Author: Rockendorf, Betty

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: February 09, 2017

Regarded as a landmark bill, the 21st Century Cures Act was passed into law in December of 2016. It’s aims are lofty and it covers a lot of ground, including transparency, breaking down silos in healthcare, interoperability, and an electronic health record (EHR) reporting program, as....

Author: Meehan, Ann M.

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: March 01, 2017

HIMSS17 took place February 19-23 in Orlando, Florida. Thousands made the journey for the event this year, where topics included payment reform, interoperability, analytics, and informatics. Speakers from AHIMA discussed the importance of ensuring trustworthy information via a formali....

Author: Downing, Kathy

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: September 28, 2015

The Information Governance Principles for Healthcare (IGPHC™) created a high-level framework of good practice in information governance (IG) and most of 2014 was spent digging into these eight pillars. As AHIMA started work on the IG Maturity Model a new concept emerged. The idea of build....

Author: Bryant, Gloryanne H.

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: May 10, 2017

The American Health Information Management Association Standards of Ethical Coding includes new and updated information and guidance as of December 2016. This is a must-have resource for any health information management coding professional.


The standards now include definiti....

Author: Endicott, Melanie

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: February 12, 2014

February is American Heart Month, a time when the media is full of information geared toward awareness and prevention of heart disease. According to the Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics—2014 Update report from the American Heart Association:


The total number....

Author: Monga, Kapila

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: December 22, 2016

The phrase “Longevity Revolution,” referring to the increase in human life expectancy by 30 years, isn’t new anymore. Various books have been written on this subject, and it is a widely discussed topic in conferences these days. It is a no-brainer that this increase in life expectancy warr....

Author: Hedges, Ron

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: September 20, 2016

In my last post of 2015 I tried to predict what types of challenges health information management (HIM) professionals might have to deal with in 2016 and beyond. One prediction involved technological innovation, as I surmised that we could “expect to see more and more ‘apps’ being off....

Author: Hedges, Ron

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: February 16, 2016

My prior posts have looked at AHIMA’s Information Governance Principles for HealthcareTM (IGPHC) in the litigation context. In this post I want to focus on one facet of litigation, something every healthcare provider (and every other party) wants to avoid: sanctions. Specifically, th....

Author: Combs, Tammy

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: May 27, 2016

Many hospitals that have implemented clinical documentation improvement (CDI) programs have seen a reduction of claim denials and an improvement in appropriate reimbursement payments and accurate quality scores. For these reasons, CDI programs have become very....

Author: Bowen, Rita K.

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: September 30, 2015

In 2015, AHIMA has shifted their focusing to the need to move information governance (IG) from the discussion phase to the action phase. At this year’s Privacy and Security Institute, several speakers discussed the need for privacy and security experts to participate in the IG conversation....

Author: Washington, Lydia

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: September 24, 2015

By Lydia Washington, MS, RHIA, CPHIMS



“If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.”


—Milton Berle



I often think of the emerging field of information governance (IG) as the “door” referenced in the above quote. As the “door” to making our healt....

Author: Kadlec, Lesley

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: December 18, 2015

If you are reading this blog post, you have probably already figured out that data analytics is complex. Understanding data analytics is like the proverbial peeling back of the onion skin, the more layers you take off, the more layers you find underneath.


In today’s healthcar....

Author: Endicott, Melanie

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: July 09, 2014

Clinical documentation improvement (CDI) is front of mind in the health information management (HIM) industry these days. Maybe you’ve seen lots of jobs advertised for CDI specialists lately and have been wondering just what exactly is so hot about this profession. Well, let me tell y....

Author: Combs, Tammy

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: June 23, 2016

Clinical documentation improvement (CDI) programs are quickly emerging in various areas of the healthcare arena. We now see these programs specializing both prior to and beyond the acute hospital admission. Just as healthcare doesn’t stop when a patient is discharged, health problems begin....

