Newswatch: March 2006

HIMSS bound for the Big Easy in 2007

Its 2006 meeting just wrapped, and already, the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS of Chicago) is thinking about next year. The association has announced that it plans to hold its 2007 Annual HIMSS Conference & Exhibition in New Orleans from February 26 to March 1.

"We are going to New Orleans for HIMSS 2007 with complete confidence in the city's capabilities to host our annual conference and meet the needs of all conference attendees," said H. Stephen Lieber, HIMSS president and CEO. "We have consulted with our members, our exhibitors, and our leadership, [and we are] finding overwhelming support for this decision—one that HIMSS views as a positive contribution to the rebuilding of New Orleans and the Gulf area."

Following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, HIMSS began an examination of the city's viability to host the conference and its anticipated 24,000 attendees. Lieber and other HIMSS staff members also toured the area, learning that the French Quarter and the Garden District had largely escaped the flooding with virtually all services restored in those areas.

As for hotel rooms, New Orleans now has as many, or more, available hotels rooms as San Diego, the site of HIMSS 2006. All hotels, except the Hyatt Regency New Orleans, are expected to be open by the end of 2006, with many of those properties opening with renovations.

The Gulf region is home to roughly 400 HIMSS members. The organization reached out to individuals in these areas after the hurricanes hit. Through a matching donation program managed through the HIMSS Foundation, members donated more than $10,000 to various relief charities. HIMSS matched that amount with a $10,000 donation to the American Red Cross. The society also introduced the HIMSS Katrina Phoenix Project, a collaborative effort focused on rebuilding physician practices, which originally were equipped with paper health records, with EHR systems donated by hardware and software vendors.

"The commitment by HIMSS to New Orleans is evidenced in every action [the society] has taken, from supporting its members in the area to bringing its annual conference and exhibition—and its financial impact—to the city," said Kitty Ratcliffe, executive VP of the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau. "We have been impressed by the thorough approach taken by HIMSS leadership in the decision process, the outcome of which has great importance to both the society and our community."