Informatics organizations and their roles in healthcare

¶ … Organization

Information organizations

Description of Selected Informatics Organizations

In this paper, we will describe a selected number of informatics organizations dealing with the field of healthcare and medicine. We would assess the main purpose of these organizations and what they stand for in brief detail, also the main aim here is to focus on the major points which define these organizations.

American Medical Informatics Association

American Health Information Management Association

American Society of Health Informatics Managers

Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society

International Medical Informatics Association

Introduction to informatics organizations

American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA)

AMIA is known to be a group of personals from many different disciplines whose purpose is to convey for the sole interest of bringing improvement in health informatics since it relates to different aspects of the main health care policy. This group has about four thousand members which include pharmacists, physicians, consultants, educators and government officials. AMIA alongside its associate college ACMI (American College of Medical Informatics) has provided more than thirty years of opinions and education that concerns the main policies of health care. "AMIA functions as the U.S. version of greater International Medical Informatics Association, whose existence helps in the improvement of the health care throughout the world" (Rees, 2003).

American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA)

AHIMA is a professional organization which is dedicated towards helping health care professionals so that they can manage their tasks properly in order to give better quality health care to others. AHIMA was created in 1928 for the purpose of improving the quality and maintenance of medical records, it was then known as Association of Record Librarians of Northern America. Even though medical records have been in the form of paper documents for a long time AHIMA is working very hard to build and maintain a system of electronic health record so that more efficiency is bought in the process of moving patient information between different medical professionals. AHIMA currently has more than fifty five thousand members and fifty two affiliated state associations. "Members have the privilege of accessing different professional resources, certification credentials and continuing education programs" (Kulge, 2001).

American Society of Health Informatics Managers (ASHIM)

ASHIM is an association for I.T professionals which specializes in the field of Health I.T. ASHIM is known to be a non-governmental, non-profit organization which was formed in 2009, as a response to data and information from the United States Department of Education, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and many different independent studies which indicated that a shortfall of some fifty thousand qualified workers of Health I.T department between the years 2009-2015 is required in order to meet up with the needs of physicians and hospitals as they move in adopting the electronic health care systems. A credentialing exam is also sponsored by ASHIM in order to certify the knowledge of different working level professionals of I.T from the healthcare industry, this is known as Certified Health Informatics Systems Professional exam.

Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS)

HIMSS is a non-profit firm whose main aim is the promotion of best usage of I.T management systems at the health care industry. It was founded in 1961, it provides a proper forum for the integration among various different stakeholders in the field of health care I.T, it uses education, advocacy and collaboration to expand its mission further. It has a vast membership base which totals more than forty thousand personals as well as five hundred and seventy corporate members which include students, I.T vendors, health care providers, consultants and different other stakeholders in the industry of Health I.T. HIMSS has recently focused its attention towards various health I.T topics like HIPAA privacy and security provisions, electronic health record systems, software interoperability as well as technical standards. "HIMSS chairs an annual conference which brings different health I.T stakeholders together for the purpose of networking and education." (Harris, 1995).

International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA)

"IMIA is an independent organization which promotes the usage of information science in today's modern society, especially in the fields of bioscience, health care and medicine" (Slack, 2001). It was created in 1967 in the form of technical committee for International Federation for Information Processing shortly pronounced as IFIP. Later on it became independent on 1987 and under Swiss law it was established in 1989. Here are some of its objectives and goals, the advancement of international cooperation, the exchange and dissemination of information, the simulation of education, research and development and the promotion of informatics at biomedical research and health care. It organizes different events and conferences throughout the world and is also known to bridge the knowledge gap by providing proper support to the developing countries.