CHICAGO – January 22, 2021 – The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) is pleased to see the executive order released on Thursday from President Biden entitled, “Ensuring a Data-Driven Response to COVID-19 and Future High-Consequence Public Health Threats.”

AHIMA has long been a proponent of ensuring the US has a robust and well-funded public health system and ensuring that data is at the center of decision-making around public health. AHIMA is especially pleased to see the executive order focuses on advancing innovation in public health data and analytics; efforts to ensure the effectiveness and interoperability of public health data systems; and privacy and security, through the attention on de-identification of COVID-19-related data.

“Accurate and timely data is at the core of a robust public health system, and that is never truer than in the midst of a pandemic,” said AHIMA CEO Wylecia Wiggs Harris, PhD, CAE. “The administration’s quick focus on improving our public health infrastructure is necessary to bring the COVID-19 pandemic under control, as well as to prepare the nation for any future threats.”

As the Biden Administration continues its work on the COVID-19 pandemic and the public health system, AHIMA hopes that health data—including encouraging standards to ensure accurate data, adequate funding for public health infrastructure, and the adoption of modern technical standards to enhance interoperability—remains a priority.  

AHIMA released a policy statement on public health in 2020. Read it here.

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About AHIMA
AHIMA is a global nonprofit association of health information (HI) professionals. AHIMA represents professionals who work with health data for more than one billion patient visits each year. AHIMA’s mission of empowering people to impact health drives our members and credentialed HI professionals to ensure that health information is accurate, complete, and available to patients and providers. Our leaders work at the intersection of healthcare, technology, and business, and are found in data integrity and information privacy job functions worldwide.