By Marco Smit

At Health 2.0 Advisors we not only scan and analyze the healthcare innovation landscape incessantly, we also share our thoughts and insights with clients and at conferences at times. On that note, on May 13 at 10am I will be moderating a panel on cloud-computing in healthcare at Tiecon 2011. It is the first panel right after the ‘interesting’ Steve Case speaks – Marissa Meyer from Google closes on Saturday evening.

Cloud-computing is one of the topics that Health 2.0 Advisors will start sharing more perspective on in public this year, in addition to unplatforms/mobile, analytics, and care delivery innovation. What these topics all have in common is that they are forces rapidly changing the healthcare landscape (competitive landscape, business models, patient-provider dynamics, other) and companies are grappling where they all fit in with their strategies and business realities.

This Tiecon 2011 panel is a good reflection of that: cloud-based EMR-systems where a novelty 18 months ago, but the number of companies offering them (stand-alone or embedded in e.g. a practice management suite), has exploded since. But cloud-computing goes far beyond EMRs of course. That is why the panel will cover a range of experiences, struggles, and expectations for the future of the cloud from large (IBM, Kaiser Pemanente) and small – but rapidly growing (Practice Fusion, CareCloud) – companies that have cloud-computing in their DNA.

Marco Smit is President of Health 2.0 Advisors, the market intelligence arm of the Health 2.0 family.