Yearly Reports from the APAMI Member Societies
Health Informatics Society of Australia
The Health Informatics Society of Australia (HISA) is Australia's leading professional
body for the digital health, e-health and health informatics community.
HISA members represent a broad and diverse stakeholder community including clinicians,
researchers, healthcare managers and executives, data analysts, designers, project
managers, business analysts, technologists, innovators and health informaticians.
With corporate collaboration, university sector support, strong government relationships,
and industry connections, members have unlimited opportunities for career advancement
and professional development.
As a leading member of the global health informatics network, HISA is also the forum
for sharing international best practice, digital healthcare trends, and health system
innovation. In its 25th year, the Health Informatics Society of Australia continues
to fulfil its vision of transforming healthcare through information and technology.
The year 2018 marks the 25th anniversary year of HISA. We will be celebrating our
25th year with a variety of activities, culminating at the annual Health Informatics
Conference, HIC 2018 in Sydney.
Fig. 3 HISA 25th Anniversary Logo
Events
HISA was thrilled to win the bid to host MedInfo 2021 in Sydney. The competing bid
presentations from San Diego, Abu Dhabi, and Auckland were impressive and it was wonderful
to see so much interest in hosting the international congress. In a second round,
mail-biting vote, and the IMIA members voted in HISA's favor brining the conference
to the Asia-Pacific Region. On behalf of the health informatics communities of APAMI
and Australia, thanks to all IMIA members who voted for Sydney - HISA promises that
you won't regret your vote and we will do everything we can to exceed your expectations.
Fig. 4 Sydney, Australia the location for MedInfo 2021
HISA delivers a comprehensive program of national, state, local, and virtual events,
with a professional development focus that are both inspirational, educational, and
pragmatic to motivate and enable stakeholders to improve healthcare through the use
of information and technology. HISA hosts approx. 50 events each year, incorporating:
-
Conferences - 3-4 national conferences each year
-
State branch meetings, professional development, and networking focus
-
Webinars
-
Breakfasts
-
Executive lunches
HISA conferences and special events are Australia's richest grounds for sharing and
discovering digital health knowledge and innovation. Around 1,200 motivated delegates
attend our annual HIC conference to stay connected with the national digital health
community and be at the leading edge of global trends. The annual conference is known
for the outstanding quality of keynote speakers, informed debate, the high caliber
of presentations, and the diversity of delegates. The HISA Breakfast Series develops
niche offerings in selected cities that bring together members with special interests
and sponsors providing information and advice on what is trending - from mobile health
to evidence-based medicine. Webinars, specially organized tours, open days, functions
and branch events are scheduled to round out the HISA Calendar to allow members plenty
of opportunities to learn more and make new connections.
Membership
HISA currently has 1,483 members and a stakeholder database of over 11,000 people.
Only 23% of our membership database have been members for >5 years - HISA is one of
the most rapidly growing leading bodies for Australian healthcare professionals. As
the top organization for digital health, HISA provides information, networking, education,
certification, and career development for everyone - whether they are just learning
about e-health, telehealth, or digital health or already are well into a health informatics
career.
HISA actively promotes ACHI Fellowship (Australasian College of Health Informatics)
to those who have the appropriate experience and seniority in health informatics.
We work closely with ACHI on a number of initiatives and manage their membership secretariat.
State Branches
HISA has diverse and thriving branches in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, and
Western Australia (WA). When a member joins HISA, the local Branch is usually the
first point of call for networking and learning. All new members receive a welcome
phone call from a member of the state branch committee.
The ‘traditional’ activity of the branches has been to host local events for members
and non-members. HISA's Constitution was modified in 2016 to extend state branch committee
membership to 2-year terms. This has made a substantial positive difference to the
enthusiasm of committee leaders as they now have a larger ‘window’ in which to enact
change. There is increased momentum in these branches and all are currently planning
their 2018 activity. At the close of 2017, the WA branch made a submission to the
government led review of the state health system, which was positively received.
Communities of Practice
In order to deliver value to individual and organizational members, with tailored
value to our different stakeholders, HISA develops and fosters communities of interest.
