AMIA’s goal is to improve the legislative and regulatory environment for health informatics research, practice and education through AMIA member expertise. The primary pathway through which AMIA achieves this goal is by engaging Federal Agencies and Congress on public calls for input, such as Notices of Proposed Rulemakings (NPRMs) or Request for Information (RFIs).
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AMIA responses are arranged by Federal Agency and Congressional Committee.
In comments submitted to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), AMIA recommended that the agency subject username/password information to its Health Breach Notification (HBN) Rule and expand its purview to provide warning to health apps that provide inadequate transparency into its data use, reuse, and exchange. AMIA further urged FTC to address […]
In comments filed with CMS last week, AMIA wrote that while it supports proposals to provide hospitals with flexibilities in how they comply with the Promoting Interoperability Program, it also strongly urges CMS to consider how it can leverage this and other programs to help mitigate and recover from the […]
In comments submitted to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) supported proposed flexibilities in how hospitals comply with the Promoting Interoperability (PI) Program and those that incentivize them to continue investments in health IT. However, they continued to urge CMS to more […]
In comments submitted to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), AMIA applauded the agency on its thoughtful and thorough “21st Century Cures Act: Interoperability, Information Blocking, and the ONC Health IT Certification Program proposed rule.” AMIA advised ONC to establish an overall “share now, standardize […]
In comments submitted to the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) Office of Civil Rights (OCR), AMIA recommended that the Office ensure that HIPAA both requires and permits information-sharing upon patient and clinician request, as well as robust penalties for failing to deliver data pursuant to the patient “right […]
In comments submitted to ONC and CMS, AMIA recommended that the Department of Health and Human Services orient its documentation burden reduction strategy towards a long-term goal of decoupling clinical documentation from billing, regulatory, and administrative compliance requirements. AMIA highlighted the unique opportunity to leverage informatics tools and methodologies to […]
In response to a Request for Information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, AMIA urged HHS officials to focus on narrow use cases, such as CDS or eCQMs, when conceptualizing a national collaborative for health IT testing. AMIA also outlined the pros/cons of focusing on CDS versus eCQMs […]
In comments submitted to the NIH, AMIA supported an expansive update to its 2003 data sharing policy, recommending a phased approach to implement new data management and sharing requirements for NIH-funded research. It also noted that quality data management and sharing plans are prerequisite to the NIH’s goals of making […]
Partnering with AHIMA, AMIA recommended that policymakers modernize HIPAA by either establishing a new term, “Health Data Set,” which includes all clinical, biomedical, and claims data maintained by a Covered Entity or Business Associate, or by revising the existing HIPAA “Designated Record Set” definition and require Certified Health IT to […]
In response to a Request for Comment from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, AMIA urged the administration to seek harmonization of federal data privacy policies, while also ensuring that consumer access to and control over his or her data be the baseline for its policies.