The IHE North American Connectathon Week begins next Monday at the Cleveland Convention Center and HIMSS Innovation Center. The event runs from January 25 to 29 and will bring together more than 500 software engineers and developers for the testing event, with another 1,000 attendees for the conference and other sessions. 

"This is the first year for the week-long event of testing, training, education, certification awards and networking events, an expansion that follows 15 years of a more singular focus on vendor product testing," said Joyce Sensmeier, vice president of informatics at HIMSS North America.

The theme for this year's event is "Harnessing the Power of Interoperable Care: Real World Provider Success of Today."

[Also: ONC reveals final interoperability roadmap]

"This event will provide executive leaders with not only examples of healthcare organizations that have achieved true, interoperable data exchange, but also the lessons learned that describe the journeys towards achieving success within one’s organization and beyond," said Sensmeier.

"So in essence we're moving past implementation to demonstrate the value of interoperability to provider organizations," she added.

This year's Connectathon has been expanded to include educational programs and networking events tailored to specific audiences.

Attendees will be able to tour the testing floor and network with other healthcare executives during an evening reception. There will also be an awards ceremony for vendors that have achieved ConCert by HIMSS interoperability certification.

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The conference will also offer two workshops. IHE Connectathon 101 will highlight the best ways for systems engineers to test product interoperability. The HIMSS Interoperability workshop will target IT professionals, providing strategic and technical perspectives for achieving true interoperability.

Vendors participating in the HIMSS Interoperability Showcase must establish their products' connectivity to be a part of the showcase at the conference.

Twitter: @JessiefDavis