Increasingly, the science and tools of informatics are being leveraged across all levels of healthcare delivery, public health and clinical research. The digitization of data across the health and research enterprise has thrust a traditionally academic pursuit more firmly into everyday application, and informatics is foundational to this transformation.
Over the course of 2016, AMIA’s Public Policy Committee considered the present and near-term policy landscape to develop Principles and Positions across select, priority domains, which are essential to the emergent realm of public policy referred to as Health Informatics Policy. Similar to Environmental Policy, Education Policy and Social Policy, Health Informatics Policy is a distinct policy domain which seeks to optimize care delivery and care experience, improve population and public health, and advance biomedical research through the collection, analysis and application of data.
Core of Health Informatics Policy
AMIA Public Policy identified nine initial pillars as core to Health Informatics Policy, including:
- Patient Empowerment
- Health IT Safety
- Workforce and Education
- Data Sharing in Research
- Health IT Standards & Interoperability
- Informatics-Driven Quality Measurement
- Population & Public Health
- Health Data Privacy
- Artificial Intelligence Principles for Healthcare
Each priority begins with a series of statements describing what AMIA believes – Principles that describe the values intrinsic to the pillar and viewed through an informatics lens. A series of Policy Positions are resultant from these Principles, and they are supported through evidence in peer-reviewed literature.
