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HIMSS leaders announced plans to cancel the 2020 event

Due to the recent reports from the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, organizers of HIMSS, a global health conference, cancelled the 2020 event. It had been scheduled to take place in Orlando, Florida March 9-12.

HIMSS leadership said it had discussed the situation at length with medical professionals and utilized evidence-based decision making to reach its decision.

“The advisory panel recognized that industry understanding of the potential reach of the virus has changed significantly in the last 24 hours, which has made it impossible to accurately assess risk,” they said in an email to participants on Thursday, March 5. “Additionally, there are concerns about disproportionate risk to the healthcare system given the unique medical profile of Global Conference attendees and the consequences of potentially displacing healthcare workers during a critical time, as well as stressing the local health systems were there to be an adverse event.”

WELL CEO and founder Guillaume de Zwirek said, “We respect the decision of HIMSS leadership and believe this is the safest choice to protect the health and safety of companies and attendees. We at WELL are actively monitoring the situation and working closely with our clients to help them provide timely communication to their patients.”

The email came after several major tech companies pulled out of the event, including Amazon, Cisco, and Intel. President Donald J. Trump had been scheduled to speak at the event.

This is the first time in nearly 60 years that the event has been cancelled. Conferences around the world have been cancelled due to the rapidly evolving Coronavirus outbreak.

Leaders said, “It is now clear that cancellation is unavoidable in order to meet HIMSS’ obligation to protect the health and safety of the global HIMSS community, employees and local residents, as well as for the healthcare providers tasked with keeping our U.S. and global communities healthy.”

WELL had looked forward to demoing  our newest feature, Referrals Management, at HIMSS 2020. We are actively planning a webinar in April to share more about how clients can manage referrals to prevent patient leakage. Stay tuned and stay healthy! ♥

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