The National Alliance for Health Information Technology (NAHIT) of Chicago, IL, a senior leadership organization advocating health information technology as a means of improving the U.S. health care system has announced that it will cease operation on September 30. The announcement was posted in a press release on NAHIT's Web site.

"In a few short years, NAHIT has accomplished its mission: HIT has moved front and center in efforts to reinvent and reinvigorate the U.S. health system," said Jane Horowitz, NAHIT chief operating officer. "Going forward, the action is shifting from NAHIT's focus on educating, advocating and building common ground to planning, implementing and using HIT to improving care, safety and efficiency."

"Other organizations are better positioned to help providers with implementation," Horowitz continued. "In particular, the American Hospital Association (AHA) has close ties with hospital chief executive officers while the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) is the leading industry association for chief information officers. These organizations, both ongoing supporters of NAHIT, understand the tremendous value and need for HIT. They are devoting substantial resources to helping their members realize the potential of HIT and ensuring HIT is embedded in health care reform initiatives. We know that the AHA and CHIME will continue to advance the adoption of HIT."

The announcement recounted that when NAHIT was founded in 2002, IT was not the hot topic of health care, and there was "little momentum" to integrate IT into the industry. NAHIT played a major role in national and organizational goals to work for consensus and progress on the use of IT "to create the most effective, safe, unified, and inclusive health system possible."

NAHIT stated its most important issues and track record of accomplishments, including co-founding the Certification Commission for Health Care Information Technology (CCHIT), creating and maintaining the first directory of health IT standards (the content then donated to the National Institute of Standards and Technology), leading a successful effort to gain industry consensus on the use of bar codes for identifying medication, and leading development for the Office of National Coordinator on consensus-based definitions for key health care information technology terms.

Adapted from a press release by NAHIT.

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