Author: AHIMA

Source: AHIMA toolkit

Publication Date: July 2013

This toolkit provides guidance in disaster planning and recovery, including release of information and record preservation, with the primary focus of collecting and protecting health information.

Author: Person, Carol; Terlep, Minnette

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: July 2013

Facing a diminished role, transcriptionists at Sanford Health worked with the organization to move into open, and in-demand, coding roles



The need for transcription was diminishing at Sanford Health, and transcriptionists needed to make a choice-transition into another....

Author: AHIMA

Source: AHIMA practice brief | Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: July 2013

A strong clinical documentation improvement (CDI) program begins with the proper recruitment, careful selection, and adequate orientation of CDI specialists. The purpose of a CDI program is to initiate concurrent and retrospective reviews of health records for conflicting, incomplete, or nonspe....

Author: Scott, Karen S.

Source: Journal of AHIMA - Coding Notes

Publication Date: June 2013

As the healthcare industry prepares for the transition to ICD-10-CM/PCS, many tools have been developed to assist in mitigating anticipated coding productivity losses. Computer-assisted coding (CAC) is an important tool that healthcare organizations can leverage to help counteract projecte....

Author: Jahn, Mark

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: June 2013

As providers and payers grapple with the complexities of ICD-10-CM/PCS (ICD-10), many are formally collaborating with one another to learn best practices and accelerate ICD-10 implementation.


Across the country, many different types and sizes of ICD-10 collaboratives have fo....

Author: Johnson, Marlene L.; Warner, Diana

Source: AHIMA practice brief

Publication Date: May 2013

Editor's Note: This practice brief supersedes the April 1997 practice brief "Telemedical Records."



Telemedicine is a rapidly growing industry in the medical practice. Telemedicine is defined as telecommunications systems that link healthcare organizations and patients from d....

Author: Warner, Diana

Source: AHIMA practice brief

Publication Date: May 2013

This practice brief reviews the federal regulations that affect research and the requirements regarding the use and protection of an individual's information.

Author: AHIMA

Source: AHIMA practice brief

Publication Date: May 2013

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

Author: AHIMA

Source: AHIMA toolkit

Publication Date: May 2013

This toolkit is designed to help healthcare organizations and health information management professionals navigate their way through release of information (ROI) practices within today’s heavily regulated and rapidly changing environment.

Author: AHIMA

Source: AHIMA practice brief | Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: May 2013

Metadata is the foundation on which information management systems are built. It is required to support the various uses of data, to manage the information and record lifecycle, to verify data integrity, authenticity, and reliability, and to evaluate the relative importance of data and informat....

Author: Reno, Danielle; Kersten, Sandra K.

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: May 2013

Information governance is becoming a priority for healthcare organizations. Today's healthcare organizations invest in information technology at unprecedented rates, and IT generates more data than ever before. Stakeholders expect healthcare organizations to use health IT to bring improvem....

Author: Eramo, Lisa A

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: May 2013

When Deborah Kohn recently logged onto her healthcare provider's patient portal to view her X-ray reports, she immediately knew something wasn't quite right. She'd undergone one X-ray of her left hand and another of her right hand. The problem?


Both X-ray reports were identi....

Author: Aschettino, Lucia; Birnbaum, Cassi L; Crocker, Janice; Grebner, Leah A.; McNicholas, Faith C.

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: May 2013

Health information management (HIM) best practices state that it is important for HIM professionals to focus not just on the information but also on internal and external customers. Customers have varied, and ever-changing, needs that must be met by HIM professionals. Both internal and ext....

Author: AHIMA

Source: AHIMA toolkit

Publication Date: May 02, 2013

This toolkit provides guidance for developing policies and procedures, establishing an educational program and managing record requests, denials, and appeals. It highlights some of the government entities and programs that focus on medical record audits.

Author: AHIMA

Source: AHIMA toolkit

Publication Date: April 02, 2013

This toolkit provides guidance to health information management (HIM) professionals and the industry on vocabularies as defined by ARRA’s meaningful use criteria. It includes a table of standard vocabularies required for Meaningful Use, a case study that shares lessons learned from Stage 1, and sample job descriptions to address the need for mapping professionals in the workplace.

Author: AHIMA

Source: AHIMA toolkit

Publication Date: April 02, 2013

Author: AHIMA

Source: AHIMA practice brief | Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: April 2013

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) defines an “occupational medical record” as an occupation-related, chronological, cumulative record, regardless of the form or process by which it is maintained (i.e., paper document, microfiche, microfilm, or automatic data processing me....

Author: AHIMA

Source: AHIMA practice brief | Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: March 2013

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

Author: Duckert, Jane; Rose, Angela Dinh

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: February 2013

The University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics’ (UWHC) motto of “great information, great care” has been the underlying force behind their health information technology (IT) adoption achievements since 2008. Besides attaining the highest level of the Healthcare Informat....

Author: Bowe, Robin

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: January 2013

Copyright © 2012 by Kern Medical Center, County of Kern, CA. All rights reserved. Printed with permission.


Medical identity theft is a growing concern for healthcare providers and healthcare consumers. Defined under the Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act of 2003 as....

Author: AHIMA

Source: AHIMA practice brief | Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: January 2013

The health information exchange (HIE) landscape has changed dramatically since HIE and the Nationwide Health Information Network (NwHIN) was first conceptualized in 2001. The National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics (NCVHS) published recommendations in 2001 on nationwide electronic hea....

