Via a collaboration with the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), Microsoft has extended its Health Users Group to EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa). The Redmond company used the World of Health IT Conference and Exhibition in Copenhagen as the stage for the announcement that members of the healthcare industry in EMEA now have at their disposal a new playground for working together on solutions designed to integrate with Microsoft's platforms.

“Extending Microsoft HUG to the EMEA healthcare community provides an expanded forum for sharing best practices and learnings from our own experience as well as those of our customers and partners,” said Tim Smokoff, general manager of worldwide health at Microsoft.

Microsoft HUG EMEA is designed as a unified resource for members of the healthcare industry which delivers a variety of benefits for members. According to Microsoft, HUG EMEA will offer a forum set up to bring members together, support networking and collaboration between peers.

“This collaboration enables the ecosystem to strengthen itself. Partners can further support their businesses, customers can improve their services, and both achieve a stronger return on their investments by learning from others facing similar challenges - all while working toward the goal of improving health costs, quality and access for citizens,” Smokoff added.

But at the same time, the resources made available via HUG EMEA are not limited to the forum. Members will be able to take advantage of the streamlined access to technological solutions not only from Microsoft, but also from the company's partners as well as third party developers. The original version of HUG, spreading across North America, has grown to over 5,000 members since it was initially made available.

“Managing Microsoft HUG enables us to further promote our mission to lead change in the healthcare information and management systems field through knowledge sharing, advocacy, collaboration, innovation and community affiliation. Ultimately our goal is to drive better patient care, and this is another step in that direction,” explained H. Stephen Lieber, CAE, president and chief executive officer, HIMSS.