Author: Miller, Elena

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: June 15, 2017

While many people have heard the term “HIV” before, fewer are likely to know what it stands for: human immunodeficiency virus. This is the virus that causes acquired immunodeficiency sydrome, also known as AIDS. The difference in code assignment is based on whether or not the patient has t....

Author: Ryznar, Barbara

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: October 12, 2016

Understanding the cost of prescription drugs can be challenging. The recently introduced Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Medicare Spending Dashboard, an example of the principle of collecting healthcare data once and reusing it to serve the needs of multiple stakehold....

Author: Endicott, Melanie

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: January 13, 2016

I am so excited that ICD-10 is finally here—now we can stop wondering when it’s actually going to be implemented and roll up our sleeves to get to work! Now that it’s officially here and everyone is using it, we can really start to dig into the details and take advantage....

Author: Wood, Jane

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: August 09, 2017

Every fall, coding professionals anxiously await the list of new and revised ICD-10 diagnostic and procedural codes. They read articles and listen to webinars that describe the changes and are eager to prepare themselves for compliant, accurate use of the updated code set on October 1. But....

Author: Ward, Maria

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: April 13, 2017

A few weeks ago, an article came to me from a co-worker about World Leprosy Day, which is the last Sunday of January each year. I was under the naïve impression that leprosy had been, for the most part, eradicated. I had no idea the extent to which leprosy still existed, much less tha....

Author: Sanvik, Gina

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: May 11, 2016

There has been some confusion among coding professionals regarding interpretation of the coding guideline of “with.”  An area that contains many instances of using this guideline in ICD-10-CM is coding Diabetes Mellitus with associated conditions. There are 53 instances of....

Author: Endicott, Melanie

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: November 12, 2014

Ebola Virus


The Ebola virus is front page news everywhere you turn. Tracking of the Ebola outbreak in the United States with coded data is imprecise due to the lack of a specific code for Ebola in ICD-9-CM. This is yet another reason that the ICD-10-CM/PCS code sets....

Author: Endicott, Melanie

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: February 11, 2015

The coding of heart procedures is done very differently in ICD-9-CM versus ICD-10-PCS. In honor of American Heart Month, this month’s Code Cracker explores the guidelines for coding heart procedures.


There are a few specific guidelines associated with procedures don....

Author: Sanvik, Gina

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: September 14, 2016

With the release of the FY 2017 updates to the ICD-10-CM Official Coding Guidelines, there’s a lot for coding professionals to review. This post will take a closer look at one of the updates in Chapter 15: Pregnancy, Childbirth, and the Puerperium (O00-O9A). The guideline for “P....

Author: Endicott, Melanie

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: March 11, 2015

Saint Patrick’s Day is both a cultural and religious celebration that includes displays of the color green, eating and drinking, and parades. One of the greatest places to celebrate this day, outside of Ireland, is the city of Chicago, where the people go all out for Saint Patrick’s D....

Author: Endicott, Melanie

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: April 2016

The definitions and clinical criteria of sepsis and septic shock have been revised, per an article published February 23, 2016 in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). The recommendations from the 19 physician members of the task force that wrote the new definitions were:....

Author: Sanvik, Gina

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: November 10, 2016

How to code viral sepsis has been a topic of discussion on AHIMA’s Engage Coding, Classification and Reimbursement community, and has be the subject of several inquiries to AHIMA’s Code-CheckTM coding question service.


The viral sepsis coding confusion may com....

Author: Endicott, Melanie

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: February 10, 2016

Zika virus is a mosquito-borne virus that was first identified in Uganda in 1947 in rhesus monkeys. There has recently been a rise in incidences of the Zika virus in Brazil. More than 13 countries in the Americas have reported sporadic Zika virus infections, indicating....

Author: Stambaugh, Robyn

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: August 17, 2017

In the era before computers and search engines, libraries would use the card catalog—a paper database ordered by the Dewey Decimal System—to find a book or information. The Dewey Decimal System, a hierarchical scheme, is the means with which to identify, classify, and retrieve....

