AIS-SIGhealth - Special Interest Group of the Association for Information Systems

September 2010
M	T	W	T	F	S	S
« Aug
	1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	30

Bylaws for the Association for Information Systems Special Interest Group on Healthcare
(First Created: 27th October 2006, this revision 15th October 2007, revision 30^th May 2009)

Article 1. Name and Scope
(a) This organization will be called The Special Interest Group (SIG) on Information Technology in Healthcare. For brevity, the organization is referred to by the acronym SIG-Health. It is a Special Interest Group of the Association for Information Systems (AIS).
(b) The scope of SIG-Health is Information Technology in the context of healthcare.

Article 2. Mission
The mission of SIG-Health is to facilitate members in research on Information Technology in the context of healthcare and position the research in a way that it is relevant to academics and practitioners. All activities of SIG-Health will have no commercial interest.

Article 3. Members
(a) All members of the Association of Information Systems are eligible to become SIG-Health members.
(b) To become a member of SIG-Health, AIS members must pay annual (typically coinciding with a member’s AIS renewal) dues and register through the AIS web site.
(c) The dues amount is determined by the majority of the SIG-Health Officers and cannot conflict with AIS guidelines.
(d) An updated member list is provided via AIS and kept by the Resource Chair.
(e) A member holds one vote in ballots conducted by SIG-Health.
(f) All members are eligible to serve as SIG-Health Officers. Officers consist of both elected and appointed positions.

Articles 4. Elected Officers (also to be referred to as Executive Board): Chair, Vice Chair, and Resource Chair
(a) Elected Officers serve broad SIG-Health functions and are expected to work collectively as an Executive Board in moving SIG-Health forward.
(b) The SIG-Health Executive Board will consist of three elected members: the Chair, Vice Chair, and Resource Chair.
(c) The Elected Officers serve two-year terms and cannot be re-elected to the same position for an immediately subsequent two years, though they may be re-elected to a position they have not filled for the immediate two prior years.
(d) For sake of continuity, terms are to be staggered so that the Chair and Resource Chair are elected in alternative years from the Vice Chair.
(e) The Chair is the chief architect of the SIG, determining how to provide services recommended by the AIS and by SIG-Health members, in accordance with these by-laws and the policies of AIS. The SIG-Health Chair will preside at meetings and be the main point of contact for members, other AIS SIGs, outsider organizations and the AIS organization. The Chair will report on progress made at an annual meeting and in an annual letter to members. The Chair will appoint and work to promote SIG-Health representation at conferences (particularly AIS related conferences) with the aid Conference Officers, Workshop Chairs, etc., as needed to fulfill those duties. The Chair will appoint and work with a Budget Officers, as needed, to fulfill those duties. The Chair will also appoint and work with a Membership Coordinator, as needed, to fulfill those duties.
(f) The Vice-Chair assists the Chair in fulfilling their responsibilities and acts on the behalf of the Chair, if the Chair is unavailable. The Vice Chair will help investigate the development of special issues in journals and a SIG-Health journal as deemed appropriate and desired by the membership. The Vice-Chair will serve as record keeper and distributor of the SIG for correspondence and minutes and maintain office files and records. The Vice Chair will appoint and work with a Publicity Officer, as needed, to promote SIG-Health and all related activities internally to SIG-Health members and externally to those not affiliated with SIG-Health, as appropriate. In addition, the Vice-Chair may also appoint and work with a Publications Coordinator, as needed, to identify publication opportunities for members, recognize member publications, and facilitate an informal pre-review process for SIG-Health members.Should the Chair vacate office before the completion of their term, the Vice-Chair will become Interim Chair until an election can be held. If the Vice-chair is unwilling or unable to fulfill the rule of the Interim Chair, the Resource Chair will become Interim Chair until an election can be held.
(g) The Resource Chair will be the main contact person for providing and accessing SIG resources. The Resource Chair is responsible for attracting, managing, and making SIG-Health resources available to members via various outlets (e.g., web site and newsletter). Resources include such things as a listing of upcoming conferences and journal calls, upcoming SIG-Health events, a listing of health informatics programs, health IS educational materials, member journal publication, recent HIS dissertations, and other opportunities of interest to SIG-Health members. The Resource Chair will appoint and work with a Newsletter editor, as needed, to produce periodic SIG-Health Newsletters, and a Webmaster, as needed, to maintain a SIG-Health web site. Should the Vice-Chair vacate office before the completion of their term, the Resource Chair will become Vice Chair until an election can be held. If the Resource Chair is unwilling or unable to fulfill the rule of the Interim Chair, the remaining elected officers may appoint one of the appointed officers as Interim Vice-Chair until an election can be held.

