A Quick Breakdown of the Newest Informatics Certification: AHIC

TLDR: Advanced Healthcare Informatics Certification (AHIC) is a new certification from AMIA designed for health professionals with a doctoral degree in informatics OR health professionals with a master's degree or higher in a primary health field and a master's degree in informatics. Everyone looking to sit for the exam must also have experience in informatics.

AHIC is similar to the clinical informatics subspecialty but with broader eligibility requirements aimed at a wider field of healthcare professionals.

Reason for the New Certification

• High demand for quality health informatics talent - certification can ensure employers that personnel have a certain set of skills and understanding
• Informatics requires a solid body of knowledge - a certification can guide what individuals need to know
• Developing best practices through certification can ensure informatics stays on the right track and provides positive outcomes in healthcare

Requirements

• Individual must “practice health informatics with an operational focus on information and knowledge problems that directly impacts the practice of health care, public health, and personal health"
  and have
• and have
• A master’s degree or higher in a primary health professionAND a master’s degree or higher in health informatics ORa doctoral degree in a field characterized as having its primary focus in clinical or health informaticsand have
• OR
• a doctoral degree in a field characterized as having its primary focus in clinical or health informatics
• and have
• Qualifying health informatics experience in the United States or Canada AND18 months of health informatics experience over a 3-year period that has been completed within the past 5 years

What Is On The Exam?
Content-wise: Expect the exam to be similar to the clinical informatics subspecialty board exam.

Important People and Groups to Know

Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management Education (CAHIIM) - The accrediting body for graduate program in informatics. Similar to ACGME for clinical informatics fellowships.

Cynthia Gadd, PhD, MBA, MS, FACMI - The woman in charge of making this certification happen. Currently taking a sabbatical from Vanderbilt to work on getting this off the ground.

When Can We Expect It?

While no concrete timeline has been announced, but we believe that the certification will go live around or after 2018. This would conveniently coincide with when the grandfather period for the clinical informatics subspecialty ends and a fellowship pathway for clinical informaticists will be required.

If you're looking to reallllly get ahead and start your studying now, check out our clinical informatics study guide. We'll be updating it for AHIC once the core content is officially announced, but for now it will serve as a great jumping off point to know what to expect.

Resources & Required Reading

AMIA AHIC Page

https://www.amia.org/advanced-health-informatics-certification

Creating AHIC

by Cynthia SGadd, Jeffrey JWilliamson, Elaine BSteen, Douglas BFridsma

http://jamia.oxfordjournals.org/content/23/4/848

Eligibility Requirements for AHIC

Cynthia SGadd, Jeffrey JWilliamson, Elaine BSteen, Katherine PAndriole, ConnieDelaney, KarlGumpper, MartinLaVenture, DougRosendale, Dean FSittig, ThankamThyvalikakath, PeggyTurner, Douglas BFridsma

http://jamia.oxfordjournals.org/content/23/4/851