January 19, 2011
Re: Request for Information Regarding the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) Report Entitled "Realizing the Full Potential of Health Information Technology to Improve Healthcare for Americans: The Path Forward"
Dear Mr. Posnack,
On behalf of AMIA, I am pleased to submit these comments regarding the recently released PCAST report and its implications for the national health information technology (HIT) agenda and implementation of the HITECH Act. The questions you are considering are of great interest to AMIA, which is the leading professional association for the nation’s top biomedical and health informaticians and serves as the center of action for the field. Our 4,000 constituents play important roles in health, healthcare, and science, and encourage the use of data, information and knowledge to improve both human health and the delivery of healthcare services. Our members are an interdisciplinary and diverse group of individuals and organizations that come from numerous countries, organizations, and backgrounds, working to support and leverage basic and applied informatics principles to help inform public policy issues, such as research and evaluation, patient safety, technology, change implementation, and quality of care.
Our comments are organized to respond to each of your overarching topics and related questions. Because of this formatting, some of our responses overlap as they are applicable to more than one topic.