Author: AHIMA Long Term Care Task Force

Source: AHIMA Task Force

Publication Date: 2013

Author: AHIMA

Source: AHIMA practice brief | Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: November 2012

With the push to develop and deploy electronic health records (EHRs) and the need for more detailed documentation, there is a growing concern in the medical community regarding the time expended to capture information-electronic or otherwise. The time providers spend during a patient visit capt....

Author: AHIMA

Source: AHIMA practice brief attachment

Publication Date: November 2012

Author: AHIMA

Source: AHIMA practice brief | Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: October 2012

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

Author: AHIMA

Source: AHIMA practice brief attachment

Publication Date: October 2012

This checklist may be used by the requestor prior to submission of the template and by health information management services (HIMS) or the informatics department prior to the release of the template for testing. It could also be an electronic document used in conjunction with the request form.....

Author: AHIMA

Source: AHIMA practice brief attachment

Publication Date: October 2012

Date submitted:


Date needed:


Contact Information:

(include name, e-mail address; department; telephone number)


Type of Request (circle one):

Note Title Template



If revision, include original note title or....

Author: AHIMA

Source: AHIMA practice brief attachment

Publication Date: October 2012

This model policy recommends important legal and compliance considerations for healthcare organizations when establishing electronic note titles, templates, and/or prompts.


PURPOSE: To provide guidance on the development and maintenance of electronic note titles, templates, and p....

Author: AHIMA e-HIM Work Group on Electronic Document Management as a Component of EHR

Source: AHIMA toolkit

Publication Date: September 25, 2012

Author: Eramo, Lisa A

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: September 2012

No information request traffic jams.
No toll road trips to the physical HIM department.
Just an open and instant route to patient health information.
But building and managing a patient portal requires HIM knowledge and expertise.


Patient portals are rapid....

Author: AHIMA

Source: AHIMA practice brief | Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: September 2012

Increased adoption and use of health information technology by healthcare providers has made greater consumer access to health information possible, as well as increased general engagement in health maintenance and care. The opportunities for improving quality and efficiency afforded by this ne....

Author: Brown, Linda; Komara, Priscilla; Warner, Diana; Wiedemann, Lou Ann; Young, Linda

Source: AHIMA toolkit

Publication Date: August 15, 2012

This toolkit is designed to provide guidance to HIM professionals when addressing the amendment functionality in an EHR.

Author: AHIMA

Source: AHIMA practice brief

Publication Date: August 2012

Editor’s note: This update replaces the June 2010 practice brief “Verbal/Telephone Order Authentication and Time Frames.”


It is important for a healthcare facility to review and understand all applicable federal and state laws and accreditation standards when de....

Author: AHIMA

Source: AHIMA practice brief | Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: August 2012

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

Author: DeVault, Kathryn

Source: Journal of AHIMA - Coding Notes

Publication Date: July 2012

As organizations begin to prepare for ICD-10 implementation, the question of coder productivity is usually close to the top of everyone's list. Addressing productivity in ICD-9-CM will provide a baseline of information crucial for the transition to ICD-10-CM/PCS.

The AHIMA e-HIM Cod....

Author: AHIMA

Source: AHIMA practice brief | Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: July 2012

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

Author: AHIMA

Source: AHIMA toolkit

Publication Date: June 06, 2012

Author: AHIMA

Source: AHIMA toolkit

Publication Date: June 02, 2012

Author: AHIMA

Source: AHIMA toolkit

Publication Date: June 02, 2012

Author: AHIMA

Source: AHIMA practice brief | Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: June 2012

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

Author: AHIMA

Source: AHIMA toolkit

Publication Date: June 02, 2012

This toolkit provides resources and guidance with regard to transcription and its role in supporting the electronic health record (EHR).

Author: AHIMA

Source: AHIMA practice brief | Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: May 2012

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

Author: AHIMA

Source: AHIMA

Publication Date: April 2012

You’ve arrived! Now just determine your position in healthcare to get your ICD-10-CM/PCS implementation needs.

A brief list of the job types, organized by facility type.

Physician’s Office



Physician Champion

You are the resource physicia....

Author: AHIMA

Source: AHIMA

Publication Date: April 04, 2012

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Author: AHIMA

Source: AHIMA practice brief | Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: April 2012

Editor's note: This brief supersedes the June 2003 and October 2000 practice briefs "Portable Computer Security."



Mobile devices have pervaded the everyday work environment in healthcare. An organization may use mobile devices to improve clinician workflow, bedside infor....

Author: Jenkins, Kristin

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: April 2012

Data are of no value unless they drive action. Action in healthcare has limited positive impact when it is uninformed or uncoordinated.

Publicly available data can help organizations improve healthcare quality. However, getting the most out of these data requires the right tools. A....

Author: AHIMA

Source: AHIMA practice brief | Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: March 2012

There are high expectations for electronic health records (EHRs) to improve patient healthcare. However, as the industry implements EHRs, it is recognizing that adoption and implementation alone do not guarantee data integrity. In this rapidly changing environment, the use of the copy functiona....

Author: AHIMA

Source: AHIMA toolkit

Publication Date: February 2012

Author: AHIMA

Source: AHIMA toolkit

Publication Date: February 2012

Author: AHIMA

Source: AHIMA practice brief attachment

Publication Date: February 2012

Action Item Responsible Party Comments Completion Date
Obtain a list of all health information and technology systems. For example:
Practice A Encoder
Practice B Encoder
Practice A Lab Module
Practice B Lab Module
Practice A Billing System
Practice B Billing Syste....