Author: Hedges, Ron

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: July 15, 2015

In last month’s Legal e-Speaking, “ESI Meets Court Order,” I posed a series of questions about preservation and spoliation of electronically stored information (ESI) in the context of an actual order entered in a state court. I also posed those questions to members of The....

Author: Endicott, Melanie

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: October 09, 2013

Tune in to this monthly online coding column to learn from AHIMA’s coding experts about challenging areas and documentation opportunities for ICD-10-CM/PCS.




In the hospital inpatient setting, ICD-10-PCS will replace the ICD-9-CM procedure codes (....

Author: Reeves, Mary G

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: July 28, 2016

To get information governance (IG) off the ground, there must be a leader who is willing to step up and make the case for IG by clearly identifying its benefits—the IG Value Proposition. As a first step in building the value proposition, leaders can create an IG learning environment w....

Author: Endicott, Melanie

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: June 01, 2013

Let’s be honest, there is a lot of angst amongst the physician community concerning the transition to ICD-10. The October 1, 2014 date is quickly approaching and if your practice has not begun preparing for the change, now is the time to get busy! Here are some fun ways....

Author: Wiedemann, Lou Ann

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: September 21, 2016

Big data. Data explosion. Predictive analytics. Population health. Data management. Chronic disease monitoring. Natural language processing. As though healthcare was not struggling enough to keep up with acronyms, synonyms, abbreviations, and poorly defined buzzwords, we have entered the e....

Author: Dooling, Julie A; Profitt, Karen

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: October 26, 2016

Searching for the quickest path to establish and access data “sources of truth” in your healthcare organization?


In the past, health information management (HIM) professionals were taught to maintain a patient’s health information in a central repository. The paper healt....

Author: Combs, Tammy

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: October 27, 2016

Mastering physician engagement can be a challenging process, but it is within reach when you develop a plan of action and have a little patience. During AHIMA’s 2016 CDI Summit: Advancing the Documentation Journey, held August 1-2 in Washington, DC, Dr. John Showalter, MD, MSIS, University....

Author: Iskandaryan, Mike

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: November 17, 2015

The application of data analytics has been in place for many years in industries such as banking, insurance, and others relying on powerful algorithms and data to learn about the past and make decisions about the future. Analytics can have a major impact when utilized in healthcare, includ....

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: Dooling, Julie A

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: April 21, 2016

The cleanliness, integrity, and trustworthiness of our provider data is essential to remember at all times, even as focus shifts toward other important initiatives, such as working toward a better method of matching and identifying our patients.  When it comes to managing and governin....

Author: Foley, Dianna

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: August 10, 2016

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition (DSM-5) and the International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-10-CM) both present ways to classify diseases. In the case of DSM-5, it is strictly for mental dis....

Author: Washington, Lydia

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: April 14, 2016

In the summer of 2015, AHIMA embarked on an ambitious project to recruit healthcare organizations that were embarking on the information governance (IG) Journey to serve as pilot sites that would provide greater insight into how healthcare IG organizational capabilities develop and to....

Author: Endicott, Melanie

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: March 10, 2016

In the years leading up to ICD-10-CM/PCS implementation, doomsdayers chanted horror stories of expected productivity losses of up to 50 percent. Now that we are nearly six months post-implementation, I’ve yet to hear about an instance where such a prediction came true.....

Author: Hedges, Ron

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: June 11, 2015

I’ve written for AHIMA on various subjects, including preservation and spoliation of electronically stored information (ESI). This month, I want to ask you to think about both.


To start, consider this premise: The parties to a civil action agreed to an order “on D....

Author: Overgaard, Shauna M

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: October 2015

Outcome measures such as patient satisfaction, rates of readmission, and procedural complications play heavily into the penalization of an organization’s financial reimbursement.


