Glimmers From HIMSS: Announcements, Recognition, and Collaboration Shine Bright in Glittery Las Vegas

In true Las Vegas fashion, the HIMSS 2025 conference last week sparkled with breakthrough announcements, prestigious honors, and innovative clinical collaborations. 

For DrFirst, a powerful new integration with Elsevier, a Frost & Sullivan award, and a featured role in the MEDITECH interoperability showcase were just a few of the bright spots.  

Here’s a look at some highlights: 

A New AI Integration for iPrescribe by DrFirst

Elsevier, a global leader in scientific information and analytics, announced Monday that it is integrating its flagship decision support solution ClinicalKey AI with iPrescribe by DrFirst—making it easier for clinicians to access crucial information at the point of care.

This is essential for physicians who rely on the ease of a mobile app to write and renew prescriptions on the go, says Colin Banas, M.D., M.H.A., Chief Medical Officer of DrFirst.

“Making this world-class, evidence-based research tool available within the iPrescribe by DrFirst app gives healthcare providers across all practice sizes and specialties instant access to AI-powered conversational searches of clinical literature—helping them make informed prescribing decisions from anywhere,” Dr. Banas said.

Read the announcement here.

A Best Practices Award

DrFirst was honored with the prestigious Enabling Technology Leadership Award by Frost & Sullivan for bridging critical gaps in healthcare through groundbreaking technology solutions. The award talks about our comprehensive platform, which “optimizes the medication journey from prescribing to adherence, with integrated solutions that directly address critical challenges in prescription management and orchestration; medication access, affordability, and adherence; and clinical data accuracy.”

Innovations that contributed to this award include:

• Prescription orchestration technology

• AI-powered solutions

• Patient engagement and adherence tools

• Medication reconciliation excellence

“Innovation is not just about technology—it’s about empowering people,” G. Cameron Deemer, DrFirst CEO, said in Monday’s announcement. “This recognition from Frost & Sullivan underscores our culture of innovation and commitment to eliminating friction in medication management for all stakeholders in healthcare, ultimately achieving better medication outcomes for everyone.”

An Interoperability Story

At the Interoperability and Smart Experience Pavilion, DrFirst was among the MEDITECH Alliance partners participating in a three-part patient scenario that walked attendees through multiple stages of care and recovery.

As part of the Labor and Delivery to Postpartum portion, a demonstration of the DrFirst patient engagement solution showed how personalized SMS messages can promote medication adherence and reduce hospital readmissions.

A Medication Adherence Educational Session

Piedmont Health took the HIMSS stage to share its success using predictive analytics and population health management data to boost medication adherence at the Georgia health system. Their story of improving adherence to blood pressure medication with a multidisciplinary approach attracted attendees as well as the media spotlight: Timothy Hall was interviewed about the project in Healthcare IT News, and Melissa Robinson, PharmD, shared insights with Chief Healthcare Executive.

“Using prescription fill data and predictive analytics systems integrated into its health information systems, Piedmont Healthcare developed a project to identify the highest priority patients for intervention to increase their medication adherence rates, improving clinical outcomes and patient safety while meeting value-based care goals,” Hall said.

A Patient Engagement Partnership

Elsewhere on the HIMSS floor, Healthcare IT Today founder John Lynn interviewed Michael Blackman, M.D., MBA, Chief Medical Officer of Greenway Health, a partner of DrFirst since 2023.

Our CMO, Dr. Banas, joined him for a conversation about the biggest challenges EHRs and healthcare providers face when trying to improve medication access and adherence. Their discussion focused on improving interoperability and helping patients overcome barriers to care, including pharmacy deserts and financial challenges. Dr. Blackman and Dr. Banas also talked about the time-consuming manual processes, frequent errors, and delays in patient care that come with prior authorizations. And because the market for specialty medications is growing so quickly, there are complex, plan-specific requirements that just add to the inefficiencies, they agreed.

In Case You Missed Us

No HIMSS wrap-up would be complete without a shout-out to our partners and customers, in recognition of the time we spent learning about their pain points and celebrating successes together. Thank you to everyone who came by the booth! If you didn’t get a chance to talk with us, or if you want to continue the conversation, reach out to our team.