Author: AHIMA e-HIM Work Group on Security of Personal Health Information

Source: AHIMA practice brief | Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: September 2008

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

Author: AHIMA e-HIM Work Group on the Legal Health Record

Source: AHIMA practice brief | Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: October 2005

The custodian of an electronic health record (EHR) has the same concerns as the custodian of a paper health record when the record becomes involved in the legal process. Most often this occurs in some form of lawsuit in which a party seeks to discover and introduce evidence from the record. The....

Author: AHIMA e-HIM Work Group on the Legal Health Record

Source: AHIMA practice brief | Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: September 2005

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

Author: AHIMA e-HIM Work Group on the RFP Process for EHR Systems

Source: AHIMA practice brief | Journal of AHIMA | AHIMA Task Force

Publication Date: June 2007

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

Author: AHIMA e-HIM Work Group on the Transition to ICD-10-CM/PCS

Source: AHIMA practice brief | Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: October 2009

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

Author: AHIMA e-HIM Work Group on the Transition to ICD-10-CM/PCS

Source: AHIMA practice brief | Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: October 2009

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

Author: AHIMA EHR Practice Council

Source: AHIMA practice brief | Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: October 2007

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

Author: AHIMA House of Delegates

Source: Journal of AHIMA | AHIMA HoD Resolution

Publication Date: January 1998

Background Information

The healthcare industry is undergoing extraordinary change. Technology is rapidly changing how health information is managed. The HIM profession, at the crossroads of healthcare and information management, is profoundly affected by all these changes. Consequ....

Author: AHIMA House of Delegates

Source: Journal of AHIMA | AHIMA HoD Resolution

Publication Date: January 2000

Background Information

Throughout its history, AHIMA has responded to industry dynamics with corresponding changes to its name and certification titles. The Association of Record Librarians of North America became the American Association of Medical Record Librarians. The Register....

Author: AHIMA House of Delegates

Source: Journal of AHIMA | AHIMA HoD Resolution

Publication Date: January 2000

Background Information

The concept of advanced standing—recognition such as fellowship for individuals with substantial professional achievements—has been discussed by AHIMA volunteer leaders for many years. Delegates at the 1997 House of Delegates expressed interest in....

Author: AHIMA House of Delegates

Source: Journal of AHIMA | AHIMA HoD Resolution

Publication Date: January 1998

Resolution from the 1997 House of Delegates

Author: AHIMA House of Delegates

Source: Journal of AHIMA | AHIMA HoD Resolution

Publication Date: January 2001

Background Information
AHIMA has, since its inception, recognized the importance of education in fostering the profession.
Throughout its history, AHIMA's educational programs have continually faced a core set of challenges in sustaining program viability.
Trends a....

Author: AHIMA House of Delegates

Source: Journal of AHIMA | AHIMA HoD Resolution

Publication Date: January 1998

Background Information

Associations exist to serve the goals of its members who are its community of interest. Unlike the private sector, associations have no stockholders. Its customers are its owners and its owners are its customers. An association's strategic framework—its....

Author: AHIMA House of Delegates

Source: Journal of AHIMA | AHIMA HoD Resolution

Publication Date: January 1998

Background

In August 1996, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) [Public Law 104-191] established the infrastructure and funding for federal fraud and abuse efforts. This legislation authorizes the appropriation of $104 million in 1997, with increases in....

Author: AHIMA House of Delegates

Source: Journal of AHIMA | AHIMA HoD Resolution

Publication Date: January 1998

[Note: an updated House of Delegates resolution on lifelong learning was passed in 2004 and is available here.]
Background Information

In 1996, AHIMA's House of Delegates adopted Vision 2006 as the strategic direction for the profession:

"Resolved, That....

Author: AHIMA House of Delegates

Source: Journal of AHIMA | AHIMA HoD Resolution

Publication Date: January 1998

Resolution from the 1997 House of Delegates

Author: AHIMA House of Delegates

Source: Journal of AHIMA | AHIMA HoD Resolution

Publication Date: January 1998

Background

In 1996, AHIMA's House of Delegates adopted Vision 2006 as its strategy for moving the health information management profession into the future:

"Resolved, That the American Health Information Management Association and its component organizations and....

Author: AHIMA House of Delegates

Source: Journal of AHIMA | AHIMA HoD Resolution

Publication Date: January 1998

Resolution from the 1997 House of Delegates:
Advocating for Unique Healthcare Identification
Background Information

During the past few decades, many technological advances in healthcare have occurred. Despite this, the typical health record has not changed significan....

Author: AHIMA ICD-10-CM/PCS Academic Transition Workgroup

Source: AHIMA practice brief | Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: April 2009

The content in this practice brief has been retired. It is made available for historical purposes only. More recent information is available here.