It is important to evaluate data on multiple levels in order to consider all opportunities for in....

Author: VanOver, Jennifer; Lusk, Katherine

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: November 16, 2016

When health information management involved keeping paper records in file rooms, a rule of thumb was that after two years with infrequent activity, medical records were often moved to off-site storage. This reduced the cost of maintaining medical records onsite long term. The records often....

Author: Dooling, Julie A; Pruente, Megan

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: March 16, 2017

The LGBT patient population have identification and documentation needs that are not being addressed in today’s mainstream healthcare workflows. Capturing sexual orientation and gender identity (SO/GI) is a relatively new concept and the need for this standardized, private, and secure....

Author: Stambaugh, Robyn

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: October 13, 2016

A new season in my life always lends itself to reflection and realignment of goals. With a freshly finished HIM graduate program in the rear view it’s time to map out where both personal and professional intellectual curiosities will lead. As luck would have it, I have a bucket list o....

Author: Sanvik, Gina

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: July 13, 2016

Although many HIM professionals and coding professionals were just starting to get comfortable with ICD-10-CM/PCS, it is time to prepare for the thousands of new ICD-10 changes coming soon.


The upcoming ICD-10 updates for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 will also represe....

Author: Endicott, Melanie

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: January 08, 2014

Now that 2014 is here, it’s time to really get serious about ICD-10-CM/PCS preparation. Coders should already have some basic knowledge of the ICD-10-CM and ICD-10-PCS code sets, and now it’s time to move to a more advanced level of training.


Many organiza....

Author: Kadlec, Lesley

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: October 08, 2015

Many healthcare organizations continue to struggle with implementing an information governance (IG) initiative. Oftentimes it can be a challenge to articulate exactly what IG is, and to find a simple way to get executive support to get started.


At session two of AHIMA’s pre-c....

Author: Taylor, Nathan Patrick

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: January 25, 2016

If you are new to healthcare analytics, it can be quite expensive to get up and running with a statistical application. Between the cost of the software itself and the instructional courses—not to mention your investment of time—just getting started could run several thousand dollars. Than....

Author: Crow, Lisa

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: March 08, 2017

Monthly bills. Monthly lunch meetings. Monthly delinquent medical record report. So many tasks occur once a month. But monthly external coding audits? Isn’t once a year enough? No, says healthcare provider organizations.


Butler Memorial Hospital in Butler, PA, and dozen....

Author: Overgaard, Shauna M

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: July 22, 2015

The adoption of analytic skills increases a health information management (HIM) professional’s competencies, which in turn improves their use, interpretation, and application of data. This strengthens their vision as leaders in the field as well as their ability to contribute to....

Author: White, Jim

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: April 20, 2017

One of the more significant healthcare trends we see today is the consolidation (mergers and acquisitions) of hospitals, physician groups, and insurance companies into larger integrated systems. The goal of this activity have been focused on: increased market share, increased financia....

Author: Hedges, Ron

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: May 18, 2016

Healthcare providers often enter into agreements with third party contractors to provide services dealing with electronic information. There are various reasons to do so, such as leveraging the contractor’s expertise. Unfortunately, there may be times when the relationship....

Author: Fahy, Kristi

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: June 22, 2017

The Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Health Care Industry Cybersecurity Task Force released their long-awaited “Report on Improving Cybersecurity in the Health Care Industry” on June 2. The report addresses information governance (IG) as a concept that will....

Author: Kadlec, Lesley; Kirby, Annessa

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: October 06, 2016

We hear so much about the amount of data available in healthcare today. But we are just beginning to understand the importance of analyzing that data to make decisions. As buzzwords like “information governance” and “data analytics” are becoming more mainstream, the analysis of data i....

Author: Seargeant, Lori

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: July 14, 2016

The more I learn, the more I realize how much I do not know.

-Einstein



Information governance (IG) is a growing discipline in many industries, yet we are finding it just taking hold in healthcare with the robust momentum it merits. Recognizing the many comp....

