HIT Standards Organizations
The organizations below have done significant work with respect to HIT standards. They often work together as affiliates to "harmonize" standards required to underpin the "national health infrastructure." There is broad consensus that standards are required to enable effective sharing of electronic health records. However, there is also some concern that standards "harmonization" may cause unwarranted delays. A pragmatic resolution probably falls somewhere in the middle.
- Healthcare Information Technology Standards Panel (HITSP)
- The Joint Commission
- National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
- American National Standards Institute - ANSI
- CCHIT : Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology
- Health Level Seven
Other Organizations
In addition to standards organizations, there are other quasi-governmental and industry organizations that will continue to play important roles going forward. Again, we do not attempt to provide an exhaustive list. Such a list would likely become dated in short order, since this space is rapidly changing. To be sure, often determining who does what in this organizational maze is a challenging exercise in its own right.
Because any transformation of the health care industry will require an enormous collaborative effort between public/private partnerships, we expect new organizations to emerge and perhaps consolidation among existing players. The list below provides a reader a glimpse of who is out there and what they do.
- NeHC | National eHealth Collaborative
- HIMSS | Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society
- RTI International
- AMIA | American Medical Informatics Association
- CDT | Health Privacy
- National ePrescribing Patient Safety Initiative
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