Author: AHIMA Information Security Task Force

Source: Journal of AHIMA | AHIMA HoD Resolution

Publication Date: January 1998

Resolution from the 1997 House of Delegates

Author: AHIMA Managed Care Task Force

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: April 1999

The authors explore the definition of managed care and how the health information manager's skills apply to a managed care setting. In addition, HIM professionals who have made the transition to the managed care setting share their experiences.
What is managed....

Author: AHIMA MPI Task Force

Source: AHIMA practice brief | Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: January 2004

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

Author: AHIMA Personal Health Record Practice Council

Source: AHIMA practice brief | Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: June 2008

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

Author: AHIMA Personal Health Record Practice Council

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: November 2006

HIM professionals can help consumers evaluate the multiplying choices in personal health records and select the one that's best for them.
Consumers are taking a more active role in their healthcare. They are paying a larger portion for services, reviewing provider quality throug....

Author: AHIMA Physician Practice Council

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: June 2010

Arguably, the greatest challenge for a medical practice implementing an electronic health record (EHR) system is change. Setting up new software and hardware is typically easier than disrupting and reconfiguring the practice’s processes and determining how to handle its existing paper records.....

Author: AHIMA Policy and Government Relations Team

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: October 2013

This continues to be a busy year in Washington, DC, as members of Congress debate many important issues that affect healthcare stakeholders. Congress has considered issues ranging from how much money to appropriate to the various federal agencies and reforming the Sustainable Growth Rate t....

Author: AHIMA Policy and Government Relations Team

Source: Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: December 2009

Dec 31, 2009 07:01 am

CMS and ONC released proposed and interim regulations on meaningful use and EHR certification late yesterday as the year wound down.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released a 556-page a notice of proposed rulemaking defining the “m....

Author: AHIMA Privacy and Security Practice Council

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: July 2007

Working from home has become a common practice as organizations try to maximize the number of productive work hours in a day. A plethora of new portable devices and Web-based technology enables this option by providing off-site access to work-based applications and facilitating the transp....

Author: AHIMA Privacy and Security Practice Council

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: September 2006

Job shadowing is a popular method of providing a work-based learning experience. It allows an individual to follow or “shadow” a healthcare professional during a typical workday. The participant can observe the healthcare professional’s job duties, ask questions, and eval....

Author: AHIMA Privacy and Security Practice Council

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: July 2007

Healthcare organizations have had a long-standing commitment to protect the privacy of patient health information during all phases of record creation, maintenance, storage, and final disposal. This responsibility is further required by federal and state laws and regulations, as well as b....

Author: AHIMA Privacy and Security Practice Council (2006)

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: March 2007

HIPAA promised administrative simplification through a variety of health information standards, including transactions and codes sets and the privacy rule. Transactions and code sets, which were implemented in October 2002, were designed to reduce the number of requests from payers for supporti....

Author: AHIMA Privacy and Security Practice Council (2007)

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: January 2008

Author: AHIMA Privacy and Security Practice Council (2007)

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: January 2008

Author: AHIMA Privacy and Security Practice Council (2007)

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: January 2008

What would you do if you were notified that your organization’s information system was hacked and patient information extracted? That a case manager left her laptop on the subway? That a remote transcriptionist’s home was burglarized and her PC stolen? A vendor misplaced a flash drive con....

Author: AHIMA Professional Ethics Committee

Source: Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: April 01, 2010

Anyone who is a member of AHIMA or holds its credentials agrees to abide by its code of ethics.


The code sets forth professional values and ethical principles, and it offers guidelines to which professionals aspire. “Ethical behaviors result from a pe....

Author: AHIMA Professional Ethics Committee

Source: Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: October 01, 2013

Although the AHIMA Code of Ethics may not be something health information management (HIM) professionals think about each day, handling ethical issues—and making decisions that have ethical implications—is very much a part of daily HIM practice.


Some of th....

Author: AHIMA Professional Practice Team

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: January 2008

The healthcare industry enters 2008 with a score of hot topics related to health information management. Here are the issues to watch, picked by AHIMA’s professional practice and policy staff.
Presidential Election

Don Asmonga, MBA, director of government relatio....

Author: AHIMA Staff

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: July 2015

It is the matchup of the century—the towering hulk of healthcare’s Big Data versus the super computer known as Watson. Will Watson be able to take on this lumbering, untamed mass of information and whip it into submission?


One year ago, the Journal of AHIMA reported on the IBM su....

Author: AHIMA Staff

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: March 2015

Health Information Management (HIM) professionals have a notoriously hard time getting folks in the C-suite to take on new health IT projects. But in one area, at least, that's beginning to change. Telehealth (or telemedicine) may have reached the tipping point in seeing a return on investment,....