Australia's nursing informatics community - NIA has been active since 1991 (before
HISA!). Their annual event, which coincides with the annual HIC conference, continues
to attract a loyal following and great speakers. With the appointment of a Leadership
and Advocacy Director last year, HISA has been able to support members’ calls for
new communities of practice. HISA now has the below active groups, who are working
on their activity plans for 2018, which includes events, writing, and thought leadership
papers.
In 2017, a Nursing Informatics Position Statement was written in collaboration with
the Australian College of Nursing. The paper generated international interest.
HISA also established the HISA Journal Club, an online blog-style publication, which
aims to increase the recognition and readership of the health informatics scientific
literature by writing magazine-style summaries of the output of Australian health
informatics researchers.
Fig. 5 Nursing Position Statement Title page
In August 2017, the Australian E-Safety Professional Practice Guidelines were released.
This 3-volume set is the latest publication from HISA.
Fig. 6 Australian E-Safety Professional Practice Guidelines title page
Workforce and Professional Advancement
HISA members make a rich contribution to their workplaces, the healthcare system,
and the lives of consumers. Across Australia, while there are continual investments
in digital health projects, the health workforce does not yet have enough clinicians
with a strong grasp of health informatics.
A key priority of the HISA strategy is the development, professionalization, promotion,
and support of the profession of health informatics. HISA also aims to empower health
professionals through digital health professional development, training, and resources.
HISA is strategically pursuing activities and services that work to build the profession
of health informatics and to build health informatics knowledge and skills within
the healthcare workforce. This capability building is a key component of the HISA
strategic plan. HISA leadership sees these as collaborative endeavors and works with
individuals and organizations to promote and foster digital health capability across
the health sector.
HISA's Digital Health Workforce Training Initiative presents courses for clinicians,
IT professionals, executives, and health informaticians. HISA works in partnership
with training and education providers, with an aim to advance career journeys in health
and health informatics, and build digital health capability across the health workforce.
HISA wants to facilitate access to professional development options for people at
all stages of their digital journey in healthcare and aims to create a marketplace
for building digital health workforce capability, which benefits the entire health
sector - employers, individuals, and education providers.
CHIA
The Certified Health Informatician Australasia (CHIA) program provides third party
accreditation for health informatics professionals. It has been operating in Australia
for over three years and was developed by the Health Informatics Society of Australia
(HISA), the Australasian College of Health Informatics (ACHI), and the Health Information
Management Association of Australia (HIMAA). CHIA tests the core competencies identified
to support our future health system and is designed to be the national platform for
digital health professionals’ learning, growth and development over the next decade.
The core elements of the certification involve applicants being assessed for eligibility
(based on defined criteria), and if accepted, having 90 days to prepare and sit for
an online examination. Candidates have two chances to pass the examination and become
certified. On passing the exam, the applicant becomes a Certified Health Informatician
Australia and is able to use the CHIA postnominals. CHIA is valid for 3 years and
individuals recertify by gaining 60 CPD points over a 3-year period.
The program has evolved and matured, and at the end of January 2018 comprised 327
certified practitioners from 572 applicants. Increasingly, large organizations and
departments are using certification as a development tool for their workforces and
employers are actively seeking CHIAs through listing the certification as a ‘desirable’
attribute in relevant job advertisements.
In December, the Examination Committee CHIA boot camp was held over a weekend. The
boot camp kicked off a complete revision of the HI Competencies and framework. This
is being progressed and likely to be completed towards the end of 2018, as it is a
substantial piece of work.
Marketing and Communications
Marketing and Communications are key to HISA's ongoing growth and influence. The below
graphic shows, our strategic framework ('pillar’ diagram in the center) surrounded
by the logos and branding for all HISA programs and activities. HISA's website is
currently being redesigned. The new-look site is intended to highlight the strategic
focus areas for HISA. HISA has received user design advice from the UX Community of
Practice and will launched by March 2018.
Australian healthcare professionals are increasingly starting to realize the impact
and opportunities of digital health on their ability to deliver high quality, safe,
and efficient care. HISA launched its online campaign WeAreHealthInformatics.com with two goals in mind. First, was to profile and acknowledge the brilliant, diverse
community of health informaticians. The second was to encourage the healthcare workforce
to get involved with health informatics sooner in their career.
