Author: Carol, Ruth

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: April 2005

EHR systems are costly to purchase, complex to evaluate, and require expertise to implement. So why are small physician practices buying more of them than ever before?
There are plenty of good reasons why EHRs have been scarce in small and medium-sized physician practices. Enormous cost....

Author: Carpenter, Jennifer E.

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: May 1998

Q: I am currently employed by an organization that is implementing a long term care demonstration program for the frail elderly. I am in charge of the database for the demonstration. I'm writing policies and procedures for release of information and confidentiality and would like to ha....

Author: Carpenter, Jennifer E.

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: January 2000

You've been preparing for months. Everyone in your facility is on pins and needles. The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations has come to your facility. Your boss expects you to make sure everything under your control goes smoothly.

And then it happens. You a....

Author: Carpenter, Jennifer E.

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: October 1999

The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) created the Health Plan Employer Data and Information Set (HEDIS) as a standardized performance measurement system. It measures the quality of healthcare received through managed care plans. The measurement system lets healthcare cons....

Author: Carpenter, Jennifer E.

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: May 1999

January 25, 1999, brought the publication of the final rule on the assessment and use of the Outcomes and Assessment Information Set (OASIS) in the Federal Register. This rule requires that each patient receive a patient-specific, comprehensive assessment that identifies the patient'....

Author: Carrier, Danielle

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: July 1999

Medical record accuracy, record completion time, physician satisfaction—all of these are indicators of how well an HIM department is performing. The findings of a UHC benchmarking study may point the way to best practices that can be shared and adapted.

What....

Author: Carr, Kimberly J

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: July 2017

Though accurate clinical documentation has always been important, the implementation of ICD-10-CM/PCS in October 2015 made accurate clinical documentation critical. Since each character in the ICD-10-CM/PCS code is a specific component of the code, organizations have been challenged with e....

Author: Carroll, Eugene T.; Wright, Susan; Zakoworotny, Cindy

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: March 1998

As technology changes, our definition of the workplace expands, and we no longer are limited to working at our desk in an office. The authors describe technologies that enable us to work from home or on the road and examine security regulations and precautions.
As health inf....

Author: Carter, Darren

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: February 2002

The outpatient prospective payment system (OPPS) has dramatically changed claims processing by introducing an automated system. Medical necessity validation has also been automated as a result, leaving hospitals with increased rejections. This article explores how OPPS impacts the medical nece....

Author: Carter, Patricia; Lemery, Chrisann; Mikels, Debra A; Bowen, Rita K.; Hjort, Beth M.

Source: AHIMA practice brief | Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: November 2006

This practice brief has been updated. See the latest version here. This version is made available for historical purposes only.

Author: Cartwright, Phyllis

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: October 2007

For managers of staff who work off-site, good communication is the key to establishing more than a remote connection. Gone are casual practices such as "management by walking around."
HIM departments understand firsthand the need to tap into talent across geographic boundaries,....

Author: Casey, Patricia E.; Zeisset, Ann M.

Source: Journal of AHIMA - Coding Notes

Publication Date: February 2003

Are you up to date with the latest revisions to the heart failure codes? A revision of the heart failure codes, effective October 1, 2002, was originally presented at the May 2001 ICD-9-CM Coordination and Maintenance Committee meeting. At that meeting, representatives from Kaiser Permanente e....

Author: Cassidy, Bonnie S.

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: July 2011

How well the healthcare industry implements and executes the strategic and tactical tasks for the ICD-10 transformation will go a long way in determining the future state and success of the HIM profession. We must rise to the occasion!

HIM's long history of managing and implementing....

Author: Cassidy, Bonnie S.

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: January 2011

Today, employers are counting on us to achieve great success in adopting health IT, creating strategy, managing implementations with new workflows, and demonstrating meaningful use while properly planning for the monumental transition to ICD-10.

These are the most revitalizing times....

Author: Cassidy, Bonnie S.

Source: Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: March 2013

Today’s HIM and coding professionals are faced with multiple challenges to increase documentation accuracy and specificity due to new rules and regulations. They also face financial pressure to accelerate billing processes, which can lead to errors and fraudulent c....

Author: Cassidy, Bonnie S.

