An AMIA update-new directions and new opportunities

New directions with new opportunities by definition carry risk but we pursue them because of the potential for new rewards. As Robert F. Kennedy said, ‘Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.’ At a time when both the science and practice of informatics are poised to exert a powerful influence on the future of healthcare, the AMIA leadership embarked on a fact-finding mission to determine more clearly the state of the association and its future direction. In service to the Board of Directors and AMIA membership and as the President and CEO of AMIA, I am charged with the responsibility of sustaining the long term growth and stability of AMIA. As part of that responsibility, I wanted to share with you—at a high level—some new directions and new opportunities for AMIA.

Figure 1

The word cloud art in this article was derived from a survey results word cloud of the survey report. Noemie Elhadad, PhD, Assistant Professor, Biomedical Informatics, Columbia University created the cloud. Artistic modifications were made by the AMIA communications department for presentation. 

The AMIA tag line says it best when describing the AMIA Board of Directors’ approach to governance: leadership has been very thoughtful and deliberate as ‘Informatics Professionals. Leading the Way.’ The AMIA Board invested resources in conducting research under the direction of Association Management+Marketing Resources (AMMR), a consulting and research firm specifically focused on associations. AMMR recently provided a full report to the AMIA Board of Directors that contained qualitative and quantitative information.

By sharing the outcomes of the survey, the AMIA leadership's intention is to be as transparent and accountable as possible with AMIA members and stakeholders. While much detailed information (ie, comments, suggestions, recommendations, etc) from members will remain confidential, a high level summary is available to members on our website. In the next few months we will be posting additional information concerning the strategy for the association, which will evolve as a result of your input and guidance as more specific objectives and detailed plans are outlined.

The assessment included a member survey which sought to understand the views, interests, priorities, and perspectives of members and informatics professionals allied with AMIA. We had a very good response which provided a statistically significant sample and, as a result, we have confidence in the suggestions provided by respondents. The respondents shared many opinions which contributed to a rich source of ideas, thoughts, and perspectives that we believe will help us to serve members and the field better in the future.

As part of the assessment, AMIA carried out two phases of research. First, we conducted a qualitative, in-depth telephone interview which included tele-focus groups and an environmental scan. This portion of the research ran from May through July 2012 and involved both current and former AMIA Board members, AMIA Committees/Working Group Chairs, members of the Academic Forum, and outside stakeholders such as non-members, former members, allied partners, and public health professionals. A second phase of research was conducted in July 2012 that included a quantitative survey which addressed member and non-member needs. It also covered all current members and those who had never joined or did not renew their AMIA membership.

The AMIA leadership was heartened to see the passion reflected in the survey results for the field of informatics and for the role that the membership wants AMIA to play. It is clear that AMIA is critical in fostering the field of informatics, but we need to do more. So, what were the results?

The findings

Some themes and perspectives became clear as a result of the surveys and discussions with members, as listed below:

AMIA members are excited about the role of informatics in the current health and biomedical environment.

Our members want informatics to be a robust and thriving professional area for academics and researchers as well as for operationally focused individuals. They also want AMIA to take an active leadership role in representing and promoting the field across the entire spectrum of informaticians who are engaged in changing healthcare.

AMIA members are committed to AMIA's mission of serving as the ‘first stop for trusted knowledge’ in biomedical informatics.

Our members noted that we are in a dynamic environment, new stakeholders can benefit from the informatics expertise available through AMIA, and AMIA has the opportunity to inform informatics activities.

AMIA members believe we must engage all relevant stakeholders as we consider future directions for informatics, including those leaders of the healthcare community who manage and organize healthcare services.

Members appreciate the educational, professional development, networking, and other services that AMIA provides. In addition, they had several suggestions as to how AMIA could enhance these activities even further so they are of greater value.

Members offered suggestions on how AMIA could be even more efficient, effective, and strong as an organization for the benefit of the informatics profession.

As the AMIA leadership continues to refine a strategic plan, the results of both the qualitative and quantitative surveys will inform decision-making and help us in determining how best to allocate resources to support our priorities, including the new goals and objectives.

Value

The survey found that the AMIA membership value proposition (quality+outcomes/cost=value) could be improved. Although AMIA enjoys strong loyalty among long term members, newer members are less likely to renew. Why? One of the reasons is that newer members are earlier in their careers and the cost of membership can be a factor. So, we are reassessing our dues model to take into consideration the concerns of the younger, newer members. And we are also looking at our program offerings so that we meet the needs of the many informatics professionals graduating from programs across the nation. For members who are further along in their career but more involved in operational informatics, it is clear that we need to do a better job of meeting their needs with enhanced programing and services. Since this is a markedly growing segment of the informatics field, we will be considering a number of options for serving the requirements of this particular member segment.

Networking

An association exists to facilitate networking. And, not surprisingly, the research found networking among colleagues to be one of the most important—if not the most important—reason for affiliating with AMIA. However, AMIA's support for networking (according to the survey) lags far behind its importance. We need to do a better job!! We need to solidify interest in AMIA among our professional community, who will no doubt benefit from connections and relationships derived through AMIA. The portrait of the association as a networking and educational resource reinforces the strong findings that these two areas are among the most important for all AMIA members and key to valuing AMIA membership.