In February HISA will launch to members an online platform designed to increase member
engagement with the Communities of Practice and State Branches. SocialLink features
a member directory, file library, group feeds (for States and CoPs), group calendars,
news, forums, blogs, and messaging members directly. It will also help encourage members
to update their profiles.
Fig. 8 HISA pillar diagram
The China Medical Informatics Association (CMIA)
The year 2017 was an exciting year for the China Medical Informatics Association.
While continuing to promote the broad scientific and technological development in
health and medical informatics, CMIA successfully organized and hosted the 16th World
Congress on Medical and Health Informatics (MedInfo2017) in August 21-25 in the historic
city of Hangzhou. The event attracted over 1,500 attendees and over 400 paper submissions.
The companion conference, the 2nd World Chinese Health Informatics Symposium, was
also successfully held with important Chinese speakers in the nearby culture-rich
city, Suzhou. Both conferences included numerous forums and topic sessions, such as
telemedicine, medical imaging informatics, EMR, nursing informatics, etc.
CMIA delegates attended the 18th CJKMI meeting at Seoul National University Bundang
Hospital, Korea. CMIA congratulated KOSMI on hosting its 30th annual event. CMIA is
seriously considering attending APAMI2018 in Sri Lanka.
Mainland China is experiencing a new wave of interest in scientific and technological
innovation. AI, robotic technologies, big data, and other technologic advancements
demand resource-rearrangement. Redistribution of medical services and supportive technologies
are among the anticipated big changes. Medical informatics development is anticipated
surely to benefit from this development.
The Hong Kong Society of Medical Informatics (HKSMI)
The Hong Kong Society of Medical Informatics continued to promote the development
of eHealth in Hong Kong. HKSMI actively participated in the development of Phase II
of the territory-wide Electronic Health Records Sharing System between public and
private health sectors spearheaded by the EHR Office of the Government of Hong Kong.
Stage II should include sharing of radiological images and the development of patient
portals and additional features for Health Care.
After successfully hosting the 2016 EHR conference, the Society decided to take a
break and is not planning to host any major conferences in 2018, but stays invested
in actively participating in MedInfo 2019 and regional eHealth activities.
Indian Association for Medical Informatics (IAMI)
IAMI held a consultation on the need for workforce training in informatics in January
2017 with key stakeholders. Recommendations included providing experiential learning
opportunities for using electronic health records during the healthcare professional
training at the undergraduate level. IAMI proposed to engage with the new National
Medical Council that will be governing the training, licensing, and accreditation
of medical education in India.
In 2017, IAMI collaborated with several professional societies across specialties
ranging from Family Practice, Primary Care, to Critical Care Medicine as well as International
associations such as the Commonwealth Medical Association and HiMSS Asia Pacific to
advocate strongly for including evidence based informatics practices in the strategic
initiatives being rolled out in India.
Several of IAMI's members were invited to contribute to the planning process of government
initiatives such as the Integrated Health Information Portal, National Health Portal,
and statewide EHR / HMIS efforts by several state governments. Among the key engagements
was the introduction of IAMI to high-level stakeholders at the National Institute
for Transforming India (NITI Aayog), the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, as well
as the Ministry of Information Technology resulting in opportunities for ongoing and
emerging thought leadership at the national as well as state levels.
Several papers by IAMI members were presented at MedInfo 2017 and other landmark conferences
in India and Internationally. IAMI was invited to lead the discussions around applying
Artificial Intelligence in clinical settings towards improving clinical outcomes and
Digital Health as an enabler for Universal Health Coverage at several conferences.
Under the IAMI Academy for Health Informatics education, a certificate course in Health
Informatics aimed at health informatics workforce capacity building was designed and
international best practices were integrated including courseware from ONCHIT. IAMI
grateful acknowledges the technical support from the US Office of the National Coordinator
for this initiative.
Japan Association for Medical Informatics (JAMI)
In June 2017, President Kazuhiko Ohe started his second year leading the JAMI board.
The action plan of JAMI was updated in 2017 and describes the scope of the JAMI's
activities and the interest in education of informatics specialists. The research
interest of JAMI is focusing on utilization of EHR data and clinical epidemiology.
