What is HIMSS (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society)?

What does HIMSS do?

HIMSS aims to transform global health (its "why") through technology (its "how"). The organization provides innovative technological solutions that facilitate digital health transformation in healthcare.

HIMSS serves its members and providers with thought leadership and insights from top health systems. It provides policy support to health policy specialists and policy suggestions regarding incorporating technology in health. These suggestions guide decision-making at multiple tiers of government.

Another key activity for HIMSS is to provide educational resources to health services organizations, governments and startups. The association also partners with education and training companies to provide focused healthcare education to students and health technology professionals.

Besides the annual HIMSS Global Health Conference & Exhibition, HIMSS hosts region- or audience-specific events like the HIMSS APAC Conference & Exhibition, HIMSS Executive Summit, and the HIMSS Strategy Summit.

HIMSS organizational structure

Established in 1961, HIMSS now operates across North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific. For over 60 years, HIMSS has remained a community-driven organization that now has 125,000+ members, including nurses, physicians, health service organizations, nonprofit partners and AI researchers.

The HIMSS leadership team promotes the organization's best practices and leads its mission-aligned transformative initiatives. Led by a CEO, the team includes a chief products officer, chief administration officer, chief relationship officer, chief financial officer, chief marketing officer and head of government relations.

HIMSS also has a board of directors and an advisory board. The CEO is on the board of directors, and together with the other board members, strives to create positive change in healthcare by promoting the strategic use of innovative health tech, data analytics and management systems. The HIMSS advisory board works to shape health-related policies at the government level. Advisory members also advocate for the use of innovative solutions to improve patient care.

Based in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, HIMSS has offices in Chicago, Washington, D.C., Germany and Singapore.

The organization has a philanthropic arm called the HIMSS Foundation. Set up in 1996, the Foundation provides educational and professional opportunities to help healthcare leaders drive positive change in the health tech ecosystem. HIMSS Foundation also offers financial scholarships, grants, internships and externships to support students pursuing education and careers in digital health, information and management systems. Scholarship recipients also get complimentary access to the HIMSS Global Health Conference & Exhibition.

Through a HIMSS Foundation initiative called HIMSS Gives Back. HIMSS aims to create positive change in conference host communities. HIMSS works with its members and conference attendees to raise funds and awareness to benefit vulnerable or at-need communities, such as pregnant women, newborns, and new parents.

HIMSS Conference & Exhibition

The largest health information and technology conference in the world, the HIMSS Global Conference & Exhibition, draws tens of thousands of attendees from dozens of countries. Attendees typically include medical professionals (doctors, nurses), investors, payers, top-level health tech executives, healthcare providers, informaticists, health IT professionals, government officials, strategic consultants, startups and market suppliers.

This popular event provides a platform for health professionals to connect with global experts and peers, discover trending topics and learn about the future of health tech. Individuals can attend educational sessions and seminars, startups can tell their stories to potential investors, and companies can feature and promote their new products.

The 2025 conference (HIMSS25) occurred in March in Las Vegas, with more than 25,000 healthcare leaders from 88 countries. The event featured hundreds of educational sessions and exhibitors. The 2025 conference also facilitated numerous conversations about the future of healthcare technology through its popular hosted buyer program.

Some of the other popular elements of HIMSS25 included:

• Emerge innovation experience. A high-impact program that provides a curated space for innovators, investors, and executives to meet and discuss the future of healthcare
• Executive summit. A gathering of health leaders looking to promote best practices in care delivery
• Preconference forums and symposiums. Full-day topic-focused and role-specific programs to connect attendees with shared interests
• Specialty pavilions. Specific sessions on the exhibit floor curated by exhibitors to promote their healthcare-related products and solutions.

The 2026 conference (HIMSS26) is scheduled for March 9-12, 2026, in Las Vegas.

Benefits of HIMSS membership

HIMSS offers memberships for both individuals and organizations.

Individual members can further their education by accessing numerous HIMSS papers, case studies and published content about health digital transformation, industry trends, and the health workforce.

Individual membership includes invites to exclusive events, conferences, and lectures, most of which are offered at members-only pricing. Members can access the HIMSS Global Proposal Submission Portal to host webinars, apply to lead sessions at the HIMSS Conference, and publish original content on the HIMSS website.