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: October 2011

HIM professionals are front and center in leading the national effort to demonstrate the meaningful use of health IT. They have a key role in leading their organizations to successful compliance with the meaningful use program. How are you advancing your organization's successful adoption of E....

Author: Cassidy, Bonnie S.

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: July 2000

As we have seen in previous installments, part of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act's purpose is to establish standards and requirements that make it easier to maintain and transmit health information electronically. These provisions, known as the administrative simplific....

Author: Cassidy, Bonnie S.

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: March 2011

The practice of health information is changing dramatically, but the profession's ethical obligations are a constant. HIM professionals should recall these tenets and demonstrate them daily.
A Code of Ethics Refresher

The AHIMA Code of Ethics serves multiple purposes. As it sta....

Author: Cassidy, Bonnie S.

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: May 2000

Are you prepared to comply with the final standards that the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act will soon mandate? Experts recommend that to begin to prepare, you conduct your own internal assessment to determine where your organization is and where it needs to be. Now is the....

Author: Cassidy, Bonnie S.

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: September 2000

In the next few years, the healthcare industry will see a mad scramble to comply with the numerous requirements of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). Not least among HIPAA's provisions is a mandate for the standardization of electronic signatures.

Author: Cassidy, Bonnie S.

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: October 2000

Confused about the differences between privacy and security? You’re not alone. Combine these with the jargon-laden chain of trust and business partner agreement issues, and a whole new set of questions about HIPAA implementation emerges.

Privacy, pursuant to HIPAA, addresses the righ....

Author: Cassidy, Bonnie S.

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: January 2001

Organizations must provide general awareness training for every employee and affiliate. This process should build general awareness of confidentiality and security issues for all employees. For employees with access to electronic health information, the organization should include job-specific....

Author: Cassidy, Bonnie S.

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: May 2011

Health information exchange continues to evolve as the federal government and states launch initiatives promoting technology, interoperability, standards utilization, and harmonization. One of these, the State Health Information Exchange Cooperative Agreement Program, is the center of a federa....

Author: Cassidy, Bonnie S.

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: April 2011

HIM's primary ethical obligation is to protect patient privacy and confidential information, which includes oversight of information disclosure; health information systems and health records; and the quality of information. Both paper and electronic health records contain personal and private....

Author: Cassidy, Bonnie S.

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: April 2008

Preparing for HIPAA implementation created a new level of excitement and focus on privacy and confidentiality as healthcare organizations developed appropriate compliance programs. New positions and roles for security and privacy officers were created; new enterprise privacy and security educa....

Author: Cassidy, Bonnie S.

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: February 2011

Patient-centered care focuses on delivering healthcare in a manner that works best for patients. In a patient-centered approach, providers partner with patients and their family members to identify and satisfy the full range of patient needs and preferences.

Organizations practicing....

Author: Cassidy, Bonnie S.

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: August 2011

Self-assessment and professional development go hand in hand. Have you taken the time to assess your skills and expertise?

Today the industry is faced with a major challenge-not enough HIM and other healthcare professionals to help implement and manage health IT. Radical change is r....

Author: Cassidy, Bonnie S.

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: June 1998

One of the goals of the Vision 2006 initiative has been to identify new career opportunities for HIM professionals. Recently, a group of AHIMA volunteers has provided a framework and tools for developing data quality management expertise. Here's an overview of their work and a look at....

Author: Cassidy, Bonnie S.

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: September 2011

The migration to EHRs changes the design and operations of traditional HIM departments. Every HIM function performed to support the paper health record today must be re-engineered.

HIM professionals must assume a leadership role in transforming these functions. The time is now to an....

Author: Cassidy, Bonnie S.

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: June 2009

Title XIII of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, or ARRA, includes $19.2 billion in provisions for healthcare information technology and information management.1 Much of the money is dedicated to health IT adoption, but a significant amount goes toward training, education, and knowled....

Author: Cassidy, Bonnie S.

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: August 2013

The unsustainable growth of health costs, the growing lack of access to healthcare, and increasing disparities in provided care have forced the US to change how healthcare is delivered. With multiple national initiatives facing the healthcare industry, it is a challenge for healthcare prof....

Author: Cassidy, Bonnie S.

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: October 2011

Health information management (HIM) is the practice of collecting, assessing the completeness of, maintaining, and sharing (as authorized) patient information through paper-based and electronic means. It is practiced in provider, payer, research, and governmental settings, as well as in health....

