CHICAGO – The American Health Information Management Association on Tuesday opened a global services office in Brussels, Belgium.

Officials say the new office establishes AHIMA as the first multinational membership association serving health information management professionals on a global scale.

AHIMA selected Brussels, in part, because of the city's status as the European Union's hub for top decision-making institutions. The decision to extend its outreach globally, according to officials, is rooted in the association's longstanding commitment to accurate health information internationally as the surest means of securing high quality healthcare.

AHIMA officials say they see multinational outreach as the proper response to globalization trends and implications in healthcare, including digitization, e-health, cross-border care, medical travel and telemedicine.
 
"We believe that viable health information management is necessary for the safe delivery of effective, quality healthcare, and that it should be recognized and practiced around the world," said AHIMA President Vera Rulon. "For a while now, AHIMA has been actively looking into new development opportunities that promise to serve healthcare consumers as well as the greater healthcare community."

Rulon said just as important is the ability of AHIMA's transnational outreach to advance HIM industry standards, grow its certified workforce and accredit the educational systems required to advance the HIM practice around the globe.
 
AHIMA's chief of operations, Sandy Fuller, said the group is also committed to the worldwide promotion and advocacy of high quality research, best practices and effective standards in health information and actively contributing to the development and advancement of health information professionals worldwide.

"AHIMA believes that close collaboration with similar organizations focused on healthcare can leverage the debate and bring strength to the non-governmental sector," Fuller said. "AHIMA is committed to the advancement of health information in an increasingly electronic and global environment through leadership in advocacy, education, certification and lifelong learning."

Through the new office, AHIMA looks to develop new business opportunities and build collaborative relationships as well as monitor the global health information environment. The office offers firsthand access to information and decision-making processes across Europe and is at the same time a central point of development for future activities worldwide.
 
"We are looking forward to developing our presence in Europe and at a more global scale," said Rob Nelson, AHIMA's managing director and vice president of business development and strategy.  "AHIMA can offer excellent benefits for international members as we tailor products and services to better serve the needs of global partners. We want to be able to learn and share our best practices as a means of further advancing the health Information management profession, in general through a global community of learning and practice."