The more than 170 committees and working groups of volunteer technical experts are the heart of AAMI's global standards development program. Each AAMI technical committee and U.S. Technical Advisory Group (TAG) has a defined scope of work and operates under established policies and procedures.
AAMI technical committees and working groups make recommendations concerning the need for new standards and other technical publications within its area of competency and expertise, determines when a document needs to be revised, drafts new and revised technical documents, and develops committee and public consensus on those drafts. Other duties, which occur less frequently, include developing consensus on official interpretations of standards and advising AAMI on responses to government initiatives and other public policy matters within the committee's area of work.
U.S. Technical Advisory Groups (TAGs) develop national consensus on international standards and technical information reports (TIR) out for comment or vote. TAGs also make recommendations regarding other aspects of international standards participation such as U.S. positions on international new work items, formation of U.S. delegations to international committee and subcommittee meetings, and nomination of US experts to international working groups.
Many AAMI committees and working groups review international documents within their subject matter area to determine whether to adopt them as national standards or AAMI TIRs.