Author: Cassidy, Bonnie S.

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: November 2011

On behalf of the AHIMA Board of Directors, I am pleased and proud you chose HIM as your profession. You, the member, are AHIMA's number-one priority, and you, in turn, have a very important role every day as an HIM leader.

AHIMA has grown to be a thriving association with more than....

Author: Cassidy, Bonnie S.

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: June 2000

When the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) became effective in 1996, many hospitals and physicians mistakenly assumed that its provisions did not apply to them. Similarly, many e-health vendors have yet to wake up to the fact that HIPAA applies to them as well.
....

Author: Cassidy, Bonnie S.

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: June 2011

Now is the time to embrace ICD-10 adoption and plan for your personal success and the future state within your organization. Healthcare organizations are depending on the HIM profession to do the heavy lifting and prepare the industry for ICD-10.

We will never walk this path again. T....

Author: Cassidy, Bonnie S.

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: April 2000

(Editor's note: This is the first in a series of special inserts intended to help HIM professionals educate themselves about the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act [HIPAA] of 1996. In this installment, we take a look at this groundbreaking legislation from a nuts-and-bolts pe....

Author: Cassidy, Bonnie S.

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: November 2000

If you're wondering how to interpret the proposed privacy and security rules related to HIPAA, you're not alone. The requirements of these rules—and the similarities and differences between them—are surrounded by confusion and controversy.

Having recently attended AHIMA's....

Author: Cassidy, Bonnie S.; Gorman-Klug, Catherine; Taylor, Lisa Brooks

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: November 2012

A key theme for the healthcare industry in 2012 has been embracing technology, and people have begun practicing what they preach. Computer-assisted coding (CAC)-with natural language processing (NLP) or natural language understanding (NLU) capabilities-will soon be integrated into the coding w....

Author: Cassidy, Bonnie S.; Hanson, Susan P.

Source: AHIMA practice brief | Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: May 2005

This practice brief has been retired. It is made available for historical purposes only.

Author: Cassidy, Bonnie S.; King, Elaine; Wheatley, Victoria

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: February 2010

This month marks the first anniversary of the signing of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). A substantial portion of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act within it allocates funds for nationwide health information exchange and health i....

Author: Casto, Anne B.

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: September 2019

By Anne Casto, RHIA, CCS

The American Hospital Association’s Coding Clinic publishes valuable advice and guidance for coding professionals, but can coding professionals learn even more from this publication? What could coding professionals gain if Coding Clinic ent....

Author: Chebeleu, Rachel C.; Partee, Jeff

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: July 2006

When it comes to evaluating and purchasing e-HIM® technology, effective communication between the HIM and IT departments is essential. For HIM professionals with a seat at the planning table, there are two key components of a successful working relationship with your CIO: understanding prioriti....

Author: Chenoweth, Ann

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: February 2017

Whew! Another holiday season is behind us and a new year is underway. My biggest takeaway from my holiday shopping excursions was the vast number of healthcare Internet of Things (IoT) wearables and sensors on the shelves. Just a few years ago, counting steps with wireless accelerometers w....

Author: Chenoweth, Ann

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: March 2017

Two years ago, I travelled to central Honduras to volunteer my time and HIM expertise at a clinic that supports the primary care needs of 90,000 people. It was an experience I’ll never forget. Access to specialists is few and far between so the clinic had recently implemented telemedicine....

Author: Chenoweth, Ann

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: October 2017

The relationships that you form with each of your direct reports are central to your ability to fulfill your three core responsibilities as a manager: Create a culture of feedback, build a cohesive team, and achieve results collaboratively.


But these relationships do not foll....

Author: Chenoweth, Ann

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: May 2017

For college seniors, May is the time when the job search intensifies—putting the finishing touches on the resume, buying that new interview suit, and making connections with alumni.


The professional practice experience (PPE) is an important part of student education and is a....

Author: Chenoweth, Ann

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: November 2017

AHIMA’s greatest treasure can be found in the hearts of our members. During this past year serving as your AHIMA President and Board Chair, I’ve been blessed to meet and work with amazing, dedicated health information leaders. I’ve made new friends and enjoyed your gracious hospitality. Yo....

