Author: Abraham, Prinny

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: April 2000

The growing pains of the past decade have led to medical record backlogs and record retrieval crises for many home healthcare agencies. These problems have pushed more than one agency director into enlisting the skills of an HIM professional to evaluate the medical record systems in pl....

Author: AHIMA and MTIA Joint Task Force on Standards Development

Source: Perspectives in Health Information Management | AHIMA report

Publication Date: July 2008

This white paper discusses the current state of the industry relative to turn-around time for selected work types, and how changes may impact operational efficiency, enrich data capture, further empower clinical decision making, and enhance patient care.

Author: AHIMA Professional Practice Team

Source: AHIMA Q and A

Publication Date: November 02, 2000

Q: Where can I find a benchmark for coding accuracy?
A: It's difficult to establish an industry standard for coding accuracy because accuracy is measured differently in every facility. Some facilities compute their accuracy rate by taking the number of correctly coded records and divi....

Author: AHIMA Professional Practice Team

Source: AHIMA Q and A

Publication Date: October 2002

I am looking for productivity standards for health information management (HIM) functions in an acute care facility. Where can I obtain these?
Organizational nuances and practice differences generally require organizational customization to achieve optimal productivity standards. Variances in....

Author: Alakrawi, Zahraa M; Watzlaf, Valerie J.M.; Nemchik, Scot; Sheridan, Patty Thierry

Source: Journal of AHIMA - Coding Notes | Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: March 2017

To quantify the impact of ICD-10-CM/PCS (ICD-10) on coding productivity, Ciox Health, in partnership with the University of Pittsburgh’s Department of Health Information Management, School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, conducted a previous study published in the August 2016....

Author: Amatayakul, Margret

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: March 2006

A new study identifies the HIM best practices that influence revenue cycle management.
Revenue cycle management (RCM) has been defined as "all administrative and clinical functions that contribute to the capture, management, and collection of patient service revenue."1 RCM in hospitals is....

Author: Beebe, Michael

Source: Journal of AHIMA - Coding Notes

Publication Date: April 2001

Among the needs the CPT-5 Project addresses are changes to enhance the use of CPT by practicing physicians, managed care and other payer organizations, and researchers. The project has made recommendations for improvements in the structure and processes of the CPT codes with deliberate emphasi....

Author: Berkey, Tim

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: November 1998

As HIM professionals look for ways to become more competitive and achieve the best results, the importance of discovering best practices becomes more apparent. Here's how one team used a benchmarking project to provide specific best practices that reduced accounts receivable....

Author: Berry, Tracy Bennett

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: November 1998

Successful benchmarking can create opportunities to improve performance through discovering best practices. The author offers an overview of benchmarking and best practices and how they apply to HIM—and ways to get started on your own.
Are you looking for a way to jump....

Author: Boomershine, Julie

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: June 2016

From privacy and security risk assessments to perennial health plan record reviews, HIM departments are inundated with audits. The move to ICD-10-CM/PCS adds another layer of audit complexity and requirements as hospital and health systems step up their coding quality review processes, pr....

Author: Buff, Elizabeth Logan; Hohmann, Samuel

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: May 1999

How can health information help an organization improve its performance? The authors offer an approach to measuring performance using familiar tools—a compass and a dashboard.



A healthcare organization uses clinical data in a number of ways—to....

Author: Burrington-Brown, Jill

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: January 2003

When an organization assesses its quality of care, applying benchmarks can be difficult when the population of the organization is different from the benchmarking organizations. How can an organization use benchmarking data that reflects the reality of its population?


“Pr....

Author: Butler, Mary

Source: Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: June 13, 2016

The implementation of ICD-10 did result in a perceived loss of coding productivity, with a minimal dip in coding accuracy, according to a recent coding productivity and accuracy survey. The survey was conducted by the AHIMA Foundation in the first three weeks of May, and was released today....

Author: Butler, Mary

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: June 2017

In many ways ICD-10 coding professionals share a lot in common with college students preparing to spend a semester abroad. Both spend invaluable hours in a classroom learning the nuances and permutations of a new language, as well as months of practicing their new skills in workshops with....

Author: Clawson, Cathy

Source: AHIMA Convention

Publication Date: September 28, 2010

Introduction: Since Mountain States Health Alliance implemented the Dolbey Speech Recognition platform in October 2007; gains in productivity, decrease in outsourcing, and financial savings have confirmed the successful implementation of this technology.
Background/History: Mountain Sta....

Author: Combs, Tammy

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: January 27, 2016

When an architect draws up plans for a building, they pay close attention to the details of the foundation. This provides the support to the building and prevents it from crashing down at any moment. If the building later has structural damage it is easy to fix when the foundation is not i....

Author: Combs, Tammy

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: March 23, 2016

When calculating the productivity guidelines for a clinical documentation improvement (CDI) program it is important to remember both quantitative and qualitative perspectives. Sometimes it is very easy to focus solely on the quantity of reviews that are performed. If the quality of those r....

Author: Combs, Tammy

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: February 24, 2016

Understanding clinical documentation improvement (CDI) metrics can be confusing, especially when you first start reviewing them.


Let’s dive a little deeper into the topic and take a closer look at some frequently reported CDI metrics and evaluate how these measures can reflect the....

Author: DeVault, Kathryn

Source: Journal of AHIMA - Coding Notes

Publication Date: July 2012

As organizations begin to prepare for ICD-10 implementation, the question of coder productivity is usually close to the top of everyone's list. Addressing productivity in ICD-9-CM will provide a baseline of information crucial for the transition to ICD-10-CM/PCS.

The AHIMA e-HIM Cod....

Author: Dismuke, Clara

Source: IFHRO Congress | AHIMA Convention

Publication Date: October 15, 2004

Introduction

The Diagnosis Related Group (DRG) system was created in the US and has spread widely around the world. Currently, approximately 36 countries use some version of the system for either information collection, financing, or reimbursement for inpatient care.1 This widespread ad....

Author: Dixon-Lee, Claire

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: February 1999

This time of year may find us longing for a chair by a cozy fireplace or lounging on a sunny beach. When we find time for reflection, it's good to periodically reflect on ourselves and the image that we project as HIM professionals.

Authority Robert Camp defines benchmarki....

Author: Dunham, Larry

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: April 1998

Under managed care, information is often required on a longitudinal—not an episodic—basis. As a result, we need to rethink our approach to data storage and use. The author identifies ways to look at the demand for data in a managed care environment and shows how process as....

Author: Dunn, Rose T

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: October 2002

Staring down another backlog in your HIM department? Use routine data collection activities to strengthen your case for additional staff, increased budget dollars, or an incentive program.
Daily challenges in an HIM department include increasing workloads and accumulating backlogs withou....

Author: Dunn, Rose T

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: June 2007

Getting paper documents online takes some planning. Then it’s time to set productivity and quality expectations.
Since every hospital in the United States will not be installing a comprehensive electronic health record system tomorrow, the remaining records management options for h....

Author: Dunn, Rose T

Source: Journal of AHIMA - Coding Notes

Publication Date: April 2001

Coder productivity has become a popular topic among coders and HIM department managers and is frequently discussed on bulletin boards and listservs. Unfortunately, during the last few years, especially with the advent of APCs, it has become more difficult to establish productivity m....