AMIA policy activities

Abstract

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 of the new activities going forward. Through many educational and advocacy efforts, AMIA and its members play a significant role in helping shape HIT policy, and AMIA serves as an independent voice around issues relating to HIT and informatics more broadly. AMIA's influence is enhanced by the diversity of its members' expertise, which includes clinical, public health, and consumer informatics, research, education, health administration, and computer sciences, among many others. Members in academic, government, corporate, and community settings …