Article 5. Election Procedure
(a) Elections are to take place sometime in late August or Early September each year. Candidates are to be introduced to members at the annual meeting associated with the AMCIS conference.
(b) The current elected officers will appoint a Nominating Committee. The Nominating Committee consists of four (4) SIG-Health members in good standing appointed by current Officers. One member of the Nominating Committee will serve as Committee Chair.
(c) A Nominating Committee will prepare and announce the Election Procedure five months prior to a vacancy in the Elected Officers (the month before the Annual meeting).
(d) The Nominating Committee can solicit suggestions of candidates from the membership. No members of the nominating committee may be a current or candidate Elected Officer.
(e) The Nominating Committee will validate that each candidate is a SIG-Health member in good standing and contact the potential candidate to ensure interest. If two willing members cannot be found to run for a vacant office from Nominating Committee efforts, then the membership at large will be solicited via e-mail for additional nominees. If no additional members are nominated, the nominating committee will still send a ballot to the membership for the position to ensure that the membership-at-large approves of the sole candidate.
(f) Additional nominees may also result from a petition from at least 10% of the members provided that the petition is received within two weeks prior to distribution on the ballot.
(g) Once the Nominating Committee and member partitions have been aggregated, the Chair of the Nominating Committee will prepare and send the ballot of candidates with instructions for return by e-mail to all members current SIG-Health members for voting. Return instructions should indicate that votes should go to the Nominating Committee Chair or to a voting site controlled by the Nominating Committee Chair.
(h) Voting will be closed 14 days after the election ballot e-mail. For a vote to be valid at least 15% of the membership must have participated in the process. When the votes represent less then 15% the closing period can be extended once with 14 days. Members should be prompted to vote every seven days during the voting period. When 15% is still not reached, a new ballot is held.
(i) The Nominating Committee Chair counts all votes and keeps a detailed record. The count will be validated and approved by the other members of the Nomination Committee. A candidate is elected via a simple majority of member votes for the candidate. The Nominating Committee will resolve ties through their own majority vote of the candidates.
(j) Within a week after the ballot is closed the results of the voting process are send-by e-mail to all members by the chair of the Nominating Committee.

Article 6. Appointed Officers
(a) Appointed positions address focused and core SIG functions.
(b) SIG-Health has the following appointed positions: Budget Coordinator, Conference Coordinator (one or more per conference or pre-conference), Publicity Coordinator, Publications Coordinator, Newsletter Editor, Membership Coordinator, and Webmaster.
(c) Appointed positions will be filled on an “as-needed” basis by the Executive Board, with a minimum of two Executive Board members agreeing to the appointment.
(d) Appointments may occur for a period of no less than one year, but no more than three years, as determined by the Executive Board.
(e) The Newsletter Editor coordinates the SIG-Health Newsletter, which includes soliciting articles of interest, informing the members of SIG-Health activities, and providing a short “state of the SIG” article. The Newsletter Editor can solicit authors and an editorial board, as needed, to review the materials. The Newsletter Editor reports to the Resource Chair.
(f) Conference/Pre-Conference Officers represent SIG-Health by coordinating the pre-conferences, mini-tracks, workshops and panel discussions on behalf of SIG-Health at various conferences. The Conference Officer informs members of the upcoming conferences and reports on SIG-Health member presence. The Conference Chairs report to the Chair.
(g) The Publicity Coordinator promotes SIG-Health events to members, the IS community (including ISWorld) and other communities also interested in health information systems research. The Publicity Coordinator may also inform members of upcoming publication opportunities of importance to SIG-Health and reports on SIG-Health member publications. The Publicity Coordinator reports to the Vice-Chair.
(h) The Budget Officer plans, administers, monitors reports on the financial affairs of SIG-Health in accordance with the AIS by-laws and arranges for any collection and payment of funds associated with SIG-Health transactions. The account balance is to be reported to officers and available to members (via the web site or newsletter) on a monthly basis. The Buget Officer is also responsible for planning any special event budgets and making associated financial arrangements. The Budget Officer will provide a budget and an annual accounting to members of how dues were used by the SIG. The Budget Chair is expected to handle the declarations to AIS Headquarters throughout each year, receive regular financial reports from AIS Headquarters summarizing revenues and costs, annually communicate financial statements to the membership, cooperate in financial audits, and prepare budgets for the next year. The Budget Chair reports to the Chair.
(i) The Webmaster is responsible for the design, accuracy, completeness and currency of all information on the web site. The Webmaster can solicit help to maintain forums as needed. The Webmaster reports to the Resource Chair.
(j) The membership coordinator will work to attract and welcome new members on behalf of the Chair and Vice-Chair. The membership coordinator reports to the Chair.
(k) The Publication Coordinator informs members on upcoming publication opportunities of importance to SIG-Health. This includes coordinating the postings on the web site and keeping an update in the newsletter. The Publications Coordinator also reports on SIG-Health member publications. In addition, the Publications Coordinator will facilitate an informal pre-review process for SIG-Health members. The Publication Coordinator reports to the Vice-Chair.

Article 7. Annual Meeting
(a) SIG-Health will hold at least one (1) in person meeting per year in conjunction with a major AIS conference.
(b) All members will be invited to attend the annual meeting and contribute to the agenda.
(c) Candidates to fill upcoming open elected officer positions will be introduced at the annual meeting.
(d) Notice for the annual meeting shall be sent by the Chair at least one month prior to the meeting date.

Article 8. Amendments
(a) All amendments must be in accordance with the AIS by-laws.
(b) Any member of SIG-Health may propose an amendment to the by-laws.
(c) The Executive Board and Appointed Officers, will collectively form a By-law/Amendment Committee. Proposals to amend the by-laws may be passed by a minimum of a two-thirds majority of SIG-Health Officers.
(e) Amendments are effective from the moment the voting process is closed.
(f) Amendments may also result from petition from at least 25% of the voting members of SIG-Health. Members proposing amendments via petition (with support of 25% of the membership) should direct their petition to the SIG-Health Chair. Amendments with 25% membership signature are automatically ratified.
(g) The Chair shall officially update the bylaws and publish all amendment changes to members (via the web site or in an email) within two weeks of their ratification.

Article 9. Dissolution
Should SIG-Health be dissolved, its assets will be transferred to the AIS.

Article 10. Consistency
The constitution, by-laws and policies of the AIS take precedence over any conflicting provisions of these by-laws or internal policies of SIG-Health.