Strong foundations and shared goals
How the Institute was formed
The movement to unite and form a new organisation came from a natural synergy between the Health Informatics Society of Australia (HISA) and the Australasian College of Health Informatics (ACHI). HISA (est. 1993) and ACHI (est. 2001) had been working closely for many years with an overlapping membership and many shared goals and objectives.
David Rowlands FAIDH CHIA, Dr Michael Bainbridge FAIDH CHIA, Angela Ryan FAIDH, Dr David Hansen FAIDH CHIA, Peter Williams FAIDH CHIA, Juanita Fernando FAIDH
New organisation
In 2019, with shared strategies for workforce capacity building and the recognition of health informatics as a profession, the ACHI Council and the HISA Board agreed more could be achieved for the benefit of Australian healthcare by uniting to form a new organisation.
- It would help meet demand for education, training, professional pathways, certification and leadership development across digital health;
- There would be a single unified voice from digital health leaders and experts at a time when consumers were looking for informed opinion, advice and guidance.
ACHI and HISA always held a close relationship and worked together on significant initiatives such as Certified Health Informatician Australia (CHIA), the ACHI Fellowship by Training program and the national conference HIC. HISA also provided administrative support to ACHI’s membership committee.
David Rowlands FAIDH CHIA, Dr Michael Bainbridge FAIDH CHIA, Angela Ryan FAIDH, Dr David Hansen FAIDH CHIA, Peter Williams FAIDH CHIA, Juanita Fernando FAIDH
About ACHI
The Australasian College of Health Informatics was formed in 2001 with 20 Foundation Fellows, and held its first meeting at HIC 2002 in Melbourne. The credentialed Fellows and Members of the College were national thought leaders, experts and trusted advisers in digital health. There were also many ACHI Fellows outside Australia.
In 2017 ACHI established the Australasian Health Informatics Fellowship Program (AHIFP) as a training pathway to ACHI Fellowship – the first program of its kind in Australasia designed to prepare individuals for leadership roles in the health informatics workforce and to address demands for experienced and qualified health informatics specialists from various disciplines.
About HISA
The Health Informatics Society of Australia was formed in 1993 to educate and inform the Australian health sector about health informatics and to provide recognition and support for health informaticians. Over 25 years, HISA grew to developing a broad membership (1,500 individuals and organisations) and large stakeholder network (~13,000 people) across the health sector. HISA represented Australia’s digital health community, with members including health informaticians, clinicians, researchers, healthcare managers and executives, data analysts, designers, project managers, business analysts, technologists and innovators.
HISA’s strategic goal was set on building the digital health workforce Australia needed to deliver healthcare in the digital age.