Over 2024, AMIA expanded policy engagement with federal administrative offices by increasing our comment response nearly 200%, comprehensively updating AMIA's Public Policy principles, advocating for a dedicated Clinical Informatics federal job code and successfully led over 40 organizations to advocate for the improvement of the Health Informatics Specialist job code, and re-introduced AMIA to Capitol Hill with the inaugural virtual Hill Day.
AMIA’s policy work is led by the Public Policy Committee (PPC), who engage the 25x5 Task Force, other AMIA Committees, and wider membership throughout the year.
For more information, please visit AMIA’s policy webpages.
Highlighted Wins in 2024
Expanding Our Reach and Demonstrating Expertise
Legislative Engagement via the Inaugural Virtual Hill Day
AMIA held its first ever virtual Hill Day! 22 AMIA member volunteers virtually visited 45 Hill offices, including the members’ representatives, relevant Congressional Committee leaders, and those offices interested in AMIA priorities. AMIA discussed reducing documentation burden and responsible AI in healthcare. The connections made during the virtual event resulted in Congress people regularly reaching out to AMIA to further discuss these two issues throughout the year. See more about the virtual Hill Day!
Public Policy Principles
The PPC conducted a detailed review and future-proofed the Public Policy Principles to ensure they are accurate and enduring, as technology and healthcare policy change. AMIA uses the Public Policy Principles to assess the relevance of federal agency comment opportunities, such as Requests for Information or Notices of Proposed Rulemaking, and guide AMIA’s response. See AMIA’s Public Policy Principles!
Regulatory Engagement via Comment Submissions
AMIA submitted 22 comment letters in 2024, which is a 193% increase over the last 5 years. To craft these responses such that they represented our members’ needs and expertise, PPC used our Public Policy Principles, engaged other AMIA Committees, and tapped the larger membership. See our comments!
Among this year’s comments was the long-awaited opportunity to weigh in on the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) codes. AMIA led 31 signers advocating for a “Clinical Informatics” SOC. AMIA was also successful in our 2023 advocacy, in which we led 40 participants advocating for changes to the Health Informatics Specialist O*NET code. See more information on the “Clinical Informatics” Occupational Code project!
Policy "North Star" Priorities and Related Projects
Support the healthcare workforce by advancing the field of informatics and reducing burden on clinicians.
- 25x5 Task Force successfully advocates for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to create a technical brief on measuring documentation burden in healthcare.
- Gained Congressional support for the GOLD CARD Act (HR 4968).
- Led 31 organizations advocating for a “Clinical Informatics” Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) code. Additionally, we enjoyed the fruits of our 2023 advocacy, in which we successfully led 40 participants to advocate for improvements to the Health Informatics Specialist O*NET code. See more information on the “Clinical Informatics” Occupational Code project!
Advocate for evidence-based care and decision-support through informatics, including through machine-learning and AI.
- Acted as a resource to Capitol Hill to demystify AI and educate representatives on the genuine benefits and risks of AI in healthcare.
- Convened the National Academy of Medicine (NAM), Coalition for Health AI, the Health AI Partnership, and UCSF CoDEx to advise on resources such as the NAM AI Code of Conduct, host educational sessions for membership, and be a leading voice of AI in healthcare.
Advocate for health IT solutions that ameliorate systemic biases and discrimination.
- Focus on educating federal law and policy makers on the dangers of further entrenching data bias and inequitable access to healthcare if AI is misused.
Advocate for ongoing funding for the field, including informatics research.
- Successfully advocated for AHRQ to invest in measuring documentation burden.
- Supported funding for federal agencies that have an informatics focus.