Clinical Informatics Becomes a Board-certified Medical Subspecialty Following ABMS Vote

September 22, 2011
AMIA to offer prep courses for clinicians who sit for Board Exam

Washington, DC—Today, AMIA—the association for informatics professionals—announces the success of a multi-year initiative to elevate clinical informatics to an American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) subspecialty certified by an examination administered by the American Board of Preventive Medicine and available to physicians who have primary specialty certification through the American Board of Medical Specialties. Joining such subspecialties as pediatric anesthesiology, medical toxicology, sports medicine, geriatrics medicine, and cardiovascular disease, clinical informatics (CI) certification will be based on a rigorous set of core competencies, heavily influenced by publications on the subject that were developed by AMIA and its members, many of whom have pioneered the field and supported CI’s new status as an ABMS-recognized area of clinical expertise. The goal for the first board exam is to have it available in Fall 2012, with the first certificates awarded early in 2013. To prepare physicians who wish to sit for this examination, AMIA is developing preparatory materials both as online and in-person courses starting Spring 2012.

"It is entirely appropriate and timely to certify clinical informatics as a specialized area of training and expertise in an era when more and more clinicians are turning to data-driven, computer-assisted clinical decision support to provide care for their patients," said AMIA’s Board of Directors Chair Nancy M. Lorenzi, PhD, of Vanderbilt University Medical Center. “Clinical informatics blends medical and informatics knowledge to support and optimize healthcare delivery."

MedQuist and Artificial Medical Intelligence to Partner on Computer-Assisted Coding

MedQuist and Artificial Medical Intelligence to Partner on Computer-Assisted Coding
Solution to Increase Coder Productivity and Improve Hospital Financial Performance

Mt. Laurel, NJ, April 1, 2010 – MedQuist Inc. (NASDAQ: MEDQ), a leading provider of technology-enabled clinical documentation services, has announced an agreement with healthcare informatics software developer Artificial Medical Intelligence Inc. (AMI) to provide computer-assisted coding (CAC) within MedQuist’s CodeRunner™ coding workflow platform.

AMI’s patented Powered by EMscribeTM technology includes comprehensive Inpatient and Outpatient natural language processing (NLP) to provide ICD-9-CM, CPT and E & M medical coding conventions today, and offers the platform framework for ICD-10 in the future. The technology is able to apply NLP to data abstraction, making it a usable and flexible solution for hospitals and clinics. AMI’s technology innovation automatically processes certain record types without requiring coder review for very high accuracy.

Biomedical Informatics at Stanford and Boston (Harvard, MIT, BU, and Tufts)

Many of my friends went to Stanford. I chose to head out to the East Coast, so I ended up at MIT. As a result, I made many friends at MIT, Harvard, Tufts, and Boston University. Stanford has a Biomedical Informatics program that I'd like to write about. This program, the Stanford Center for Biomedical Informatics Research (BMIR), used to be called Stanford Medical Informatics. Back in 2007, Stanford changed the name from Stanford Medical Informatics to the Stanford Center for Biomedical Informatics Research. Here's a little snippet from their website:

The BMI training program encompasses bioinformatics, clinical informatics, and public health informatics. Bioinformatics focuses on methods for relevant to basic biology. Clinical informatics focuses on methods relevant to patient care. Public health informatics focuses on methods relevant to entire health systems.

Now, if you head to the east coast, you'll find the BIRT. What's BIRT?

The Boston-area Biomedical Informatics Research Training (BIRT) program is a consortium of leading informatics laboratories at Harvard, MIT, Boston University, and Tufts and is supported by a grant from the National Library of Medicine. BIRT participants comprise a vibrant academic community of individuals with diverse backgrounds and broad-ranging interests, providing fellows with many opportunities for interaction and collaboration.

Speaking of BIRT, here are the different labs that offer programs:

Harvard
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center	Division of Clinical Informatics
Brigham and Women's Hospital	Center for Clinical and Quality Analysis
	Decision Systems Group
Children's Hospital	Children's Hospital Informatics Program
Massachusetts General Hospital	Laboratory of Computer Science
Partners Healthcare	Center for Information Technology Leadership
	Clinical Informatics Research & Development
School of Public Health	School of Public Health
MIT	Clinical Decision Making Group
Tufts Medical Center	Division of Clinical Decision Making, Informatics, and Telemedicine
Boston University	Medical Information Systems Unit

Chatting about medical informatics with a colleague

I had a pleasant chat the other day with a friend who may be looking to return to the world of medical informatics. After residency, he completed a biomedical informatics fellowship and did some work in that area, but then he primarily stayed in the clinical world of medicine. Back then, informatics wasn't booming like it is today because of ARRA and the HITECH provisions.

So much has changed in the world of medical informatics and we're certainly going to see more change in the upcoming years. I'd like to see how physicians can utilize medical informatics resources to improve patient care. What if they learn to leverage clinical decision support tools that are integrated into electronic health record systems? This level of clinical education would lead to performance improvement and could be the ultimate basis of performance improvement CME or PI-CME.