Author: Chenoweth, Ann

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: April 2017

Many influential thought leaders have come to realize there are three foundational elements to getting your ideas understood and appreciated: social proof, which gives people a reason to listen to you; content creation, which allows them to evaluate the quality of your ideas; and your netw....

Author: Chenoweth, Ann

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: August 2017

I recently heard an interview with Bill Gates where he was discussing the great advances taking place with artificial intelligence (AI). One of my big takeaways was his prediction that labor substitution across industries will be substantial in the next five- to 20-year period. In the heal....

Author: Chenoweth, Ann

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: January 2017

I’ve always loved January! It is not only the freshly fallen snow and warm drinks by the fire that I cherish, it is the exhilaration that every new year brings with it the optimism that new beginnings are possible and the belief that our resolutions can create wonderful outcomes and suc....

Author: Chenoweth, Ann

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: July 2017

We see it everywhere: AHIMA is offering education programs to help their members embark on the outpatient clinical documentation improvement (CDI) journey. Consulting firms and technology companies are launching new services and solutions to support expansion of CDI programs to outpatient....

Author: Chenoweth, Ann

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: September 2017

In July, I attended AHIMA’s CSA Leadership Symposium in Chicago, IL. This is an incredible gathering of CSA leaders from across the country. I’m always energized by the willingness of every attendee to share ideas and best practices with others.


This year, I part....

Author: Chernikoff, Lisa

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: August 2012

Students and new professionals in health information management (HIM) have a bright future ahead of them in a growing industry. Now more than ever, there are unprecedented opportunities to excel in HIM and beyond. AHIMA's student membership is on the rise as a result of these exciting prospect....

Author: Choate, Dana M.; Rudd, Jessica

Source: Journal of AHIMA - Coding Notes

Publication Date: November 2002

Faced with a severe coder shortage, Baylor University Medical Center of Dallas, TX, decided to do something radically different. With the support of administration and financial backing of the center, we developed the Coding Education Program (CEP).

The program targets existing empl....

Author: Chou, Edgar; Montroy, Tami

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: February 2017

In most healthcare settings, health information management (HIM) initiatives are led by HIM professionals with collaboration from other organizational leaders. At Drexel University College of Medicine, it is no different. Representatives with expertise in risk management, privacy, complian....

Author: Choy, Angela; Pritts, Joy; Goldman, Janlori

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: May 2002

E-health—from basic health information Web sites to online consultations—is flourishing. And though the government is trying to protect consumers under the HIPAA privacy rule, many Web sites aren’t covered. In this article, privacy experts explain which Web sites are covered an....

Author: Chtourou, Helen

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: July 2013

A key focus of clinical documentation improvement (CDI) programs is to identify deficiencies in clinical documentation and develop methods to ensure the complete and accurate capture of a patient’s clinical encounter. Healthcare records that are inaccurate or incomplete will compromi....

Author: Chung, Rick; Palatnik, Matthew

Source: Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: June 2013

Editor’s note: This post is the second in a two-part article installment. The first installment of the article was posted Saturday, June 1.



Although integration and use of laboratory data in EHRs clearly has benefits, it also poses unique legal challenges. Provider....

Author: Chung, Rick; Palatnik, Matthew

Source: Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: June 2013

Editor’s note: This post is the first in a two-part article installment. The conclusion of the article will be posted Monday, June 3.



In January 2009 President Barack Obama spoke on the need for action on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan. “To impro....

Author: Cimino, James J.

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: February 2007

Despite the corresponding increase in the use of computers to capture, store, and retrieve the information to meet these requirements, a great deal of redundancy exists in the process of the actual collection, while the goal of reusing the data for multiple purposes remains elusive.
....

Author: Cinquegrani, Kelly

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: September 2013

In order to take full advantage of health information technology, data, and analysis, an organization needs a standardization of protocols and its health IT systems must be built to support specific processes. FirstLight Health System (FLHS) has learned this first-hand over the last severa....

Author: Clack, Crystal

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

Publication Date: February 2016

When the first edition of the Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) was released in 1966, there were only 3,554 codes. In 2016, CPT, published by the American Medical Association (AMA), is celebrating its 50th birthday with 10,000 CPT codes. This year’s CPT updates include 140 codes added,....

