The Virtual Conference & Expo brings together influential healthcare IT executives, invigorating speakers and leading industry vendors online, in real time.

The Healthcare Information Management and Systems Society (HIMSS) hosts its third Virtual Conference & Expo on April 23-24 with the recently added benefit of free access to the exhibit hall, educational sessions and networking lounge. The upcoming HIMSS Virtual Conference & Expo, created in partnership with Healthcare IT News, gives healthcare professionals the opportunity to gain product knowledge, grow professionally and network with their colleagues in an enhanced online, 3-D environment, all for free.

The HIMSS Virtual Conference & Expo enables the Society to serve a greater segment of the approximately 14 million healthcare professionals in the United States because it offers professionals all of the benefits of an in-person conference from the comfort and convenience of their desks. Among the 2,200-plus registered healthcare professionals and exhibitors at last November's event, 83 percent did not attend HIMSS07, and 50 percent worked for a hospital, healthcare system, integrated delivery network or academic medical center.

"As healthcare IT adoption increases across the United States, so does the need for high-quality education for today's healthcare professionals," explained H. Stephen Lieber, president and CEO of HIMSS. "The Virtual Conference & Expo accomplishes just that by providing professionals with a wealth of quality content, notable thought leaders, a live exhibit hall and real-time networking."

The April Virtual Conference & Expo includes as many as 14 live keynote speeches and educational seminars, covering real-time adjudication, electronic health record adoption, staff retention, standards harmonization, nurse HIT competencies, as well as Web technologies and service-oriented architecture applied in healthcare. These practical sessions are designed to provide answers to attendees most pressing concerns on the job. To date, HIMSS has confirmed athenahealth Chairman and CEO Jonathan Bush, and seasoned HIT expert Matthew Holt for Wednesday and Thursday keynote addresses.

Speakers will host live question and answer sessions with attendees after all keynote and educational presentations and will also be available for even further discussion via chat rooms after the live segment.

In addition to presentation-specific chat rooms, attendees can interact and meet with their industry colleagues in the Virtual Lounge where users often share professional advice. The April conference will introduce a new, exclusive C-Suite Lounge for senior executives to network and discuss leadership strategies, challenges and opportunities that their peers face regarding healthcare IT implementation, return on investment and workforce needs. Also, through a profile matching tool, attendees can easily search and connect via instant messenger or e-mail with individuals who share professional interests and expertise.

The newly enhanced virtual Exhibit Hall allows attendees to easily explore cutting-edge product solutions through engaging videos and demonstrations, access industry white papers and content for future reference, and interact live with company representatives via instant messenger, video chat or e-mail. Attendees can also take advantage of the Interoperability Showcase booth where they can observe demonstrations on in-use, standards-based interoperability frameworks enabling secure, real-time information exchange.

All educational sessions and keynote speeches are accessible on-demand to registrants for flexible viewing during conference and after conference for 30 days, free of charge. The virtual exhibit hall is also available for free, for 30 days after conference.

For more information, visit www.himssvirtual.org.

About HIMSS
The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) is the healthcare industry's membership organization exclusively focused on providing global leadership for the optimal use of healthcare information technology (IT) and management systems for the betterment of healthcare. Founded in 1961 with offices in Chicago, Washington D.C., Brussels, and other locations across the United States and Europe, HIMSS represents more than 20,000 individual members and over 300 corporate members that collectively represent organizations employing millions of people. HIMSS frames and leads healthcare public policy and industry practices through its advocacy, educational and professional development initiatives designed to promote information and management systems' contributions to ensuring quality patient care. Visit www.himss.org for more information.