The action plan also includes addressing legal and social issues and an infrastructure
for health and medical care. As of June 2017, the number of JAMI member is 3,777.
The annual spring conference was held on June 1st - 3rd in the Fukui prefecture. The
theme of the conference was “The Role of Medical Informatics under the Transformation
of ICT in medicine”. About 1,000 people attended the meeting and discussed hot topics
in biomedical informatics and the future of medical informatics.
A new specialty of medicine, the Japanese Board of Public Health and Social Medicine
was established in December 2016. The board is consists of the societies of epidemiology,
public health, occupational medicine, health administration, medical informatics,
and others. The board commenced its work and new fellows were accepted in the spring
of 2017.
The revised Personal Information Protection Act was enforced in May 2017. Guidance,
guidelines, and commentaries were updated with the revision. JAMI has an important
role to issuing comments on the Act and being a thought leader for Japan's society.
The 37th Joint Conference on Medical Informatics was held on November 20th-23rd in
Osaka. More than 3,000 attendees joined to the successful conference, which was chaired
by Prof. Takeda and attended by IMIA President Christoph U. Lehmann, who both provided
keynotes.
Korean Society of Medical Informatics (KOSMI)
As of December 31, 2017, KOSMI had 7,216 different members consisting of 214 lifetime
members, 438 full members, 163 student members, 6,392 Web members, and 9 institutional
members. KOSMI organizes biannual academic conferences and seminars on different topics,
and publishes the Health Informatics Research (HIR), an official journal of KOSMI
quarterly.
The KOSMI spring conference was held at the College of Medicine, Gachon University
in Incheon from June 22 to June 23. The theme of the conference was “AI-Driven Healthcare
Revolution” and 555 members participated in the conference. There were 3 tutorials,
12 symposiums, 20 paper presentations, and 39 poster presentations. Three papers and
one poster were awarded and recognized as the best papers and poster respectively
at the conference.
The KOSMI fall conference was held at Seoul National University Bundang Hospital from
November 16 to November 17. The theme of the conference was “Redesign Healthcare for
Value-Based Care and Patient Engagement” and 597 members participated in the conference.
There were 4 tutorials, 16 symposiums, 16 paper presentations, and 39 poster presentations.
During the fall conference, KOSMI organized “The 18th China-Japan-Korea Joint Symposium
on Medical Informatics (CJKMI 2017)”. Michio Kimura (Japan) presented “Ministry project:
Drug adverse event detection by CPOE data from 10 hospital groups”, Liu Li presented
“Medical artificial intelligence (Saah ECG) new technology application”, and Hee Hwang
presented “Smart hospital for patient engagement: SNUBH experience”.
KOSMI published the 23rd volume of the Health Information Research (HIR) in 2017.
The HIR publishes four issues in English including 4 editorials, 4 review articles,
31 original research articles, 6 case reports, and 3 communications. The Journal was
accredited by the Korea Research Foundation in 2006 and is registered as one of the
prestigious academic journals in Korea.
Health Informatics New Zealand (HiNZ)
Health Informatics New Zealand (HiNZ) developed and delivered a range of practical
one-day seminars for members, including Emerging Tech in Health (March 2017) and Cybersecurity
in Health (July 2017). The seminars were designed to provide a deep dive into one
topic, with a broad range of speakers across clinical, management, industry, and government.
This formula proved financially sustainable with 200 delegates attending each event,
excellent attendee feedback ratings, and a profitable result. HiNZ is planning for
the 2nd Emerging Tech in Health event in May 2018, which will include an optional
second day of site tours.
The annual HiNZ Conference in November 2017 received a record number of submissions
(up 52% from last year, with 153 submissions received) and an excellent turnout of
900 delegates in Rotorua, a regional town of New Zealand. We achieved a record amount
of sponsorship revenue at this year's conference, with 75 exhibitors taking part in
the three-day event. The increased annual profit enabled HiNZ to invest money into
improving our member services, with additional educational resources coming online
during 2018.
The Philippine Medical Informatics Society (PMIS)
PMIS has 1,295 members and we continue to nurture the society through social media
(www. facebook.com/groups/philmedinfo/).
