Pediatric Informatics: Computer Applications in Child Health (Health ...

36 Appendix: A Community of Child Health and Informatics 471
The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) http://www.
ahima.org
AHIMA is a 52,000 member organization of health information management
professionals. “Founded in 1928 to improve the quality of medical records,
AHIMA is committed to advancing the health information management profession
in an increasingly electronic and global environment through leadership in advocacy,
education, certification, and lifelong learning.”
The Medical Record Institute (MRI) http://www.medrecinst.com
Founded in 1983, MRI’s vision is “an educational organization designed to stimulate
the development of electronic medical records and electronic health records
‘through health information technology.’” It hosts a number of recurring conferences,
including the TEPR (Towards the Electronic Patient Record) Conference as
the forum for sharing knowledge and experience about EMRs (and which presents
awards for outstanding healthcare IT products for pediatric use).
The Certification Commission for Health care Information Technology (CCHIT)
http://www.cchit.org
CCHIT is the “recognized certification body (RCB) for electronic health records
and their networks, and an independent, voluntary, private-sector initiative. Its
mission is to accelerate the adoption of health information technology by creating
an efficient, credible and sustainable certification program.” It currently includes
pediatric certification in its list of processes.
36.3 Private Foundations
The Markle Foundation (Markle) http://www.markle.org
Markle “structures and operates projects in cooperation with our partners instead
of working as a traditional grant-making organization.” Connecting for Health is
its public-private collaborative designed to address the barriers to development of
an interconnected ‘health information infrastructure “by driving” consensus on the
adoption of an initial set of data standards, developing case studies on privacy and
security, helping to define the electronic personal health record (PHR)” and developing
an incremental Roadmap to achieve healthcare connectivity.
The eHealth Initiative http://www.ehealthinitiative.org
The eHealth Initiative and its Foundation are independent, nonprofit organizations
that seek to drive improvement in the quality, safety, and efficiency of health care
through information and information technology by engaging multiple stakeholders
to define and then implement specific actions related to quality and safety related
to information technology.