AAMI announced today that it’s partnering with IAMERS to help its members improve their existing quality management systems or adopt new ones.

“IAMERS has had a long history with AAMI dating back to working in 1997 on the AAMI/FDA joint task force,” Robert Kerwin, IAMERS' general counsel, told HCB News. “IAMERS hopes to take advantage of AAMI's expertise and educational programs to further enhance its best practices.”

IAMERS members are expected to incorporate aspects of quality management into their organizational structure, policies, procedures, processes and resources. In May 2017, they unanimously approved recommendations for complaint management, identification and traceability, competence, awareness and training, inspection of equipment and data management.

“IAMERS has always been improving the manner in which it addresses patient safety, and its members know this is a continuing process,” said Kerwin. “That is why IAMERS unanimously adopted the Best Practices and has made following Best Practices a condition of membership. We know AAMI will assist in this endeavor.”

AAMI has developed education programs for quality management systems that it will offer to IAMERS members on a discounted basis as part of the partnership. The curriculum has not been finalized yet but AAMI intends to have them focus on cybersecurity protections, cyber risk assessments and training.

IAMERS also requested that AAMI join its educational meeting when possible.

The two organizations will also provide opportunities for representatives from other organizations to participate in specific committees and conferences in order to reinforce information sharing and open discussions relevant to both of their missions.

EDIT: This story has been revised to correct the spelling of Mr. Kerwin's title, as noted in the comment below from Mr. Ross.

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