Author: Combs, Tammy

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: July 27, 2016

We talk a lot about the impact of clinical documentation improvement (CDI) on healthcare organizations and physicians. We look at ways to reflect appropriate reimbursement and accurate quality scores, both of which are very important. But do we take the time to look at the true extent of t....

Author: Meyer, Melanie

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: April 19, 2017

Healthcare organizations are increasingly focused on managing patient populations to improve outcomes while reducing costs. Here are short profiles of how some health information exchanges (HIEs) are using data to support population health efforts.

Managing Populations

Author: Combs, Tammy

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: September 28, 2016

Have you ever gone to a staff meeting only to hear the news that a process you’ve been following for years is about to change? How does that make you feel? Maybe you love change and welcome any opportunity to improve a process. But maybe you are a creature of habit and the thought of a cha....

Author: Endicott, Melanie

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: August 12, 2015

Among the most helpful tools for assisting providers through the transition to ICD-10-CM/PCS are documentation tip sheets detailing the specificity needed to assign accurate codes. Many companies are selling tip sheets, but if you are looking to save a few dollars, here’s a step-by-s....

Author: Endicott, Melanie

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: October 08, 2014

From pink gloves on the football field to pink night lighting on skyscrapers—not to mention the influx of pink clothing everywhere you look—it’s no secret that October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Most people have been touched by breast cancer in some way&md....

Author: Endicott, Melanie

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: July 01, 2013

There’s a tremendous amount of buzz in the healthcare industry about preparing hospitals and physicians for ICD-10-CM/PCS (ICD-10) implementation. But what should other care settings—such as long term care, home health, and hospice—be doing to prepare?



Identifying S....

Author: Endicott, Melanie

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: November 11, 2015

Now that ICD-10-CM/PCS has finally been implemented and everyone is using these new code sets, the questions are rolling in. AHIMA’s Engage community is overflowing with questions from coding professionals seeking advice on how to code this or that. Many of the question....

Author: Endicott, Melanie

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: June 11, 2014

Focus has been on training in ICD-10-CM/PCS for the past few years. With yet another delay, many organizations are slowing down their ICD-10 training and changing their focus back to ICD-9-CM.


The first quarter of 2014 was historic in “coder world” since t....

Author: Noreen, Neysa; Lusk, Katherine; Kadlec, Lesley

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: March 2016

Why is patient matching important? Why is information governance (IG) important?


And how are the two linked together?


IG starts at the creation of information and patient matching starts at the time the patient information is being created. Part of resolvin....

Author: Crabb, Stephanie

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: January 14, 2016

How are football and IG related? Anyone who knows me knows that I am a sports fanatic and football is my favorite professional team sport. So, as we stand on the precipice of the playoff season, I have football on my mind. With IG ALWAYS on my mind, I found myself thinking about how to ans....

Author: Meehan, Ann M.

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: June 23, 2016

In this world of growing health-related data, information governance is not only needed but is crucial to ensure that healthcare organizations can quickly and efficiently manage the data being produced, resulting in information being used effectively for patient care. The latest numbers on....

Author: Lewis, Sharon

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: September 2015

In June I delivered a presentation, “Breach Prevention Part I: Take a PHI Pause—Conduct an Actionable Privacy Risk Assessment,” at a breakout session at the 2015 California Health Information Convention and Exhibit. Finding resources to create a presentation on conducting....

Author: Kadlec, Lesley

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: February 25, 2016

We hear a lot of conversations about information governance (IG) in healthcare, and our importance in leading these initiatives. But oftentimes the IG discussion centers on the work to be done within the four walls of the institution, and does not look at the need to engage healthcare cons....

Author: Downing, Kathy

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: May 26, 2016

Data governance (DG) is the sub-domain of information governance (IG) that provides for the design and execution of data needs planning and data quality assurance in concert with the strategic information needs of the organization. Data governance includes data modeling, data mapping, data....

