Transforming Health and Healthcare Through Advocacy

The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) mission of “empowering people to impact health” is rooted in our founder’s belief that great possibilities are achieved when we work together toward a common goal. At AHIMA, our common goal is to transform health and healthcare by connecting people, systems, and ideas. This transformation starts with health information because it is the most powerful currency for change in the healthcare ecosystem.

In 2021, the AHIMA Policy and Government Affairs team worked to advance the AHIMA vision and create meaningful and legislative and regulatory changes for the health information profession. Over this past year, we sought to strengthen our grassroots engagement and, as a result, the number of members engaged in advocacy and public policy related activities is growing. At the same time, we continued our work to position our organization and members as thought leaders in the public policy space by developing public policy statements to support a range of ongoing advocacy activities, advancing collaborations with other public policy stakeholders, and deepening our relationships with lawmakers in Congress and federal agency partners. Learn more about the AHIMA 2021 advocacy and public policy accomplishments.

Looking ahead to this year, AHIMA intends to strengthen and grow membership engagement and participation in advocacy-related activities. We will also continue to advance our vision of transforming health and healthcare and affect legislative and regulatory change for health information and the health information profession itself. Along these lines, the AHIMA 2022 advocacy agenda will leverage our knowledge and expertise of health information to influence the public policy environment for the benefits of patients, communities, clinicians, and other stakeholders.

Our advocacy agenda for this year will focus on the following key pillars:

• Improving the Patient Health Journey through Access to Information, Privacy, and Equity
• Ensuring the Quality and Integrity of Health Information
• Advancing Healthcare Transformation

Each of these pillars are supported by detailed public policy statements that have been approved by our board of directors. Learn more about the 2022 Advocacy Agenda.

To advance our public policy agenda this year, we will work together with our members, the US Congress, the Biden-Harris administration, national healthcare organizations, and other stakeholders. Transforming health and healthcare will not happen overnight. However, we cannot underestimate the power of health information to help us achieve this common goal. Engaging in public policy and advocacy is an opportunity for health information professionals to share their knowledge and expertise about how health information can empower individuals and communities to impact health. We hope that you will join on this journey in 2022.

To learn more about our advocacy and public policy work, visit: https://www.ahima.org/advocacy/advocacy/.