The American Health Information Management Association

After decades of paper based medical records, a new type of record keeping has surfaced - the Electronic Health Record (EHR). EHR is an electronic or digital format concept of an individual’s past and present medical history. It is the principle storage place for data and information about the health care services provided to an individual patient. It is maintained by a provider over time and capable of being shared across different healthcare settings by network-connected information systems. Such records may include key administrative and clinical data relevant to that persons care under a particular provider. Examples of such records may include: demographics, physician notes, problems or injuries, medications and allergies, vital

Our one hundred bed hospital is in need of updating from paper charting to computerized health records. In doing this, we will meet our goal of compliance with meaningful use legislation. We assembled a team of members to assist with this task and together we have narrowed the search to two health care systems. Those two systems are EPIC and Meditech and we will now discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each, with a final recommendation for our new healthcare system.

If you are interested in an exciting career in health information management or getting started in your new career in HIM, then this is your guide to career development, improved salary, and greater success in your chosen profession. Receiving an AHIMA credential puts you in a unique organization. AHIMA credentials are earned through a stimulating platform through extensive education, experience, and maintained through endless review and continuing education. The experience, cost, and education requirements vary between the different AHIMA credentials that are available for you to obtain. Some benefits of attaining the AHIMA certification credentials are demonstrated capabilities, successful income, and devotion to high standards of care, quality,

There are many challenges associated with HHR. For example, there must be additional instructions to find the storage locations of patients’ health information. The instructions must show whether the documents are in electronic, paper, or scanned format. An additional process to link all of documentation formats needs to be deployed so that patients’ data can be collected and saved accurately. Not all the time those extra helps are available. Therefore, composing and organizing a completed HHR take a significant amount of time for health information management (HIM) professionals to gather all paper records and retrieve digital documents. The functions of HIM professionals encounter many challenges when working with HHR. The privacy and security policies for different types of records must be fully reinforced. Moreover, the updated data for each HHR have to be kept in detail for accuracy of information and easy accessing. In case of disclosing information requests, HIM professionals face a big burden of locating and verifying the information that is needed to fulfill the reasonable demand while limiting the release of information to the minimum. HIM professionals sometimes have to search through multiple systems to find the requested documents. According to Dimick, another disadvantage of the HHR system is when healthcare organizations participate in quality

The professional organization I chose to look further into and discuss today is the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA). Their website is www.ahima.org (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. which I will provide again for you. They are home based in Illinois with their primary address being

(ONC) is to coordinate “national efforts to implement and use the most advanced health information technology and the electronic exchange of health information … to improve health care” (Health and Human Services [HHS], n.d., website). However, sharing confidential information found in the electronic health record (EHR) for research and quality improvement potentiate legal, financial and ethical challenges.

“Go Paperless and Get Paid” is how the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) presents the incentives for electronic health records. The United States Department of Health and Human Services (U.S. Department of HHS) distributed more than $160 billion dollars to “improve and preserve health care, health information technology, community health, and prevention initiatives” (United States Department of Health and Human Services [HHS], 2014e). Likewise, the ONC offers “Health IT Adoption Programs” through the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, seeking to advance the American health care delivery system and to improve patient care through an unique investment towards health information technology (HHS, 2014d). Additionally, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 allows the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to reward eligible hospitals and professionals with monetary incentives as they implement, adopt, or upgrade and demonstrate meaningful use of certified electronic health record (EHR) technology (HHS, 2014b). The Electronic Health Records Improvement Act (H.R. 1331) introduced by the United States House of Representative Diane Black is a bill to further improve the nation’s health care adoption of health information technology.

The American Health Information Management Association frequently abbreviated as AHIMA and Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) actually are very similar organizations. HIMSS and AHIMA are both organizations that are not for profit, this of course means that all of what they profit goes towards pursing their objectives. AHIMA is universally known as the leading association of health information management professionals. They were founded in 1928 mainly to improve the quality of health records. They have played a major role in delivering quality health care to the public. They are also known as the leading source of data by providing health information management knowledge for professional education and training in the field. They play a major role in the implementation of electronic health records.

AHIMA (American Health Information Management Association) was a recognizable acronym, but there were others that were unfamiliar like AMIA (American Medical Informatics Association) and ANIA (American Nurse Informatics Association). In the past, I considered becoming AHMIA certified to obtain a career with an electronic health record company; not knowing nurses had a professional

AHIMA recognizes that superior quality health care and clinical data are critical resources needed for effective healthcare, and works to assure that the health information used in care, research, and health management is valid, accurate, complete, trustworthy, and timely. This group is concerned about the effective management of health information from all sources and its application in all forms of healthcare and wellness preservation. Health issues, disease, and care quality also transcend across national borders. AHIMA’s professional interest is in the application of best health information management practices when and wherever they are needed. (The American Health Information Management Association, 2010).

It has only been within the last five years that health information management (HIM) has experienced exponential changes, due to the healthcare reform. The electronic health record (EHR) is connected to health information exchanges and other systems of interoperability. The timely completion of charts, coding and release of information (ROI) has become much more efficient with the electronic record. Traditional HIM functions will just be transformed and will always be an integral part of successful patient care. Professionals must be flexible and willing to adapt and even generate change. As Health Information Technology continues to evolve, so will the roles

There are many types of data collected, such as, Demographic, financial, socioeconomic, and clinical data are collected from patients so that the healthcare providers of services to the patient are able to assess the history of whatever disease the patients is suffering from and how is to be treated. Data collection in the facility is well organized in a way that promotes shared assessment, treatment and communication. Nurses and front row staffs collects raw data’s from the patient, and. The Heath Information Manager and team are the facility are responsible in analyzing and presenting the data collected in a meaning and easily understandable way to served the specific purposes for which it was collected. Examples of such data are, patient’s name, height, weight, gender, allergies, and third party

The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) website was very detailed and laid out. It was also very user friendly when it came to learning or finding information on health information technology. The AHIMA is the most leading association of health information management (HIM) specialists globally. The AHIMA has played a major role in leadership and in finding efficient ways for management of health data and medical records that are required to distribute quality healthcare to the patients. Furthermore, AHIMA is supporters for the HIM profession, aids as a “thought leader” in the global world of HIM. Also, AHIMA is “one of the four cooperating parties responsible for the ICD-10 Coding

An additional component of healthcare is data. This is important because this allows health professionals to gather and analyze information to complete the task at hand the best way possible. This would allow doctors and nurses to be able to treat patients the most efficient way while trying to keep cost relatively low at the same time. Moreover, if the health

The American Health Information Management Association is a body of health information professionals that majorly concerns itself with the improvement of the quality of medical records (Harman 104). These