Most PMIS members are members of civil society, professional organizations like HL7
Philippines, and clinical specialty societies. Several represent public and private
hospitals as well as academia in the National eHealth Governance Structure as members
of the National eHealth Technical Working Group (NeHTWG), who convenes on a monthly
basis to develop, strategize, and provide recommendations to the National eHealth
Steering Committee (NeHSC) for the 2014-2020 Philippine eHealth Strategic Framework
and Plan.
The NeHSC, the highest governing and decision-making eHealth body in the Philippines,
is chaired by the Secretary of Health and comprises the Secretaries of Science and
Technology, Information and Communications Technology, the President of the Philippine
Health Insurance Corporation (PHIC), and the Chancellor of the University of the Philippines
Manila. It sets the directions, monitors, and evaluates the progress of the Philippine
National eHealth Program (PNeHP).
PMIS members have also been officially appointed to PNeHP experts groups such as the
Standards Experts Group (SEG), Privacy Experts Group (PEG), Electronic Medical Records
Experts Group (EMREG), Health Enterprise Architecture Experts Group (HEAEG), Risk
Management Experts Group (RMEG), and an Advisers Group.
A member of PMIS, Dr. Michael Muin, is the current president of HL7 Philippines and
has been actively promoting the use of HL7 standards for interoperability of health
information systems. In addition, the Standards and Interoperability Laboratory -
Asia (SIL-Asia) was formed in January 2017 with funding from the Asian Development
Bank (ADB) to serve as the Asia-Pacific regional hub for interoperability efforts
across member-countries of the Asia eHealth Information Network (AeHIN). Comprised
of prominent members such as PMIS founding chair Dr. Alvin Marcelo and current PMIS
president Dr. Raymond Francis Sarmiento, the SIL-Asia is making strides in promoting
the adoption and use of standards for the interoperability needs in the region.
Internationally, Dr. Alvin Marcelo, who is also AeHIN Executive Director, and Dr.
Raymond Francis Sarmiento continue to collaborate and work harmoniously with other
APAMI members such as AeHIN chair Dr. Boonchai Kijsayanotin (Thailand), Dr. Anis Fuad
(Indonesia), and Mr. Jai Ganesh (India) to support the national eHealth programs and
strategic implementations of ministries of health in Asia. The upcoming 6th AeHIN
General Meeting will be held in Colombo, Sri Lanka in October 2018 with invitations
already extended to the APAMI president and APAMI members.
Association for Medical and Bio-Informatics, Singapore (AMBIS)
2017 was a year of recovery for AMBIS, hosting smaller events in Singapore (e.g. The
“Big Data Analytics, Mathematical Modeling and Artificial Intelligence in Biomedicine”)
while re-engaging with the regional community by participating in regional and international
events like MedInfo 2017 (where Dr KC Lun of AMBIS was conferred the IMIA François
Grémy Award of Excellence for 2017). Notable events related to the Medical Informatics
community in Singapore include:
-
lHL7 Singapore established the HL7 Korea-Singapore Research & Innovation Alliance
(HKSRIA) with HL7 Korea
-
The “Next Generation” EMR tender initiated by the Singapore government involved all
public hospitals in Singapore
Health Informatics Society of Sri Lanka (HISSL)
HISSL continues to be the main technical partner of the Ministry of Health in the
deployment of Health Information Systems in Sri Lanka. In addition, HISSL continues
to be the main technical partner of the University of Colombo in training Health Informaticians.
HISSLs flagship project, the District Nutrition Monitoring Project (DNMS), continues
to receive further recognition. In May 2017, the DNMS won the World Summit Award 2016
in the Health Category after having been placed first among entries from 178 countries.
[https://www.worldsummitawards.org/winner/district-nutrition-monitoring-system-dnms/]
HISSL's annual conference, Digital Health Sri Lanka 2017, was held 10-12 October 2017.
It was held again in conjunction with the Commonwealth Medical Association's Commonwealth
Digital Health Conference. HISSL continues to be the main technical partner of the
Commonwealth Medical Association's Digital Health Initiative.
