AMIA Launches Global HIT Partnership

AMIA, the U.S.- Bethesda, Md.-based association for informatics professionals, has launched a non-profit, wholly owned subsidiary organization called the Global Health Informatics Partnership (GHIP) to serve as an international center for collaborative initiatives on health informatics. GHIP, aims to build grassroots networks of health informatics advocates and professionals that will result in strengthened health informatics capacity in low-resource settings, primarily in South America, Africa, and Asia.

Through talks, workshops, published literature, training tools, and other mechanisms designed to support widespread use of health information and communication technology, GHIP has begun to catalyze collaborative relationships among institutions, which are expected in turn to mentor newer partners and share information that leads to enhanced quality, safety, effectiveness, and efficiency of healthcare. All GHIP activities will conform to open standards, open content, and open-access principles and practices, and are guided by established informatics principles.

Robert Mayes has been appointed executive director of GHIP. In his previous position,Mayes served as a senior advisor on health information technology issues at the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Health Information Technology Program, where he was responsible for the development and implementation of research on health IT and its role in improving quality and safety. His recent work focused on mobile technologies and the role of social networks in healthcare.