Author: AHIMA Staff

Source: Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: February 2010

Author: AHIMA Staff

Source: Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: January 01, 2013

Accurate patient identification and successful linking of electronic records is highly dependent on the accuracy of key demographic data. There are three different events that must occur in order to maintain patient identity data integrity.




....

Author: AHIMA Staff

Source: Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: February 01, 2013

A query can be a powerful communication tool used to clarify documentation in the health record and achieve accurate code assignments. This Practice Brief In Addition provides examples of the different forms of queries available to HIM professionals.

....

Author: AHIMA Staff

Source: Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: May 01, 2013

In February 2013, the practice brief on “Guidance on a Compliant Query” was published in the Journal of AHIMA. The intent of this practice brief is to maintain the integrity of the coded healthcare data. The purpose of the query process outlined is to ensure appropriate....

Author: AHIMA Staff

Source: Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: September 28, 2014

The United States is one of the last countries to switch from the International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) to the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, Clinical Modification, Procedure Coding System (ICD-10-CM/PCS). The com....

Author: AHIMA Staff

Source: Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: September 30, 2014

Suzanne Paone, MBA, DHA, and Dilhari DeAlmeida, PhD, RHIA, both professors at the University of Pittsburgh, presented a well-attended session on information governance (IG) Tuesday afternoon. The session, “Information Governance, Best Practices and Lessons Learned,” demonstrated how i....

Author: AHIMA Staff

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: October 2014

The US healthcare industry has the unfortunate distinction of having the highest per capita cost of data breaches, recent reports suggest.


A May 2014 Ponemon Institute analysis found that the per capita cost of a healthcare breach was $359 per record. The overall mean across indus....

Author: AHIMA Staff

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: February 2015

The tension between data privacy and consumers’ demand for their health information will become more strained in 2015, a new report predicts. As the number of privacy breaches in the healthcare sector has grown in recent years, so too has the desire of consumers to be one click away from....

Author: AHIMA Staff

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: January 2015

To many American technology observers, courts in Japan and the European Union could be setting a controversial precedent in a series of rulings regarding the “the right to be forgotten.”


Courts in these jurisdictions have ruled against Google and Yahoo and in favor of individuals....

Author: AHIMA Staff

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: November 1998

It's quite a different world today than it was in 1928 when our Association was founded. Back then, the news item of the day was Amelia Earhart's landmark flight across the Atlantic. A year later, the country was immersed in the Great Depression, an era precipitated by the stock market cr....

Author: AHIMA Work Group

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: August 2008

The August 2008 issue of the Journal of AHIMA published a selected bibliography of research and writing on EHRs in physician practices. This is the extended version, as promised in the print issue.

"Physicians View Use of EMRs as Part of New Business Model." Capitation Management Repo....

Author: AHIMA Work Group

Source: AHIMA practice brief | Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: July 2015

Editor’s Note: This Practice Brief has been updated. See the latest version here. This version is made available for historical purposes only.



Clinical documentation improvement (CDI) is an entire discipline focused on improving the clinical clarity of the health record. Prac....

Author: AHIMA Work Group

Source: AHIMA practice brief | Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: May 2015

Editor’s Note: This Practice Brief supersedes the March 2007 [and March 2013] Practice Brief “Assessing and Improving EHR Data Quality.”


The United States-based Institute of Medicine (IOM) reported in 1999 that “at least 44,000 people, and perhaps as many a....

Author: AHIMA Work Group

Source: AHIMA practice brief | Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: June 2015

Editor’s Note: This Practice Brief supersedes the October 2012 Practice Brief “Electronic Documentation Templates Support ICD-10-CM/PCS Implementation.”


Improving patient care continues to take center stage in the healthcare industry, as demonstrated by an increa....

Author: AHIMA Work Group

Source: AHIMA practice brief | Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: February 2015

Healthcare providers and health information technology (HIT) suppliers across the country have been busy preparing for what could be one of the most significant proposals for stage 3 of the “meaningful use” EHR Incentive Program—a proposal that has wide implications for health....

Author: AHIMA Work Group

Source: Journal of AHIMA | AHIMA practice brief

Publication Date: October 2016

Accurate patient identification is a major challenge faced by healthcare organizations across all levels of care throughout the industry. Health information management (HIM) professionals play a critical role in collecting identifiable information and matching the patient to their health record....

Author: AHIMA Work Group

Source: AHIMA practice brief | Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: March 2017

One of the Healthy People 2020 objectives from the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion is to improve the health, safety, and well-being of individuals in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) population.1 This population faces health disparities with barriers to healt....

