Author: Meehan, Ann M.

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: February 16, 2017

February is IG Month at AHIMA.  Whether your organization has an information governance (IG) program in place, underway in implementation, or yet to be fully conceived, health information management (HIM) professionals play a vital role in IG program success.  HIM profession....

Author: Manning, Susan C.

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: April 2000

Voluntarily developed and implemented compliance programs for the healthcare industry are the continual goal of the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of the Department of Health and Human Services. The OIG recognizes that when a healthcare provider establishes an effective compliance plan....

Author: Mitchell, Sue

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: March 2003

When the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued its highlights of 2002, the listing of significant accomplishments included the department’s efforts to improve quality of care. Discussion of quality improvement efforts focused on the department’s initiatives in measurin....

Author: Butler, Mary

Source: Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: October 2014

The HIM Problem


Rural hospitals in Kansas are trying to cut the cost of outsourcing coding by starting the credentialing process in local high schools.


The HIM Problem Solver


Sherry Farrell, MBA, RHIT, HIM coordinator at Seward County Community College/....

Author: Brodnik, Melanie S.; Valerius, Joanne D; Watzlaf, Valerie J.M.

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: August 2013

The push toward graduate education in health information management (HIM) is becoming a reality as more universities and colleges develop or explore launching HIM and informatics graduate curricula. Fundamental to offering these programs is the need for doctorally prepared HIM-credentialed....

Author: Dennis, Jill Callahan

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: June 2006

It’s hard to believe that we’re midway through the calendar year. This is a good time to reflect on AHIMA’s year-to-date progress. Here are just a few of our key accomplishments so far. (To make it interesting, give yourself one point for each item you have already heard about....

Author: Rode, Dan

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: October 2007

The rapidly evolving healthcare environment continues to offer twists and turns in AHIMA’s pursuit of “quality healthcare through quality information.” Our advocacy efforts help keep that goal in sight. This article offers an overview of our progress so far this year.
Improving Health Da....

Author: Hagland, Mark

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: February 2002

HIM professionals are stepping up to the newly created role of privacy officer in many organizations. But privacy officers have been around for years in other industries. What can we learn from them about positioning this role?


Banking and financial services, telecommunications....

Author: Rode, Dan

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: July 2002

In May, AHIMA’s Board of Directors approved two key issue statements—one on consistency of healthcare diagnostic and procedure coding, and a second on national healthcare information infrastructure (available at www.ahima.org). These “umbrella” statements are general and ap....

Author: Dimick, Chris

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: May 2008

Banking health data like a financial transaction is the simplest solution to healthcare’s networking challenges says William Yasnoff, founder of the Health Record Banking Alliance.

There are a lot of plans for regional and, eventually, nationwide health information exchange, b....

Author: Butler, Mary

Source: Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: January 2015

The HIM Problem


AHIMA has been taking great strides in promoting information governance (IG) in healthcare, particularly with its development of the Information Governance Principles for Healthcare (IGPHC). But getting programs up and running has been a challenge for HIM....

Author: Steindel, Steven J

Source: Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: January 01, 2011

On October 1, 2013, healthcare providers will start reporting HIPAA claims using the ICD-10 counterparts to the current ICD-9 code sets. The vastly expanded code space of ICD-10-CM should prove familiar to most ICD-9-CM users and very approachable for new learners. With the exception....

Author: Dunn, Rose T

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: August 2011

Recently, I spoke at a CSA meeting and explored where we have been. The advances in HIM have been monumental. AHIMA has been working on a white paper to provide insight into HIM's future. This endeavor has been a struggle due to the changing dynamics of the HIM profession.

It could b....

Author: Rode, Dan

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: June 2005

By all accounts, AHIMA’s 2005 Capitol Hill Day was a success. Members came away from their meetings with representatives and staff having conveyed AHIMA’s messages on current legislation and explained our advocacy efforts. They covered the following four topics in their meetings.

Author: Wieczorek, Michelle M.

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: January 2004

Saint Vincent Health System’s HIM department checked its document imaging system into the emergency room. Together, the two departments saved nothing but time. The program’s success led to an enterprise-wide electronic document management system.
In 1988 Saint Vincent Health....

Author: Jeffries, Jane

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: January 2003

“When I hear statistics on mortality or morbidity, I automatically think of the methods used
to collect and tabulate the data and the hard work that goes on behind the scenes. I’m glad to be a part of that process.” —Joyce Frazier, RHIA,
medical systems specialist,....

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: 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: Featheringham, Meg

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: July 2008

As documentation specialist at Deaconess Medical Center in Spokane, WA, Amy Gardner walks a tight rope between the HIM and clinical worlds. Gardner, RHIT, reviews charts on the cardiovascular floor of Deaconess, identifying gaps in documentation and querying physicians for follow-up.

Author: Patterson, Hal; Hjort, Beth M.

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: February 2002

Very few professionals have considered a current career plan. In fact, some have probably spent more time planning parties and vacations than planning their careers, which is a sobering thought in a world of rapid change. Yet, to succeed in today’s healthcare environment, HIM professional....

Author: Blumenthal, Jane E

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: March 1998

Kathleen H. Stanfield, RRA, was so nervous when she first took on her current job as health information systems coordinator at the Austin Diagnostic Medical Center (ADMC) in Texas that she felt physically ill. "It was like closing my eyes and jumping into a fire," she says of....

Author: Rulon, Vera

Source: Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: April 2009

The Journal of AHIMA kicks off our Health Information Privacy and Security Week series with a post from AHIMA president Vera Rulon, MS, RHIT, CCS, FAHIMA. Rulon is director of strategy and communications in the chief medical office of Pfizer, Inc.

So I get this communication that my c....

Author: Clark, Jean S.

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: January 2002

HIM professionals are well aware of the challenge of meeting Joint Commission standards. Now, however, a recently established review committee has the opportunity to recommend changes to the standards—and may even be able to reduce the burden of compliance.


That’s the....

Author: Crump, Dawn; Tice, Carolyn

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: October 2015

The mere mention of the words “payer audits” can send even the most confident and capable health information management (HIM) directors into downward spirals of frustration and overload. These feelings are well known to providers who have found themselves forced to tread the mu....

Author: Fuller, Barbara P.

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: October 2001

"We can do it!" declared the original Rosie the Riveter, an icon of World War II and a feature of AHIMA's current advertising campaign. Rosie symbolizes women's entry into the World War II work force as they filled the manpower gap created by men leaving for war. Rosie was a....