
The Medical Device Plug and Play (MD PnP) lab at CIMIT is not officially involved in the conference, but the director of the MD PnP, Julian Goldman, is a keynote speaker.
Tim,
I attended the conference and thought it was a great inaugural blending of IT, biomedical, clinical, and regulatory content.
I had a couple of follow-up questions:
1. Any plans for a future website forum for the conference? I think the conversations that got started in the roundtables need to continue (along with some new ones).
2. Will Friday’s optional workshop presentations be made available online for attendees?
Thanks for your efforts,