5 Professional Organizations for Health Informatics Professionals

Health Informatics Professional Associations

  • American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA)
  • American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA)
  • American Nursing Informatics Association (ANIA)
  • Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS)
  • International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA)

Whether you have years of experience in healthcare informatics or are a current student in a health informatics program, joining a professional organization can help you with your career. Professional associations in the informatics industry offer opportunities for professional enrichment, continuing education, networking, job opportunities, and more.

American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA)

AHIMA, the American Health Information Management Association, was founded in 1928 and has more than 103,000 members worldwide. AHIMA serves health information and health informatics professionals. The organization provides resources to health information and informatics management professionals, students, and others in the health care industry, including program credentialing, online education, a journal, Body of Knowledge, and conferences and meetings. AHIMA is also one of the four cooperative organizations that develop governing principles for health organizations worldwide and also develop the ICD-10 medical coding guidelines.

American Medical Informatics Association

The American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) was founded in 1988 by the merger of three earlier U.S.-based medical information systems and informatics organizations. The goals of AMIA are to advance the science of informatics, promote informatics education, and also to provide networking and professional development opportunities for members. The organization has approximately 5,400 members, including physicians, nurses, dentists, pharmacists and other health professionals. Researchers, biomedical and health science librarians, advanced students, scientists, and government officials are also part of the organization. AMIA offers educational programs with an emphasis on science, and comprehensive conferences and meetings covering clinical research, consumer health informatics, public health informatics, and many other professional health care topics.

American Nursing Informatics Association

ANIA, the American Nurse Informatics Association, was founded in 1992, and merged with another nurse informatics organization, CARING, in 2010. The organization serves professional nurses and nursing associates who work in the areas of information science, computer science, and data management. ANIA has goals of bringing nurses together to improve their professional development and engage actively with other professionals. With a nursing focus, the organization promotes the use of informatics to improve population health, community health, and individual and family health. ANIA produces publications, hosts conferences, and supports local chapters.

Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS)

The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) is a large international membership organization. The North American HIMSS has 68,000 individual, 630 corporate, and more than 450 not-for-profit members. The society is devoted to “positively transforming health and healthcare” through information technology best practices. The organization conducts a number of initiatives, holds conferences, and has local and regional chapters and specialty organizations. HIMSS offers professional development, networking, and library resources.

International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA)

IMIA, the International Medical Informatics Association, is an international “association of associations,” comprised of health informatics societies located all over the world. IMIA has national, academic, and organizational members, as well as regional members, including the Asia Pacific, European Federation, North America, and Middle East regions. The organization produces the large MedInfo conference, publishes a number of documents and guidelines for ethical practices and maintains special interest groups, including a group specializing in nursing informatics.

Which of the several professional organizations for health informatics you decide to join will depend upon your specialty. Nurses, students, physicians, and administrators may all find organizations devoted to specific health care informatics specialties.