Other benefits for individual HIMSS members include the following:

• Gaining relevant policy experience by joining HIMSS chapters, communities, workgroups, committees, and task forces.
• Earning industry-recognized certifications to demonstrate digital health skills.
• Accessing exclusive job postings on the organization's private job board (HIMSS JobMine®).

HIMSS offers three tiers of membership for individuals:

• Chapter: $39 per year.
• Student: $49 per year.
• Premium: $199 per year.

Depending on the tier chosen, members get the benefits of accessing resources and knowledge related to networking and collaboration, thought leadership, professional development, and advocacy and social impact.

A free digital membership is also available for individuals. However, this membership offers very limited benefits. For example, members get unlimited access to HIMSS media brands and monthly public policy updates. However, they cannot apply for HIMSS Foundation scholarships, attend career fairs, access exclusive members-only content on the HIMSS Resource Center, or access the HIMSS members-only directory. Only members who purchase the Premium tier get these and other benefits. Those who purchase one of the other two tiers get some, but not all, of these benefits.

HIMSS organizational members get education, networking and insights for the entire enterprise. These "organizational affiliates" can be health systems, corporations, governments, academic institutions or nonprofits.

Health providers and organizations can purchase the Organizational Affiliate membership. This membership allows their staff to access exclusive events, conferences and industry resources. They can also join HIMSS chapters, committees, task forces and communities.

Three Organizational Affiliate membership tiers are available for providers, with each tier offering a combination of different benefits:

• Bronze: $5,000 per year.
• Silver: $8,000 per year.
• Gold: $12,000 per year.
• Platinum: $20,000 per year.

Schools can apply for the HIMSS Academic Organizational Affiliate membership. Students and faculty of member institutions can access exclusive health events, conferences and industry resources. Students (and select faculty members) also get into the HIMSS community and can network with established professionals before landing their first jobs.

Only one membership tier is available for Academic Organizational Affiliates at $2,500 per year.

The HIMSS Corporate membership is for technology firms. It allows the member's staff to get preferred pricing on HIMSS events. They can also publish white papers and original research through HIMSS' many media channels. Additionally, the company can exhibit at the HIMSS conference and access conference attendee lists and competitive intelligence.

Three membership tiers are available for corporates, with each tier offering a combination of different benefits:

• Gold: $5,000 per year.
• Emerald: $16,000 per year.
• Diamond: $35,000 per year.

Finally, HIMSS offers a membership tier for nonprofits looking to build connections across government and industry. With this membership, nonprofit staff get preferred pricing on HIMSS events and can network with leaders at providers, vendors and policy organizations. Nonprofit partners can also publish white papers and original research through HIMSS media channels to boost awareness about their work and mission.

To apply for Organizational Membership to HIMSS, prospective members need to contact HIMSS.

HIMSS collaborations

HIMSS collaborates with several other organizations, including:

• College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME). HIMSS and CHIME offer a joint membership and co-host the CHIME-HIMSS CIO Forum and the HIMSS-CHIME Cybersecurity Forum at the HIMSS annual conference.
• CommonWell Health Alliance. HIMSS works with the CommonWell Health Alliance to provide education and promote communication about health information exchange and interoperability efforts.
• Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine (SIIM). The two organizations co-host the HIMSS-SIIM Enterprise Imaging Workgroup, bringing together stakeholders to identify new ways for clinicians and IT professionals to advance enterprise imaging strategies.

HIMSS also collaborates with the Radiological Society of North America to sponsor the Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) initiative.

HIMSS history

HIMSS was founded in 1961 at the Georgia Institute of Technology as the Hospital Management Systems Society (HMSS), and its first national convention was held the following year in Baltimore. The primary purpose of HMSS was to promote the continuous improvement of hospital management systems through education, research and professional practice.

The organization's name was changed in 1986 to Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society. In 2006, HIMSS -- in collaboration with 45 partner organizations -- held the first national Health IT Week, sponsored jointly by the Massachusetts Medical Society, the world's oldest continuously operating state medical association. The event is a nationwide awareness week that focuses on driving actionable change in the U.S. healthcare system through information and technology. National Health IT Week participants include the current White House administration; congressional, federal and state agencies; healthcare providers; nonprofit organizations; and others.

In 2012, HIMSS launched a new initiative called mHIMSS that focuses on the ability of mobile technology to transform healthcare. The organization also provides resources for healthcare providers that want to adopt mobile health (mHealth), and it provides an mHealth roadmap and security toolkit.

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