This is the last conference, at least under the management of the Medical Records Institute.

Which is an interesting development, in my opinion.

There are good sessions at the conference but registration has been dwindling. What I’m hearing from the people I talk to – current and past attendees, exhibitors and speakers – is that the conference isn’t seen as being exactly leading edge. One correspondent indicated to me that the conference “has a Health 1.0 feel” to it.

Which is validated somewhat when you look at MRI leadership’s participation – or lack thereof – in social media. There is a LinkedIn group for conference attendees, but at present it has only 8 members and a day after applying to join the group, I’m still waiting to be approved. In addition, the group wasn’t initiated by leadership at MRI, but by one of the other attendees. And as I go through some of the discussions in the various groups I belong to, I’m seeing questions that could – and should – be answered by someone at MRI if their goal is to be leaders in healthcare IT, but they have a disturbing lack of presence at LinkedIn.

And at Facebook. And on Twitter. In fact, Twitter user (and blogger) ePatientDave asked those present at a keynote address he participated in how many people use Twitter and there were very few of us who raised hands. There was a very small tweetup at the gala reception later in the evening!

And yet – this is the conference that’s supposed to be all about the leading technologies in healthcare. Let’s face it – Web 2.0 is playing a large role in that technology.

It will be interesting to see if TEPR (or something like it) is reinvented or if this is the last hurrah of what used to be a really great conference.