To the media Thank you for being our friends

“The light which has been shed on mankind by the art of printing has eminently changed the condition of the world.” Thomas Jefferson, writing to John Adams, 1823

Thomas Jefferson, champion of a free and independent press

There has been a lot of attention paid lately to the rise of “fake” news, alternative facts, and the role a free and open press should play in a democracy. You can read about that ad nauseam on Facebook, Twitter, news portals and even GASP in your daily print newspaper! (Yes, they do still exist.)

I am not here to debate the merits of the respective positions on these political and cultural issues. What I am here to do is to say thank you to the healthcare IT press who cover our clients here at Amendola Communications (AKA, the A-Team).

We just finished #HIMSS17, by far the biggest conference of the year for our clients. We had more than 20 clients there and scheduled more than 130 meetings with the media and analyst firms at the conference. It was an unbelievably extensive and intensive effort by the A-Team over the past two months, and as the managing director for the agency I applaud their hard work over the past two months.

But I am also a former member of the press, a business writer, bureau chief, editor and yes, the worst of the worst, a sports columnist by training and trade. So I also want to applaud all my friends in the healthcare IT press the folks who took countless calls, tweets and emails all day long for weeks on end from me and the rest of the A-Team, not to mention dozens of other PR agencies and departments around the country, prior to the show.

All I can say to my friends in the media is thank you, again.

What gets lost in the rush to stake out our positions and perspectives on whatever is published through the media either in print, through the airwaves, or through digital channels is the value that a free and open press does bring to our society.

Just in our little corner of the world Healthcare IT that value comes in the form of informing, educating and influencing technology buyers. It comes in the form of honoring industry innovators and staging thought leadership events around the country and world. It comes in the form of educating readers on best practices in healthcare. It comes in the form of driving interest in topics such as CRISPR gene-editing, persona-based behavioral analytics, and value-based care and reimbursement.

So again, thank you to all of the A-Team’s friends in the media.There are so many, many of you who met with us at HIMSS 17 and work with the A-Team every day throughout the year to inform and educate the healthcare IT industry.

You are making significant, worthwhile contributions to our industry that often go overlooked or underappreciated but shouldn’t not in an industry as important as healthcare IT, not for an audience that has as significant an impact on the well-being of the entire American public every minute and hour of every day.

As Jefferson said to Adams, your work continues to shed light on mankind and eminently changes the condition of the world in which we live. And for that we here at the A-Team thank you all so very much.