Health Informatics

health informatics - Health informatics is the study of resources and methods for the management of health information.

This area of study supports health information technology, medical practice and medical research. To that end, health informatics involves systems such as electronic health records (EHR) and electronic medical records (EMR), health information exchange standards such as Health Level 7 (HL7), medical terminologies such as Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine, Clinical Terms (SNOMED CT), and portable medical devices for the collection of data.

The first use of health informatics occurred in the 1950s with dental data collected by the National Bureau of Standards, now known as the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Usage accelerated in subsequent decades following the development of the Massachusetts General Hospital Utility Multi-Programming System (MUMPS), which provided a standard programming language for clinical applications. Today, the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) oversees member organizations involved in health informatics worldwide.

In many organizations, the chief medical information officer (CMIO) is also the director of health informatics.

Related glossary terms: national provider identifier (NPI), laboratory information system, CHIME (College of Healthcare Information Management Executives), National Quality Forum (NQF), Biosense, CMIO (Chief Medical Information Officer), Radiological Society of North America (RSNA)

[Category=Data Management ]

Source: WhatIs.com, 13 August 2013 09:02:30, http://whatis.techtarget.com/glossary/Data-and-Data-Management