International Development Partners are now seeking after HISSL as a technical partner
in various projects in Sri Lanka as well as in other countries. These include UNICEF,
the World Health Organization, and the Global Fund and Data for Health/Vital Strategies.
Taiwan Association for Medical Informatics (TAMI)
TAMI has been very successful in providing an annual certification exam in for HIT
professionals. In 2017, more than 700 people took the tests for this certificate.
The “My Health Bank” (MHB) offered by the National Health Insurance (NHI) agency of
Taiwan provided a website and an App for citizens to check their own health/medical
records starting in 2016. To date, more than 300,000 people signed up. The NHI is
now pushing innovative add-ons and Apps that use MHB to provide more value to the
patients and caregivers.
The government has pooled a majority of research funds and plans to invest them into
AI research. AI in medicine and health care have become mainstream in the Taiwanese
research arena and hospitals are actively seek new uses of AI.
The big data movement is affecting the 450 hospitals in Taiwan. TAMI is actively introducing
the Learning Health System (LHS) in our healthcare organization. The LHS paradigm
focuses on the cycle of “Data to Knowledge” (D2K), “Knowledge to Practice” (K2P),
“Practice to Consumer” (P2C) and “Consumer to Data” (C2D). Hopefully, the concept
of the LHS will help health organizations to invest more resources in the Big Data
strategy.
Thai Medical Informatics Association (TMI)
Regular activities of the TMI include hosting biannual academic conferences and a
mid-year Healthcare CIO forum and Annual National Health IT conference. Several Health
IT/ eHealth seminars/workshops on various topics such as health data analytics and
introduction to health IT/eHealth were provided to members and the general public.
In 2017, the mid-year Healthcare CIO forum was held in conjunction with the Medical
Fair Thailand Conference (organized by Messe Düsseldorf Asia) in Bangkok on 6th-8th
September. There were 110 CIO level participants attending our midyear CIO forum.
TMI 2017 Annual National Health IT conference was successfully held in Bangkok on
18th-20th December 2017. The conference theme was “Health IT Toward Health 4.0”. There
were 350 health IT professional attending this year's conference.
TMI has published the Health IT Quality Improvement Framework (HITQIF) including the
hospital IT improvement guideline and has worked together with the Ministry of Public
Health (MOPH) to implement the framework and guideline in 34 public and private hospitals
in 2016. At the 2017 annual conference, TMI awarded quality hospital IT certificates
to 10 hospitals, which passed the HITQIF maturation criteria. Throughout the year,
TMI expert team visited the hospitals and accredited the hospitals. Under the successful
leadership by its president, Dr. Choosna Makarasarn, TMI proposed the HITQIF and hospital
IT accreditation project to the Minister of Ministry of Public Health in December
2017 and was endorsed by the ministry to expand the project to all MOPH's hospitals.
In 2018, there are more than 50 hospitals, who applied to the HITQIF and hospital
IT accreditation project.
The Journal of the Thai Medical Informatics Association (JTMI), the official journal
of the Thai Medical Informatics Association (TMI), was launched in 2016 and publishes
biannually peer-reviewed original articles in English and Thai. TMI also communicates
with members and public through TMI Newsletter, which is published every 3 months
and distributed via a mailing list and social media.
Internationally, Dr. Boonchai Kijsanayotin, the TMI vice president and AeHIN chairperson,
collaborated and worked harmoniously with incoming APAMI President, Prof Dr. Vajira
H.W.Dissanayake (Sri Lanka) and other APA-MI members such as Dr. Alvin Marcelo, Dr.
Raymond Francis Sarmieto (Philippine), Dr. Anis Fuad (Indonesia), and Mr. Jai Ganesh
(India) to support the national eHealth programs and strategic implementations by
the ministries of health in Asia. The upcoming sixth AeHIN General Meeting will be
held in Colombo, Sri Lanka on 7th -9th October in conjunction with the APAMI conference
on 9th - 11th October 2018.
TMI has played a crucial role in the field of biomedical and health informatics in
Thailand by working with local and international health communities and industries
by sharing and exchanging news, information, and knowledge in the field. As of July
2016, TMI had 544 registered members of which around 50% were health care professionals.
