Creating advanced health informatics certification

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Professional Certification
• Medical Informatics

Background:

• AMIA identified the need for advanced health informatics certification in 2005.
• Initial efforts focused on creating a clinical informatics subspecialty for physicians.
• Since 2012, AMIA has worked on a broader certification for all health informatics practitioners.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the efforts undertaken by AMIA to establish advanced health informatics certification (AHIC).
• To report on the current status of the components required for AHIC.
• To provide context for the proposed AHIC eligibility requirements.

Main Methods:

• Review of AMIA's strategic initiatives and board decisions regarding advanced health informatics certification.
• Analysis of progress on key tasks for establishing AHIC.
• Development and endorsement of proposed eligibility requirements.

Main Results:

• AMIA successfully established the clinical informatics subspecialty.
• AMIA has made progress towards establishing AHIC for all health informatics practitioners.
• The AMIA Board of Directors endorsed proposed eligibility requirements in November 2015.

Conclusions:

• The establishment of AHIC is a significant step towards professionalizing the field of health informatics.
• The proposed eligibility requirements represent a key milestone in the AHIC development process.
• AHIC is expected to benefit individual practitioners, healthcare organizations, and society.