The AMIA Working Groups can be a major component of AMIA membership. However, the survey found that there is much room for growth in defining more clearly the role of Working Groups and integrating their functions with the networking and education elements of the organization. Again, we can do a better job!

Thought leadership, education, and certification

JAMIA and the Annual Symposium are the two major components of AMIA membership at the present time. While the survey found that each of these initiatives is important, the responses clearly pointed us toward more involvement in operational informatics communications and programs to increase member satisfaction. It is absolutely crucial that we sustain our foundation as the academic and research base for the field of biomedical informatics and extend ourselves to those who are involved in operational informatics. By addressing the needs of the professionals engaged in operational informatics, AMIA can increase the value of AMIA membership for a new and evolving segment of the profession.

Education and professional development are important for all members, especially in the new world of virtuality. We need to develop and support online formats and virtual participation in the Annual Symposium and other educational programs. Because of the quality of AMIA programs, members are very interested in seeing us reach out to them rather than necessarily having to reach out to us. We need to become the association of the future—an association that supports more virtual education, networking, and collaboration.

The new AMIA certification education programs in support of the physician board certification process and the affiliated inter-professional certification program—which is in the works—will likely attract many more informatics professionals to AMIA. It also appears that the certification programs will be especially interesting to younger professionals and could be another way for AMIA to solidify its relationship with them. We intend to build upon the certification program as a way to position AMIA as the professional home of informaticians. The end result is that our focus must be on meeting the value proposition for our members.

Career development

The survey indicates that AMIA can solidify its relationship with newer and younger members—who have the lowest renewal rates—via professional development, preparation for certification, finding jobs, mentorship, and recognition awards and communications. However, AMIA suffers from a lack of awareness regarding several of these offerings. We need to do a better job and we will!

Policy and advocacy

Given the ongoing intensity and variety of outcomes of the current healthcare policy debates, it is good that AMIA engages in public policy activities and enjoys good access to policymakers. The survey found AMIA's public policy activities are important, but we need to do a better job of conveying our success and effectiveness in this area.

Communication and marketing

The research offered strong praise for AMIA's website, but we could be doing a better job with organization and navigation. Look for further changes in early 2013 that will offer better content and usability—two areas that have been highlighted as points of failure among members. It is also clear that we need to communicate not only with members but also with the general healthcare community. So, we will be determining how best to serve as the leader in biomedical informatics education for our members and the healthcare leadership community in the coming months.

Leadership and staffing

While AMIA's Board of Directors is considered to be a strong resource, it is also perceived as somewhat opaque. We need to increase openness and transparency. We also need to refresh rather than recycle leaders. Over the coming months, expect that AMIA will be reassessing our process for selecting leadership with the intention of diversifying our base to reflect the entire range of members. AMIA's staff are doing well, but it is clear that we need to have more of them to support the needs of the members and to become the association of the future (table 1).

Table 1

Comparison of importance and satisfaction mean ratings on a 0–10 scale, where both were queried

This table shows levels of priority for short term improvements. AMIA's support for networking clearly is the highest priority, as gap ratings for satisfaction lag importance by nearly two full points. The quality of and members’ experience with the Working Groups is the second highest priority, as satisfaction lags importance by (0.7) points. Next, is the lag in public policy activities (0.6), followed by the Annual Symposium (0.4), and JAMIA (0.4). However, a lag of only (0.4) indicates a moderate priority, and the (0.6) for public policy indicates a moderate to high priority. AMIA's education and professional development and the weekly e-News mostly are aligned.

Communicating the value proposition

While the AMIA leadership is considering a number of strategies to improve AMIA member experiences, we also recognize that an overarching priority is to increase our value proposition among all members, but especially newer members and younger professionals. AMIA should establish, maintain, and promote activities which support professional development aimed at informatics professionals across the board. AMIA should carefully monitor new member engagement and satisfaction, and use that feedback loop of information to address member needs and satisfaction in a timely fashion.

Quantifying value by segment is a fundamental need. Key to increasing the value proposition is broader, more aggressive communications about the nature and value of activities, including message themes and timing targeted to specific interests as well as stronger retention and recruitment strategies. Keys to achieving the priority include keeping the content of AMIA publications and events timely based on the specific interests of membership segments and overall developments in healthcare delivery and information. And it is clear that more member engagement will increase the value proposition.

We must continue to maintain our support for research and academic education in the field of informatics. At the same time, we need to extend our reach to be more inclusive of the operational informatics field. Many healthcare professionals are moving into the operational informatics field and AMIA needs to offer them a home which provides education, networking, and support.

Finally, the AMIA leadership is committed to an open dialog with members and stakeholders. Look to the pages of JAMIA, AMIA e-News for members, the amia.org website and for more information on the results of our survey work and the future direction the AMIA Board of Directors intends to take as we engage in leading the way.