Author: AHIMA Work Group

Source: AHIMA practice brief | Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: March 2016

There is a significant amount of evidence that points to the existence of serious quality concerns for patients undergoing care transitions across multiple care settings. The 2001 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report “Crossing the Quality Chasm” famously described the US system as dec....

Author: AHIMA Work Group

Source: Journal of AHIMA | AHIMA web extra

Publication Date: January 2014

Health information management (HIM) is a discipline that has rapidly evolved toward roles of increasing complexity and demand in recent years and the coding profession has been one area at the center of this growth. Even though the HIM profession is currently rethinking their coding and clinica....

Author: AHIMA Work Group

Source: AHIMA practice brief | Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: May 2014

This Practice Brief explores the complexity of patient identification integrity, including how organizations can manage patient identification systems from front end data capture to back end quality control as an ongoing process and carry local quality operations into health information exchange efforts. It urges industry stakeholders to recognize that now is a critical time to address accuracy in patient identification systems.

Author: AHIMA Work Group

Source: AHIMA practice brief | Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: September 2011

Problem lists facilitate continuity of patient care by providing a comprehensive and accessible list of patient problems in one place. Problem lists used within health records are a list of illnesses, injuries, and other factors that affect the health of an individual patient, usually identifyi....

Author: AHIMA Work Group

Source: AHIMA practice brief | Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: August 2013

Editor’s note: This update replaces the 2007 practice brief “Guidelines for EHR Documentation to Prevent Fraud.”


Electronic documentation tools offer many features that are designed to increase both the quality and the utility of clinical documentation, enhancin....

Author: AHIMA Work Group

Source: AHIMA practice brief | Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: January 2014

This Practice Brief will educate readers on the challenges and opportunities surrounding the PPE. The desired outcome is to expand options for PPEs and increase support of the PPE throughout the healthcare industry. Providing additional options and increasing practitioner support of the PPE will result in creating a stronger and better prepared generation of new HIM professionals.

Author: AHIMA Work Group

Source: AHIMA practice brief | Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: November 2013

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

Author: AHIMA Work Group

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: AHIMA Work Group

Source: AHIMA practice brief | Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: April 2014

Covered entities should already have in place the mechanisms for limiting PHI under minimum necessary policies and procedures. This Practice Brief provides guidance to assist organizations in complying with the 2013 HITECH-HIPAA Omnibus Rule’s new disclosure restriction requirements.

Author: AHIMA Work Group

Source: AHIMA practice brief | Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: September 2014

All data are not created equal and technology implementation alone is not enough to improve the healthcare provided to patients. Providers and organizations must be able to distinguish between an abundance of data, meaningful data, and integration of data. Healthcare organizations are challenge....

Author: AHIMA Work Group on Core Data Sets as Standards for the Electronic Health Record

Source: AHIMA practice brief | Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: September 2004

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

Author: AHIMA Work Group on Electronic Health Records Management

Source: AHIMA practice brief | Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: October 2004

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

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: Albaum-Feinstein, Andrea L.

Source: Journal of AHIMA - Coding Notes

Publication Date: May 2000

Because coding for professional services in mental health settings requires an understanding of numerous and complex treatment options and settings, a periodic review of Physicians Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) is essential. For many mental healthcare patients, a psychiatrist pr....

Author: Albaum-Feinstein, Andrea L.

Source: Journal of AHIMA - Coding Notes

Publication Date: May 2000

Editor's note: This is the first part in a two-part series on diagnostic coding for mental healthcare. Part II will discuss the differences between DSM-IV and ICD-9-CM coding systems.

Coding and documentation and the development and implementation of an effective HIM compliance pro....

Author: Albaum-Feinstein, Andrea L.

Source: Journal of AHIMA - Coding Notes

Publication Date: June 2000

Editor's note: This is the second part in a two-part series on diagnostic coding for mental healthcare.

Documentation differences between DSM-IV and ICD-9-CM continue to challenge coders in mental health settings. Efforts to minimize these differences are evident in curren....

Author: Alonso, Paula; Love, Tammy R.

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: January 2013

Accurately coded data does more than just provide the mechanism for appropriate reimbursement. It also tells the story of the patient, the complexity of the patient’s case, and reflects the care provided to the patient. This growing trend of “holistic coding” seems to be....

Author: Alschuler, Liora

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: November 2010

The meaningful use final rule is spurring many organizations to implement electronic health records (EHRs). However, integrating clinical notes into EHRs continues to be a problem for many organizations.

The Health Story Project aims to streamline this process by supporting the deve....

Author: Altus, Bonnie; Leeka, Joyce

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: April 2006

What prompted you to take a position in this field?


Altus: I was working in IT when I got my RHIT, and this position became available without requiring relocation when I decided to leave IT and move into HIM. It seemed like a good first step into HIM and an interesting challen....