Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association Messages from AMIA

AMIA policy activities

Bates, D. W., Edmunds, M. — 2012-04-09T07:38:02-07:00

The last few years have clearly been the most exciting ever for health information technology (HIT) policy. The nation has made a huge investment in HIT through the Recovery Act of 2009 and its HITECH provisions, on the premise that electronic health records and widespread information exchange can improve the quality, safety, and efficiency of our healthcare system and transform the care delivery experience for providers, patients, and families—all while helping to improve population health and health data systems. But implementation of such an ambitious program brings many challenges. We think that the next few years will be even more important for AMIA and other HIT stakeholders as we realistically face uncertainty about returns on the national investment.

Our goals in writing this column are to describe the role of the AMIA and its Public Policy Committee (PPC), to highlight some accomplishments of past years, and to discuss some...

President's column: reflections on AMIA's past 3 years

Shortliffe, E. H. — 2012-02-07T16:14:26-08:00

AMIA has been the home for informatics professionals for 22 years, and has undergone a remarkable evolution during that time. Its autumn meeting continues to be a vibrant setting for the best in informatics science and practice, building on a tradition that started with SCAMC (the Symposium on Computer Applications in Medical Care) in 1977. Its journal, created in the early 1990s, is now arguably the preeminent journal in our discipline, combining cutting-edge science with important insights from the practice community. I have been honored to serve as AMIA's President during the past 3 of those 22 years and would like to take a moment to reflect on our recent accomplishments while acknowledging our ongoing challenges and exciting opportunities for the future. Among our recent accomplishments:

We completed the roll-out of our rebranding effort with a new logo and a web site that has greatly increased functionality, a modern look, and...

President's column: Remarks from incoming Board Chair

Kuperman, G. J. — 2011-12-10T07:38:52-08:00

I am honored to assume the role of Board Chair for AMIA for a 2-year term starting January 1, 2012. I would like to use this column to give you an overview of the strategies that are setting the directions for AMIA.

Before starting the core of this document, I have a couple of notes. First, I would like to acknowledge the terrific work of my predecessor, outgoing AMIA Board Chair Nancy Lorenzi. During her term, Nancy made AMIA a much more effective and efficient organization. Nancy led a refinement of AMIA's strategic plan,1 which put the organization on a firm forward-looking path. She addressed long standing needs at AMIA, including a revision of the bylaws and the committee structure, as well as the development of a Conflict of Interest policy. She also chartered and brought to completion several key task forces including ones that examined AMIA's...

President's column: subspecialty certification in clinical informatics

Shortliffe, E. H. — 2011-10-18T14:19:35-07:00

Shortly after Don Detmer joined AMIA as its first full-time professional president and CEO, he became aware of the growing demand among clinical informaticians for a process by which they could be credentialed to show their competence and accomplishments in the field. Such credentialing would require consensus on the design and content of training programs for clinical informaticians, and AMIA seemed to be especially well positioned to develop the materials necessary to promote the process. In early 2007, with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, AMIA embarked on an 18-month process to define the field of clinical informatics, its core competencies, and the rationale for recognizing a formal subspecialty in the area.1 Several AMIA members were invited to serve on the study groups that produced key documents that were ultimately approved by the AMIA board of directors and published in J Am Med Inform Assoc. One...

AMIA president's column: AMIA's corporate relations activities

Shortliffe, E. H. — 2011-08-16T13:07:37-07:00

As I discussed in a recent president's column,1 the roots of AMIA's founding and early identity were largely academic, with an emphasis on informatics and computer science research, both basic and applied. Yet, with the passage of time, yesterday's research has evolved into standard approaches and tools. Today's clinical computing products often reflect research that was carried out in academia or other investigational settings 10, 20, or 30 years ago. Similarly, today's research and development work will be reflected in products a decade or so in the future. This observation emphasizes the ongoing importance of basic and applied research, to fill the pipeline with the ideas and methods that will define the systems of tomorrow.

With the evolution of the field, AMIA has necessarily evolved as well, and now embraces a much more diverse membership and, accordingly, different member expectations.2 There is a greater emphasis on...