Author: Combs, Tammy

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: November 23, 2016

Have you ever spent hours working on a project, only to find out at a random meeting that another team has been working on the same project? This type of scenario can be frustrating to both teams and lead to distrust in the work process—not to mention wasted time that could have been spent....

Author: Meehan, Ann M.

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: September 23, 2016

If you are reading this blog you are curious about information governance (IG), learning about IG, or on board with IG. Our goal is to get all members of AHIMA on board with IG.


Let’s start with a definition of IG. AHIMA defines information governance as an organization....

Author: Washington, Lydia

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: December 10, 2015

If there was one central theme that ran through AHIMA’s 2015 IG Summit, it was “just get started.” With the disruptive changes currently emerging in healthcare, there is no time to waste. We can no longer tolerate the “one-off’s” and silos that engulf the creation of our information and it....

Author: Washington, Lydia

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: November 12, 2015

Data governance is a hot topic these days, as healthcare organizations begin to realize that the analytics capabilities that are necessary for new care and payment models are not feasible without some sort of unified and consistent enterprise approach to data management. Building an effect....

Author: Miller, Nicole

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: June 15, 2017

When information governance (IG) first became the buzz word in healthcare it seemed like it was not very well understood and there was much to be learned. The healthcare industry has moved past that initial reaction and is ready to embrace this new reality of information governance. I....

Author: Endicott, Melanie

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: December 11, 2013

A recent study published by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) estimates that more than 15,000 injuries attributable to holiday decorating occurred during November and December 2012. These injuries range from falls to burns to lacerations to back strains. As yo....

Author: Green, Deborah

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: October 22, 2015

The results of the AHIMA-Cohasset Associates second survey on IG in Healthcare are showing definite traction for information governance (IG) in healthcare. While the focus was professional readiness, we heard from 1,260 professionals working in healthcare and learned from them about the ad....

Author: Dooling, Julie A

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: June 17, 2015

In my April post “Quality Data Starts With Us” I discussed the importance of identifying patients correctly the first time. I think of this as Step #1 in capturing quality healthcare data for our patients.


Step #2 is in a race with Step #1, and which comes out ahe....

Author: Endicott, Melanie

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: March 12, 2014

I am amazed at how much publicity ICD-10 is getting in the media, and unfortunately it’s not all positive. From Fox News to the Wall Street Journal to You Tube, ICD-10 is a hot topic. Naysayers seem to point out some of the more obscure codes that will likely never be u....

Author: Downing, Kathy

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: February 23, 2017

With information governance (IG) emerging and gaining momentum in healthcare organizations, many questions arise. What are the goals of information governance? Why have some organizations decided they need formal information governance? How do healthcare organizations expect to benefi....

Author: Barron, Chrystel

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: July 12, 2017

It is important to know the difference between anticoagulant drugs and antiplatelet drugs when assigning a Z-code for long term drug use. Both of these types of drugs are closely related in the way they manipulate the various channels of the blood clotting mechanism, which can make this a....

Author: Dooling, Julie A; Overgaard, Shauna M

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: September 23, 2015

We can picture it now. Sitting at the desk, gazing at the computer screen as our minds are drawn into that special kind of bliss that can only be achieved through data of the highest integrity, relational consistency, and internal and external harmony. Yes, in those sweet moments all of th....

Author: Endicott, Melanie

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: September 09, 2015

This is it. The final countdown is on. ICD-10-CM/PCS is just a few short weeks away from finally becoming a reality in the United States. For those of you that have been preparing for years for this day, I bet you are breathing a huge sigh of relief and thinking, “just get it over with alr....

Author: Hedges, Ron

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: August 21, 2015

Editor’s note: The views expressed in this column are those of the author alone and should not be interpreted otherwise or as advice.



AHIMA’s newly developed Information Governance Principles for Healthcare (IGPHC)TM offer healthcare professionals an informat....

