Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society

Founded in 1961, the [http://www.himss.org Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS)] is a healthcare industry membership organization exclusively focused on providing leadership for the optimal use of information technology and management systems for the betterment of healthcare.

With offices in Chicago, IL; Arlington, VA; Ann Arbor, MI; Singapore, and Brussels, Belgium, HIMSS represents more than 20,000 individual members, more than 350 corporate members, 46 chapters, and organizational members that collectively represent organizations employing millions of people. HIMSS frames and leads the healthcare industry through its educational, professional development, public policy, and community-building initiatives designed to improve the quality, safety, effectiveness, and cost-efficiency of patient care through the best use of IT and management systems.

HIMSS Vision: Advancing the best use of information and management systems for the betterment of health care.

HIMSS Mission: To lead change in the healthcare information and management systems field through knowledge sharing, advocacy, collaboration, innovation, and community affiliations.

HIMSS Governance: Elected by the membership, the HIMSS Board of Directors serve a three-year term. HIMSS is a 501(c)6 organization.

HIMSS Foundation: The [http://www.himss.org/foundation Foundation] - a 501(c)3 organization - is the philanthropic arm of HIMSS. Each year, the Foundation gives scholarships to students in the fields of healthcare information and management systems.

HIMSS Analytics: A wholly-owned, non-for-profit subsidiary of HIMSS, [http://www.himssanalytics.org HIMSS Analytics] collects and analyzes healthcare organization data relating to IT processes and environments, products, IS department composition and costs, IS department management metrics, healthcare delivery trends, and purchasing related decisions.

Industry Collaboration: With the Radiological Society of North America, HIMSS is a sponsor of the Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) initiative. HIMSS is also home to the [http://www.ehrva.org Electronic Health Records Association] . Supported by both the American Medical Informatics Association and HIMSS, the [http://www.allianceni.org Alliance for Nursing Informatics] represents more than 2,000 nurses and brings together 18 distinct nursing informatics groups that function independently. With 76 partnering organizations, HIMSS sponsors [http://www.healthitweek.org National Health IT Week] , a collaborative forum during which key healthcare constituents - vendors, provider organizations, payors, pharmaceutical/biotech companies, governmental agencies, industry/professional associations, research foundations, and consumer protection groups - work together to elevate national attention to the necessity of health IT adoption.

HIMSS Advocacy: Annually, HIMSS organizes an "Advocacy Day" where members of HIMSS as well as other interested parties in the Health IT community congregate in Washington, D.C. to represent Health IT concerns to Congressional representation. Members set up meeting with staffers from their respective Members of Congress to discuss specific legislation as well as generic Health IT topics that impact society. HIMSS has a dedicated department that coordinates this effort. Similarly, individual HIMSS Chapters also conduct state-level HIMSS Advocacy events, where local chapters conduct similar activities at their state capitols and conduct meeting with members of the respective state legislators.

Events held by HIMSS include:

Annual HIMSS Conference: http://www.himssconference.org/

HIMSS AsiaPac: http://www.himssasiapac.org/

World of Health IT: http://www.worldofhealthit.org/

National Health IT Week: http://www.healthitweek.org/

HIMSS Virtual Conference: http://www.himssvirtual.org/

Regional Chapter Programs: http://www.himss.org/ASP/confCalendarHome.asp?cetid=500/

HIMSS Advocacy Day: http://www.himss.org/advocacy/activities_advocacyday.asp

ee also

*Healthcare informatics
*Nursing informatics
*Pharmacy informatics
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Management_systems]

External links

* [http://www.himss.org Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society]
* [http://www.himssconference.org HIMSS 2008 Annual Conference & Exhibition]
* [http://www.ihe.net Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise]
* [http://www.ehrva.org HIMSS Electronic Health Record Vendors Association]
* [http://www.grantsadvantage.org HIMSS Grants Advantage]