My HIMSS08 experience started on the plane to Orlando when quite by chance I sat next to Bill Petree, the husband of Alice Petree, a dedicated campaigner for mental health patients over the last 9 years.

Alice has agreed to share her touching personal story with at a later date on this blog. Her story reminded me of why it is so critical that all Doctors have access to the Mind Screen as quickly as possible…there is just an incredible need for early detection and ongoing patient monitoring.

On Sunday I presented Global Mind Screen to prospective investors to fund our global rollout. Based on conversations I had there is no doubt that electronic or computer-based mental health is the way to go and US physicians are very comfortable with using web-based technology in their practices. ASP or web-enabled applications are becoming increasingly popular as a means of increasing productivity and the quality of patient care.

It was also pleasing to reaffirm our decision to work with Dell and Motion Computing to deliver hardware solutions to our Physicians was based on sound logic. It was clear that clinicians are preferring to use larger and lighter mobile devices with extended battery life, such as the Dell XT or Motion C5, and that they are moving away from PDAs.

Electronic Medical Records (EMR) are now a must have. This was always inevitable but it is now evident that in the US larger health organizations have reached the tipping point and only very small centres are yet to get on board. I spoke with a lot of EMR companies who are integrating more and more third party applications into their software.

The Personal Health Records space has heated up with a number of companies at HIMSS making a big impact in this area. There is no doubt that PHRs will be mainstream soon in America, giving patients full control of their own healthcare data. This is extremely exciting for Global Mind Screen as making mental health tangible for the patient is one of our drivers. We’ll be keeping tabs on developments here.

Marshall Couper, CEO, Global Mind Screen

If you’re off to the HIMSS08 annual health IT conference in Florida next week, don’t forget to visit me!

Global Mind Screen will be showcased on both the Dell booth (#6662, Hall D) and the Motion Computing booth (#2050, Hall B). I’m going to get puffed, but you’ll find me back and forth between both booths over the course of the four days!

Don’t miss my presentation, “Secrets of Successful Mental Health Screening” at the Motion booth at 4pm, Wednesday 27 February.

At HIMSS08, we’ll be launching our US roll-out of the Mind Screen mental health assessment tool, giving you the chance to demo the Mind Screen yourself on the new Dell XT tablet or Motion C5 MCA device. If you’re a primary care physician, clinical psychologist, internist, psychiatrist or other mental health specialist who wants to leverage the very latest technology, come and claim your exclusive technology offer (savings valued at over $2,500). (Stocks are very limited so you’ll need to be quick.)

If you can’t make HIMSS08, check back here at our blog as I’ll be sharing highlights of the show with you.

Marshall Couper, CEO, Global Mind Screen

PS> I’ll also be speaking at HIMSS08 Health IT Venture Capital Fair on Sunday 24 February (time TBC). I’m presenting the company to prospective investors and strategic partners.