Medtrade 2005 to Focus on Solutions and Education

New Educational Track Designed to Address Sleep Disordered Breathing

October 11, 2005

It is not too late to make plans to attend Medtrade 2005, the home medical equipment industry's leading conference and exposition. Medtrade 2005 will take place October 18-20, 2005 at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta . Produced by VNU Expositions, Medtrade 2005 will present over 200 educational events, including a new educational track that addresses sleep disorders, and will showcase over 290,000 square feet of exhibit space.

The theme for this year's event is "Medtrade: Your Partner for Success" and the event will offer an expanded educational program, more special events and a larger showcase for the most current technology in home healthcare.

To enhance attendees' educational opportunities, Medtrade 2005 will offer two pre-show events on Monday, Oct. 17. These day-long events include:

The Continuum of Care, presented by the American Association for Homecare and Medtrade, will offer accredited programs in respiratory therapy; sleep-disordered breathing; re/habilitation and assistive technology; and orthotics and prosthetics

Reimbursement from Customer Service to Collections: What's New and What Works will showcase a panel of leading reimbursement experts who will be prepared to discuss customer service and reimbursement from Medicare coding changes to denials

The Medtrade 2005 conference program will begin on Tuesday, Oct. 18 and will include over 200 educational seminars. The program has been expanded to include three new tracks. Mergers & acquisitions, oxygen/respiratory issues, and sleep-disordered breathing will be added to the current tracks, which include accreditation, business operations/customer service, home health /clinical issues, information technology, legal and legislative issues, pharmacy, professional motivation, rehabilitation and assistive technology, reimbursement, and sales and marketing.

Attendees can also take time out to catch-up with old friends and network with new ones while celebrating the industry's successes. During the reception, the HME Excellence Awards and the HomeCaring Awards will be presented. The HME Excellence Awards, presented by HME News , are given to the top providers in the industry in the areas of HME, respiratory and rehab. The HomeCaring Awa rds, presented by HomeCare magazine, recognize individual contributions to the HME industry. Both awards are co-sponsored by Medtrade and endorsed by the American Association for Homecare.

The Medtrade Welcome Reception and Awards Ceremony will begin Tuesday evening at 5:30 p.m. , following the close of the exhibit hall. The event will be held in the Thomas Murphy Ballroom at the Congress Center and is open to all attendees and exhibitors. Tickets for the event are $30, which includes entertainment, food and beverages. This year's event will also include four food stations prepared by the chefs from participating Medtrade host hotels. The proceeds from the reception will be donated to the Shepherd Center in Atlanta .

For more information about the event, please visit www.medtrade.com or call (800) 933-8735.