HOSA-Future Health Professionals began with six (6) charter states at the organizing meeting in Cherry Hill, New Jersey in November 1975 and was officially organized at a Constitutional Convention held in Arlington, Texas, in November, 1976 which was attended by state supervisors/advisors, teachers, and more than three hundred (300) student leaders.

 

In the beginning, the organization comprised of only six (6) states with nearly 6000 student members and focused on limited supportive nursing, dental, medical, and related occupations programs, as well as organized pre-technical programs in health careers approved by a State Department of Education.

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The first Competitive Events Committee was appointed prior to the 1978 leadership conference.  Four (4) events were implemented during the First Annual Leadership Conference in Oklahoma (1978).  Each event focused on general health issues and/or across‑the‑board leadership development aspects of HOE programming: HOSA Poster (Health Issue), Extemporaneous Speaking, Informative Speaking (currently called Prepared Speaking), and Job Interview (currently called Job Seeking Skills).

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In June 2004, members of the delegate assembly at the HOSA National Leadership Conference formalized HOSA’s commitment to assuming a more aggressive leadership role by implementing solutions to resolve the challenges and issues facing the health care industry by making the following changes:

• References to Health Occupations Education were changed to Health Science.

• The term “vocational” was changed to:  “career and technical education”.

• HOSA-Future Health Professionals became the official name of the organization.