Medicine, Technology, and the Economy

Thanks to President Obama, Health IT (or HITECH) will play a huge role in helping today's economy recover. Medicine is changing rapidly and there are many new drugs and biologic agents in the pipeline. The FDA has been on the slow side approving new drugs, so sometimes I wonder how that's impacting the economy. Technology is allowing medical device companies to come up with innovative devices to help patients manage their disease. Doctors are getting more sophisticated with the use of medical technology. Small healthcare companies are expected to grow rapidly in the recession. This is especially true for medical companies focused on using information technology. How will they leverage electronic health records (EHRs) or electronic medical records (EMRs) to improve patient care?

Is HITECH the new Health IT or HIT?

You can blame President Obama for the phrase HITECH. Since the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) calls it HITECH, is that going to be the new buzzword for health information technology? The problem with HIT is that it's not a unique acronym. It looks like a word - Bobby hit the ball. Health IT will probably continue to be used since we refer to general information technology as IT and that's not going to change. Perhaps the real question is: will the phrase HITECH actually catch on and become a mainstream phrase? These are the things I often wonder about as I sit at home and drink a glass of wine.

Health IT and the NEJM

I don't think I've ever seen so much content related to health IT in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). I'm sure more and more universities are offering programs in medical informatics and health informatics. The March 25, 2009 issue of the NEJM had an article titled, "Use of Electronic Health Records in U.S. Hospitals." The issue that I got today has an article on health IT by David Blumenthal, MD, MPP.

HIMSS Virtual Expo 2009

HIMSS is winding down and if you weren't able to go to Chicago this year, then you can still experience HIMSS by attending the Virtual Conference Expo this June. I attended the virtual expo in 2008 and made some great connections, attended some virtual meetings, and had the opportunity to expand my network. Health information technology is changing the way physicians are practicing medicine and I think we're going to see some significant movement in 2009 and 2010. Everyone is anticipating major changes in 2009, but we're already in the second quarter. Stay tuned and keep up with everything going on in the health IT world.

Are You Ready for Windows 7?

Have you tried Windows 7? I've been so unhappy with Vista that I've gone back to XP on most of my machines, including my mission critical PC. However, I'm quite intrigued by Windows 7. We will probably see a slim (or lite) version of Windows 7 for UMPCs and netbooks. I'm still running XP on my Samsung Q1 Ultra UMPC and my OQO model 02. Will Windows 7 be the ideal operating system for power PCs and ultra-low-cost machines?

In the healthcare field, XP will probably continue to dominate for a few more years because of the way many EHR/EMR systems are configured. Plus, you're often using older peripherals like scanners, printers, bar code scanning devices, and other devices. Some ambulatory EHRs have an EKG attachment that hooks up via USB. My guess is that most of those older connections will only work on PCs running XP. So, I think that health IT will lag behind other industries and we'll be using XP for a long time.

David Blumenthal, MD, MPP as National Coordinatior for Health IT

According to the Associated Press, the HHS announced that David Blumenthal, MD, MPP, will serve as national coordinator for health information technology (health IT). He has done a considerable amount of research on health IT issues so I'm eager to see how he will direct the future of health IT in this country. Congratulations to Dr. Blumenthal! Health IT is a growing industry and there are many opportunities for clinicians in this space.

Healthcare IT Jobs

Healthcare IT News is published in partnership with HIMSS. Although I'm not looking for a new job, I like to glance at the job posts and see what's going on the health IT sector. Currently, many of the advertised job opportunities appear to be for health IT consultants who have extensive experience and expertise in the EMR/EHR space. People are looking for integration consultants, clinical documentation consultants, clinical systems analysts, and more. Expect to travel if you get hired as a consultant. Some of the job descriptions indicate "ability to travel 100%." Sounds like fun if you're single, but not if you have a family.

Master of Science in Medical Informatics at Northwestern University

The Master of Science in Medical Informatics at Northwestern University is offered in partnership with the Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University. This program is offered online and seems like it's a terrific program. When I was applying to colleges, I applied to Northwestern as my 2nd choice college. Since I got accepted to MIT, I went to Boston. But sometimes I wonder how my life would have turned out if I had gone to Chicago instead of Boston. I suppose I'll never know. Speaking of MIT, they actually offer a program in biomedical informatics through the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology (HST). If I could go back to MIT to study, I think I'd be torn between the biomedical informatics program and an MBA program at the Sloan School of Management. Maybe someday they will develop a joint curriculum that will be a joint MBA/MS for people who have a strong interest in business and biomedical informatics.

Careers in medical informatics are very broad and include areas like: health care administration; management; consulting; health IT; public health; research; academia; and much more.

Medical Informatics Programs in the United States

Clinicians who have a strong interest in learning more about medical informatics (or health informatics) should probably invest the time and money to get formal education in this topic. There are many different ways of getting this education. You can do a fellowship in medical informatics. You can also pursue a master's program. If you're looking for a list of educational programs, take a look at the AMIA list. You can also take a look at this University of North Carolina site, although it may be a bit outdated. There are also a number of online programs where you can receive an MS in medical, biomedical, or health informatics. If you can be disciplined to study independently, then you may find that an online program is the most flexible way to receive more education.

Handbook of Medical Informatics

A frequent question that comes up is: "What is medical informatics?" There are all types of explanations to that question, so let me refer you to a book that can be found here: Handbook of Medical Informatics


There are many different types of opportunities in health or medical informatics. If you're serious about learning more, I encourage you to join the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) found here: http://www.amia.org/

The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) is also an excellent resource found here: http://www.ahima.org/