The American Academy of Family Physicians’ Center for Health Information Technology is refocusing its efforts and changing its name.
Recognizing that health IT adoption has reached a critical mass, the center is shifting its primary focus to how to use technology to achieve efficiency and efficacy through workflow, clinical processes and data. In 2014, 80 percent of AAFP’s members are using an EMR. The center’s name has been changed to the Alliance for eHealth Innovation.
“This new name will reflect our mission to move beyond the EMR and towards the automation of care delivery,” said Steven Waldren, M.D., director of the AAFP’s Center for Health Information Technology, who will continue in his director role with the Alliance. “This new direction focuses more broadly on eHealth.
Based at the AAFP’s headquarters in Leawood, Kansas, the Alliance will focus on four areas:
- Discovery — Identifying best practices among members who have found high job satisfaction and high care quality.
- Deployment — Sharing those best practices throughout AAFP membership and the primary care community.
- Development — Working with industry partners to fill gaps in current information technology products and developing new innovative offerings.
- Data — Provide analytics to demonstrate and improve the quality and cost-effectiveness of family medicine.
