It will be held in Baltimore, Maryland (with some activities in nearby Washington, DC) on October 14-18, 2006. The general sessions, workshops and the National Home Care & Hospice Exposition will be held at the Baltimore Convention Center, located at Howard and Pratt Streets in downtown Baltimore.

Celebrating the Past, Claiming the Future. It speaks to the fact that NAHC
and home care and hospice have enjoyed a distinguished history which needs to be honored and look forward to an even brighter future. The purpose of the meeting will be to help attendees in their efforts to reinvent home care and hospice and position themselves to provide services to the increasing number of ill, disabled and dying Americans who will need assistance in the years to come.

The Hyatt Regency Baltimore, located at 300 Light Street in Downtown Baltimore is the headquarter hotel for attendees. The Hyatt is connected to the Convention Center and to Harborplace Mall. The Renaissance Harborplace Hotel, the headquarter hotel for exhibitors, is located to the north of Harborplace at 202 East Pratt Street and is connected to it with a walkway. The Wyndham Hotel is located two blocks north of the Convention Center at 101 West Fayette Street. The Radisson Plaza Lord Baltimore Hotel is located at 20 West Baltimore Street, right next door to the Wyndham. The Days Inn at the Inner Harbor is ideally located at 100 Hopkins Place, one block north of the Convention Center. The Holiday Inn Inner Harbor is located at 301 West Lombard Street, across the street from the Days Inn and across the street from the Convention Center.

You can reserve your rooms online or fill out the printable housing form.

Mail it to:

NAHC Housing Bureau
c/o Greater Baltimore Convention and Visitors Bureau
100 Light Street, 12th Floor,
Baltimore, MD 21202

or call Passkey, the entity set up to help attendees facilitate their reservation, at 800-282-6632.

Answer: Baltimore is blessed to be served by all major airlines and several efficient discount airlines. This means you get the benefit of low airfares. The name of the airport is BWI, which stands for Baltimore-Washington International.
It is currently the largest hub for Southwest, which runs 200 flights a day from the airport.

NAHC is negotiating additional discounted airline rates. Visit www.nahc.org for a full list of discounted rates.

Answer: BWI is located approximately eight miles south of the city. A taxi will cost
about $23. There is also a MARC train station at the airport which will take you to the city. The Airport Shuttle and the SuperShuttle are also available at BWI for $12. To reserve the Airport shuttle, please call 1-800-776-0323 or go to www.airportshuttle.com. To ride the SuperShuttle, please call 1-800-BLUE VAN (258-3826) for reservations or visit www.supershuttle.com.

The quickest, easiest way to register is online at www.nahc.org. You can also mail your Early Bird Registration Form found on page 62 to NAHC Annual Meeting, P.O. Box 91486, Washington, DC, 20090 or fax it to NAHC at 202-547-3660.

NAHC has gone all out in celebration of its 25th birthday. The proximity to Washington, DC, allows NAHC to engage many of the finest speakers from the worlds of politics, business, education and media. Speakers will be announced as they are confirmed.

Some 128 workshops will be presented in eight different time slots. Each of the eight sessions will offer 16 different programs from which attendees can choose. Each session will be 90 minutes long. A total of 192 hours of the highest quality education will be offered, not counting the general sessions and the CEO School. With these included, the meeting will offer more than 200 hours of continuing education, allowing nurses, accountants, physicians, and others to satisfy all or most of their yearly educational requirements at one meeting for a very reasonable price.

NAHC if offering 24 contact hours for nursing CEs and 22 contact hours for accounting CPEs, 20 for physicians and 15 for attorneys.

The educational themes that will be covered are: Aging, Long-Term Care & Chronic Illness; Clinical Services; End of Life, Palliative Care & Hospice; Global Business Development & National Profiles; Human Resources; Management of Communicable Diseases; Pediatric Care at Home; Prevention & Wellness; Private Pay, Alternative Services & Innovative Partnerships; Quality & Outcomes Management (including Pay for Performance); Telehealth & Technology; Business and Financial Management; as well as Legal & Regulatory issues.

There will be specific educational and networking opportunities for the numerous classifications of employees of home care and hospice. These include CEO/Executive Director, CFO/Director of Finance, Clinical Director/Director of Nursing, Compliance/Legal Officer, Human Resources Director, PR and Communications Director, COO/Director of Operations, CIO/IT/IS Director, Hospice Director, Medical Director, Director of Private Pay, and Marketing/Business Development Director as well as individual RNs and Home Care Aides.

The Home Care & Hospice Exposition begins at 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, October 15, with a Grand Opening Reception that will last until 8:00 p.m. Exhibit hours on Monday, October 16, are from 10:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, October 17.

There will be approximately 500 booths in Baltimore, surpassing last year's total, and second in number only to the NAHC 1997 Annual Meeting held in Boston.
Expect a broad array of information and technology vendors, consultants and those offering products and services designed to help agencies reduce costs, produce profits and provide the highest quality of care. A map of the proposed 2006 exhibit floor and past exhibitors is provided on pages 22 and 23.

Of course! Saturday has been set aside for attendees to enjoy the great Baltimore-Washington area. Many people come in early or stay a few days after the meeting to enjoy the sites often bringing family members with them. See page 34 for a suggestion of day trips from BWI.

There is a lifetime of things to do in Baltimore, even more so given its proximity to Washington, DC. Most of this planning guide is taken up describing many of the fun things to do in the Baltimore / Washington area. See pages 24 through 33 for some entertaining ideas.

Absolutely! Almost too many to list. Harborplace located across the street from the Hyatt features over 100 unique shops. As with all major cities, however, the major shopping malls are located in the suburbs. Towson Town Center offers Baltimore's premiere shopping experience with some 200 retailers including Nordstrom. It is located 15 minutes from downtown at Dulaney Valley Road and Fairmont Avenue. The White March Mall is the sixth largest in Maryland located off Perry Hall Boulevard about 15 miles to the northeast of the City Center. The Prime Outlets Mall located some 20 miles West in Hagerston has excellent bargains on high quality merchandise. Finally, there is Arundel Mills, located 10 miles south of the City, just south of the airport featuring more than 200 outlets, discount, or specialty stores.

For those who want to venture some 30 miles to Rockville, Maryland - a suburb north and west of Washington, there is a fabulous high end mall called White Flint. Tyson's Corner located west of Washington about ten miles east of Dulles Airport also offers high-end shopping for those who are looking for that something special.

Yes, it does, in spades. From ethnic foods and haute cuisine, to burgers and fries, from vegetarian to the best steakhouses, you will find the perfect restaurant to suit your every taste. See pages 42 through 53 and following for some ideas to tempt your palate.

You bet! NAHC feels a responsibility to make sure that everyone has a good time. On Saturday night NAHC will sponsor a reception honoring former board and staff members. The opening of the Home Care & Hospice Exposition will follow on Sunday night from 5:00-8:00 p.m. This event will allow members to see the newest technology or make contact with constituents and vendors. The food will be plentiful and the opportunity to network with colleagues will be great.

The dress code is business casual. Wear whatever makes you comfortable except for Tuesday evening, October 17 which will feature a black tie dinner in celebration of NAHC's 25th Birthday.

Perfect! The highs should be in the mid-80s during the day to a low in the 60s at night. You may want to bring a sweater or light jacket for the evenings.