2009 AMIA Capitol Hill Day

Overview

On April 2, 2009, dozens of enthusiastic, energetic, and informed AMIA volunteer members gathered in Washington, D.C., to participate in AMIA's Annual Capitol Hill Day. The group of volunteers and staff representing more than 20 states, plus Washington, D.C., visited over 35 congressional offices. Building on the successes of past AMIA visits to Congress, this year's group focused on the following issues:

• Workforce Education and Training
• Long Range Role and Support for National Library of Medicine (NLM)
• Use of and Access to Data for Care and Research

Capitol Hill Day began with AMIA members participating in a stimulating orientation session including a presentation from Senator Thomas Carper (D-DE). While governor of Delaware, Senator Carper signed into law the Delaware Health Information Network which advanced the creation of a statewide network of patient health records for public and private medical use. In the U.S. Senate, he continues to work on promoting the benefits of health information technology through personal health records. Following Senator Carper's remarks, the group set off for a full day of meetings at representatives' offices.

In meetings, participants educated congressional staff about the need for a renewed and heightened investment in education and training in all aspects of biomedical and health informatics. AMIA members were eager to describe AMIA‘s willingness and stand ready capacity to ramp up and deploy current projects and programs to address these needs. Working with others, AMIA is in the process of formalizing and establishing a common set of biomedical and health informatics competencies and curriculum for all practicing health professionals. And AMIA's current 10x10 program is already providing training to build "clinical champions" to enable sound implementation of information technology. AMIA members called upon members of Congress to continue to support and fund biomedical and health informatics education, training, and research. With the passage of the ARRA, and the emphasis on informatics education and training, AMIA members noted the long standing programs offered through various federal agencies and especially the NLM.