Author: Clack, Crystal

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

Publication Date: September 2016

Injection and Infusion CPT codes are a topic that many outpatient emergency room (ER) coding professionals would like to fantasize into a state of intergalactic oblivion, but the codes are here to stay. Injection and infusion codes cover only seven pages in the 975-page 2016 CPT coding boo....

Author: Clack, Crystal

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

Publication Date: March 2016

On October 30, 2015, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized changes to the Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System and Ambulatory Surgical Center (ASC) payment system for calendar year (CY) 2016. The OPPS payment rates and policies impact approximately 4,000....

Author: Clack, Crystal

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

Publication Date: November 2015

Every medical practice should have preventive measures in place to avoid costly coding and billing audits, errors, and subsequent delays in payment. Incorrectly coded claims, missing charges on a patient encounter, and other mistakes can take a substantial bite out of both practice and ph....

Author: Clack, Crystal; Freeman, Rae; Lewis, Laquette

Source: AHIMA practice brief | Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: January 2017

A cyclone of regulatory requirements for providers has officially touched down in the United States. The Affordable Care Act (ACA), Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA), patient-centered medical home (PCMH), and value-based purchasing (VBP) initiatives are contributing to dramat....

Author: Clack, Lesley

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: September 2019

By Lesley Clack, ScD, MS, CPH


Telehealth, which refers to healthcare services facilitated remotely through electronic information and telecommunications technology, is on the rise. In 2010, 35 percent of hospitals had partially or fully implemented computerized telehealth systems,....

Author: Clack, Lesley; Houser, Shannon H.; Kadlec, Lesley; Mikaelian, Raymound; Tabisula, Braden; Zeglen, Margie

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: October 2017

Integral to this era of paperless electronic health records (EHRs) are the disciplines of data analytics and informatics. The vast volumes of electronic data woven from a multitude of systems, registries, and remote technologies creates promising career opportunities for health data analyt....

Author: Clack, Lesley; Houser, Shannon H.; Kadlec, Lesley; Mikaelian, Raymound; Wendicke, Annemarie; Cain, Jeannine MSHI, RHIA, CPHI; Spears, Amanda MA, CHDA

Source: Journal of AHIMA | AHIMA practice brief

Publication Date: October 2018

While the importance of data quality in providing high-quality clinical care in today’s healthcare setting is typically well understood, the quality of data for report building and validation activities is often not well articulated—and potential data quality....

Author: Clack, Lesley; Kadlec, Lesley; Wendicke, Annemarie; Spiro, Shelly RPh

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: November 2018

By Lesley Clack, ScD, MS; Lesley Kadlec, MA, RHIA, CHDA; Shelly Spiro, RPh; and Annemarie Wendicke, MPH, CHDA


Healthcare organizations are just beginning to leverage data analytics to take on a variety of emerging urgent topics related to ma....

Author: Clack, Lesley; Schecter, Aaron PhD

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: September 2018

By Lesley Clack, ScD, and Aaron Schecter, PhD


The opioid epidemic has become a major topic of conversation in healthcare in the United States—in part because the statistics are staggering. According to the US Department of Health and Human S....

Author: Clack, Lesley; Woeppel, Jacqueline

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: June 2018

By Lesley Clack, ScD, MS, and Jacqueline Woeppel, ScD, MBA, RHIA, CCS


While healthcare organizations are flooded with data, many organizations struggle with how to use that data to their advantage. The healthcare industry generates....

Author: Clack, Lesley; Woeppel, Jacqueline

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: February 2019

By Lesley Clack, ScD, MS, and Jacqueline Woeppel, ScD, MBA, RHIA, CCS


With the overwhelming amount of data available in healthcare, analytics has increasingly become an important tool for organizations. Data analytics can help organizations make informed decisions and predict what....

Author: Clark, Andrea

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: March 2008

The main objective of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) implementation of the 2008 Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) final rule was to address the recent explosion of growth in program expenditures for hospital outpatient services. CMS has created additional i....

Author: Clark, Andrea

Source: Journal of AHIMA - Coding Notes

Publication Date: March 2009

The final rule for the 2009 Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) includes multiple revisions that hospitals must address in their practices, policies, and operations. Hospitals should develop strategies for analyzing the financial impact and operational challenges by reviewing the foll....