Glossary

The rapidly developing health IT industry uses a number of acronyms and abbreviated trade names.  Below are some of the more commonly used acronyms and abbreviated trade names, along with their meanings.

Industry Acronyms

• AOM – Ambulatory Ordering Management
• ARRA – American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
• BCMA – Bar Code Medication Administration
• CDS or CDSS – Clinical Decision Support System
• CIS – Clinical Information System (alternate name for HIS)
• CPD – Continuing Professional Development
• CPE – Continuing Professional Education
• CPOE – Computerized Physician Order Entry
• DICOM – Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine
• EHR – Electronic Health Record
• eMAR – Electronic Medical Administration Record
• EMR – Electronic Medical Record
• EPM – Electronic Practice Management
• eRx – Electronic Prescribing
• HIE – Health Information Exchange
• HIM – Health Information Management
• HIPAA – Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996
• HIS – Hospital Information System (see also CIS)
• HIT – Health Information Technology or Health IT
• HITECH – Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act
• HITRC – Health Information Technology Research Center
• HL7 – Health Level 7
• IPA – Individual Physician Association
• ITIL – Information Technology Infrastructure Library
• KSF – Knowledge and Skills Framework
• MSO – Management Services Organization
• NHIN – Nationwide Health Information Network
• PACS – Picture Archiving and Communication System
• PHO – Physician-Hospital Organization
• PHR – Personal Health Record
• PIS – Physician Information System
• PMS – Practice Management Software
• PoC – Point of Care
• RBAC – Role-Based Access Control
• RCM – Revenue Cycle Management
• REC – Regional Extension Center
• RHIO – Regional Health Information Organization
• RIS – Radiology Information System
• SaaS – Software as a Service
• SNOMED CT – Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine -- Clinical Terms 
• SQL – Structured Query Language
• TNA –Training Needs Analysis
• XML – Extensible Markup Language

Industry Organizations

• AAOE – American Association of Orthopaedic Executives
• ACHE – American College of Healthcare Executives
• AHA – American Hospital Association
• AHIMA – American Health Information Management Association
• AMA – American Medical Association
• ASHIM – American Society of Health Informatics Managers
• CCHIT – Certification Commission for Health Information Technology
• CHIME – College of Healthcare Information Management Executives
• CIS-USQ – Care Information System User Competencies and Qualifications
• CMS Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
• HHS – US Department of Health and Human Services
• HIMSS – Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society
• MGMA – Medical Group Management Association
• NCQA – National Committee for Quality Assurance
• NHS – National Health Service (UK)
• ONC or ONCHIT– Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology
• PMI – Project Management Institute
• RSNA – Radiological Society of North America
• SIIM – Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine
• TIPAAA – The IPA Association of America