HISA is a not-for-profit membership organisation for health informaticians and those with an interest in health informatics established in 1992.  From our humble but ambitious beginnings, HISA has grown to become synonymous with health informatics and e-health.  Our membership has evolved and encompasses a diverse church of individuals and organisations - all of whom share a common passion for health reform enabled by health informatics and e-health.  HISA members are leaders in the field and are actively involved in national and international leadership positions in e-health and health informatics.

Health informatics is the science and practice around information in health that leads to informed and assisted health care.  'Informed' here means 'that the right information about the subject (consumer, patient or population) together with relevant health knowledge, is available at the right time and in a form that allows it to be used. 'Assisted' here means 'that the job of the health care worker is made safer and easier and that the health consumer is supported in their decisions and actions'.

E-health, defined by the World Health Organisation as the combined use of electronic communication and information technology in the health sector, is a sub-discipline of health informatics.

Today, HISA is the pre-eminent health informatics organisation in Australia. We have become a professional association of health informaticians, advancing the cause of e-health, representing our members nationally, and representing Australian health informatics internationally.

HISA aims to improve healthcare through the use of technology and information. It provides a national focus for the science and practice of health informatics, and for its practitioners - health informaticians, as well as for the associated industry and users.

HISA develops policy, advocates on behalf of its members and provides opportunities for learning and professional development in health informatics. Its membership is drawn from consumers, clinicians and other health information systems users as well as health informaticians, engineers, scientists, technologists, systems developers, managers,  lawyers, policy officers, researchers and others.

HISA has special interest groups in primary care, digital hospital design, games for health, nursing, aged care, indigenous health, education, management and privacy.

One of the education activities of the society is our annual national conference (HIC) which attracts over 1000 delegates and features a sizeable trade show and an impressive 4 day program of events.

HISA is the national affiliate of the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA).