One of several American National Standards Institute (ANSI) -accredited Standards Developing Organizations (SDOs) operating in the healthcare arena, Health Level Seven is an international community of healthcare subject matter experts and information scientists collaborating to create standards for the exchange, management and integration of electronic healthcare information. HL7 promotes the use of such standards within and among healthcare organizations to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of healthcare delivery for the benefit of all.

The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) is the healthcare industry's membership organization exclusively focused on providing global leadership for the optimal use of healthcare information technology (IT) and management systems for the betterment of healthcare. Founded in 1961, HIMSS represents more than 20,000 individual members, 9,000 health care professionals. and over 300 corporate members that collectively represent organizations employing millions of people.

IHE is an initiative by healthcare professionals and industry to improve the way computer systems in healthcare share information. IHE promotes the coordinated use of established standards such as DICOM and HL7 to address specific clinical needs in support of optimal patient care. Systems developed in accordance with IHE communicate with one another better, are easier to implement, and enable care providers to use information more effectively.

KLAS is a research firm specializing in monitoring and reporting the performance of health care vendors. KLAS’ mission is to improve delivery, by independently measuring vendor performance for the benefit of our health care provider partners, consultants, investors, and vendors. Working together with executives from over 4500 hospitals and over 2500 clinics, KLAS delivers timely reports, trends, and statistics, which provide a solid overview of vendor performance in the industry. KLAS measures performance of software, professional services, and medical equipment vendors.

Scottsdale Institute is a not-for-profit organization serving executives in a limited number of leading health systems who wish to share experiences in information technology management. We facilitate collaboration and networking on IT topics including strategy, deployment, adoption, national direction and trends, benchmarking and benefits realization.

The University HealthSystem Consortium, formed in 1984, is an alliance of 107 academic medical centers and 238 of their affiliated hospitals, representing approximately 90% of the nation’s nonprofit academic medical centers. UHC offers its members specific programs and services to improve clinical, operational, financial, and patient safety performance. The mission of UHC is to advance knowledge, foster collaboration, and promote change to help members succeed in their respective markets. For more information, visit www.uhc.edu.