The 2008 HISsies

1. Smartest vendor strategic move

Smartest vendor strategic move athenahealth, for its initial public offering (IPO)

Philips, for buying Emergin and VISICU

Picis, for buying LYNX and getting Goldman Sachs backing

Sunquest, for leaving Misys and bringing back the Sunquest name

2. Stupidest vendor strategic move

Stupidest vendor strategic move Eclipsys, for selling its CPMRC content group

Medseek, for laying off employees right before Christmas

Misys, for selling its hospital products and reselling iMedica's product

Philips, for buying VISICU

3. Most impressive vendor sales deal

Most impressive vendor sales deal Allscripts, Columbia

Epic, Cedars-Sinai

Meditech, clients in Ireland

Picis, William Osler

4. Best healthcare IT vendor

Best healthcare IT vendor athenahealth

Epic

Meditech

Picis

5. Worst healthcare IT vendor

Worst healthcare IT vendor Cerner

Epic

McKesson

Meditech

Misys

6. Best provider healthcare IT organization

Best provider healthcare IT organization Allina

MD Anderson

Sharp Healthcare

William Osler Health Centre

7. Vendor most likely to be acquired

Vendor most likely to be acquired Allscripts

Cerner

Eclipsys

Picis

8. HIS-related company in which you'd love to be given $100,000 in stock options that can't be cashed in for 10 years.

HIS-related company in which you'd love to be given $100,000 in stock options that can't be cashed in for 10 years. athenahealth

Bond Technologies

Epic

Picis

9. Most promising technology development

Most promising technology development RFID

Server virtualization

Smartphones

Software as a Service/Service Oriented Architecture

10. Most overrated technology

Most overrated technology CPOE

EMR

PHR

RFID

RHIO

11. Biggest HIS-related news story of the year

Biggest HIS-related news story of the year athenahealth's IPO

Epic/Kaiser problems

Misys struggles

Picis buys LYNX

RHIO failures

12. Best speaker you heard at a conference

Best speaker you heard at a conference Colin Powell

Jonathan Bush

Malcolm Gladwell

13. Most impressive vendor at the HIMSS conference (for those who were there only)

Most impressive vendor at the HIMSS conference (for those who were there only) athenahealth

Cerner

NextGen

Picis

14. Most overused buzzword

Most overused buzzword Health 2.0

Integration

Interoperability

RHIO

Single vendor solution

15. Most effective CIO in a healthcare provider organization

Most effective CIO in a healthcare provider organization Bill Spooner, Sharp

Denis Baker, Sarasota Memorial

John Halamka, CareGroup

Judy Middleton, William Osler

16. HIS industry figure with whom you’d most like to have a few beers

HIS industry figure with whom you’d most like to have a few beers John Glaser, Partners Healthcare

Jonathan Bush, athenahealth

Judy Faulker, Epic

Todd Cozzens, Picis

17. HIS industry figure in whose face you’d most like to throw a pie

HIS industry figure in whose face you’d most like to throw a pie Andy Eckert, Eclipsys

Judy Faulkner, Epic

Neal Patterson, Cerner

Pam Pure, McKesson

18. HIStalk Healthcare IT Industry Figure of the Year

HIStalk Healthcare IT Industry Figure of the Year Jonathan Bush, athenahealth

Judy Faulkner, Epic