Author: Hedges, Ron

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: September 16, 2015

Editor’s note: The views expressed in this column are those of the author alone and should not be interpreted otherwise or as advice.



For this month’s post, I’d like to discuss the results of the 2015 Legal Hold and Data Preservation Benchmark Survey re....

Author: Monga, Kapila

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: May 19, 2016

Hospital readmissions cost significant money to our healthcare system every year. According to a report from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project and Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the total cost of the 3.3 million adult 30-day all-cause readmissions in the US was $41.3....

Author: Goodell, Suzanne

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: November 21, 2016

Recently, I have been talking with our CMIO, working to gain her executive sponsorship for implementing system-wide policies for patient naming, matching, and identification. She was receptive to my suggestions, but her plate was already full, and she didn’t seem ready to lead a new system....

Author: Miller, Elena

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: September 13, 2017

When I first emerged from school into my life as a new graduate, I had no idea that there was still so much I had to learn. There are eight things in particular that I wish I had known then:

1. Experience is often preferred, not required.


Companies can only hire....

Author: Palkie, Brooke

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: March 16, 2017

As I begin digging into the intricacies of long-term digital preservation (LTDP) of electronic healthcare data, I am realizing how little I knew. The ever-changing formats and standards for accessing personal health information (PHI) come to mind. Once obsolete, how will this information b....

Author: Endicott, Melanie

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: July 08, 2015

Coding productivity is predicted to take a dip during the transition to ICD-10. That dip can be a minor speed bump or a gigantic crater, depending on many factors—which can be mitigated in these last few months leading up to implementation.

Training


The most ef....

Author: Endicott, Melanie

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: August 01, 2013

Tune in to this monthly online coding column to learn from AHIMA’s coding experts about challenging areas and documentation opportunities for ICD-10-CM/PCS.





Coding supervisors are worried about predicted productivity losses in the transition to ICD-10-CM/P....

Author: Overgaard, Shauna M; Dooling, Julie A

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: August 27, 2015

Healthcare payments are shifting and the industry is in a rapid state of change. Efficiencies to render patient care as a top priority are crucial. Measuring brings efficiencies and meaning to a patient population.

High-Level Measurements


Population-based statistics....

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: Fernandes, Lorraine M.; O'Connor, Michele

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: March 18, 2016

Healthcare is transforming at a rate not previously seen. Many different levers are at work in this transformation, applied either in parallel or jointly. This transformation is occurring with the goal of advancing the IHI Triple Aim—improve care and outcomes, reduce costs, improve health.....

Author: Endicott, Melanie

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: April 08, 2015

Journal of AHIMA's monthly online coding column where AHIMA’s coding experts address challenging areas and documentation opportunities for ICD-10-CM/PCS.

Author: Wiedemann, Lou Ann

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: January 18, 2017

Harry Nilsson said it best when he penned these lyrics for Three Dog Night’s 1969 hit song “One”:



“One is the loneliest number that you’ll ever do”



Healthcare organizations and providers continue to face increased ch....

Author: Wiedemann, Lou Ann

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: February 16, 2017

In the companion post to this article, “One is the Loneliest Number (Part 1 of 2),” we focused on important healthcare statistics to know as we prepare for 2017. Here in Part 2, we discover that the following lyrics in Three Dog Night’s song “One” can also be....

Author: Goodell, Suzanne

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: August 11, 2016

In early 2016, Suzanne Goodell, co-chair of AHIMA’s Information Governance Practice Council and director of meaningful use in a large regional health system, invited our blog readers to accompany her on her IG journey. At that time, she stated, “I feel like I am Dorothy taking the f....

Author: Goodell, Suzanne

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: August 24, 2016

In early 2016, Suzanne Goodell, co-chair of AHIMA’s Information Governance Practice Council and director of meaningful use in a large regional health system, invited our blog readers to accompany her on her IG Journey. This is the third blog post describing how the journey is going.....