Author: Dimick, Chris

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: June 2011

There are two basic approaches to the ICD-10 transition: (1) a late, mad scramble to get systems converted before the deadline; or (2) an intentional cultivation that uses the transition to improve business processes, documentation, and clinical care. Three organizations offer a picture of the....

Author: Didear, Kay

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: October 1998

Implementing a computer-based patient record (CPR) begins long before the first installment of software is loaded. This process significantly benefits from the skills and expertise health information management professionals bring to the table. But don't assume that your healthcare m....

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: Derynck, Arleen; Olevson, Pat; Owen, Betsy

Source: AHIMA Convention

Publication Date: September 23, 2002

Author: Demster, Barbara

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: July 2006

The breadth of available privacy and security literature can be daunting to even the most dedicated HIM professional. With the explosion of information on the Internet, access to authoritative-as well as questionable-resources is easy and instantaneous. The problem of access has morphed into o....

Author: Demster, Barbara

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: January 2007

Every healthcare provider must customize its privacy and security program to fit its unique setting and needs. How an organization maintains its records (analog, paper, electronic, or mixed modes) drives its privacy and security procedures. While regulations provide the basic requirem....

Author: Demster, Barbara

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: November 2006

On the surface, the HIPAA privacy rule's requirements dealing with disclosures to clergy appear straightforward. Three years after implementation, however, major hurdles still exist and processes need further clarification. Key issues center around how healthcare institutions assess and defi....

Author: Davoudi, Sion; Flanigan, Jill; Houser, Shannon H.; Kadlec, Lesley; Kirby, Annessa; VanSlyke, Daniel; Wendicke, Annemarie

Source: AHIMA practice brief

Publication Date: December 2016

This update supplants the 2012 practice brief “Managing a Data Dictionary.”


As healthcare organizations move to the electronic environment, the large volume and complexity of data collected is growing at unprecedented rates. While access to data has the potential to en....

Author: Davoudi, Sion; Dooling, Julie A; Glondys, Barbara; Jones, Theresa D.; Kadlec, Lesley; Overgaard, Shauna M; Ruben, Kerry; Wendicke, Annemarie

Source: AHIMA practice brief | Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: October 2015

Editor’s Note: This Practice Brief supersedes the July 2012 “Data Quality Management Model (Updated),” the March 1998 “Checklist to Assess Data Quality Management Efforts,” and the June 1998 “Data Quality Management Model” Practice Briefs.

Author: Davis Wright Tremaine LLP

Source: External web site

Publication Date: April 14, 2003

Author: Davis, Nancy; Lemery, Chrisann; Roberts, Kim

Source: AHIMA practice brief | Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: April 2005

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

Author: Davis, Nancy

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: February 2009

Like many other privacy and security officers, I was vaguely aware of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act. I knew that the act, passed by Congress in 2003, was intended to provide consumers with protection from identity theft. I knew the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) was in charge o....

Author: Davis, Nadinia A.

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: June 2003

Time not only flies when we’re having fun, but also when we’re filing paperwork, checking e-mail, and looking for our car keys. But you can add hours to your day by managing yourself rather than time. Here’s how.

As a nonrenewable resource, time is precious. There neve....

Author: Dasher, John

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: January 2007

DeKalb Medical Center, a not-for-profit hospital system in Decatur, GA, that serves approximately 500,000 patients annually, was looking for a way to secure HIPAA-covered personal health records. “We wanted to eliminate any potential risk of confidential information leaving the facility electro....

Author: Czirr, Karen

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: July 2000

Driven by current and potential privacy regulations and legislation, the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) decided to address employee understanding of information security. In 1999, CHOP, comprised of a hospital, rehabilitation facility, physician offices, satellites, and ambulatory....

Author: Curry, Mary Pat; Trask, Lisa; Liederman, Eric; Hutchinson, David; Zeboski, Alice

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: July 2004

Thoughtful software design and good communication are fundamental ingetting physicians to sign verbal orders within the 48-hour mandate. Fines help a lot, too.
What hospital in the United States hasn’t struggled to comply with mandates from their state and the Joint Commission on....

Author: Cunningham, Nancy

Source: AHIMA Convention

Publication Date: October 15, 2004

Introduction
This paper will review recommended best practices and suggested measurement criteria for consideration in determining an HIM department's proficiency in its use of a fully implemented electronic document management system (EDMS). As a complement to the recently released e-HIM wor....

Author: Crump, Dawn

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: January 2014

Medicare's Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) program began as a three-year, three-state pilot program in 2005 and went nationwide in 2009. The American Hospital Association (AHA) began tracking data collection in January 2010 and since then, according to AHA, the RAC program has recouped $2.....

Author: Crossley, Linda

Source: AHIMA Convention

Publication Date: October 15, 2004

Introduction

Recognizing the key role that coding plays in maintaining the financial viability of healthcare organizations, health information management industry leaders are looking for ways to optimize available coding resources, as well as to increase student enrollment in academic pr....

Author: Cottrell, Carlton

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: March 2007

By now, most people working in healthcare are familiar with the term electronic health record, or EHR, as well as the various forms that it might take. The legal EHR is not as well understood, particularly outside the HIM department, because many are unfamiliar with the term legal health....

Author: Coplan-Gould, Wendy; Carolan, Katie; Friedman, Beth

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: July 2011

EHRs, CAC, ICD-10-coding is in the midst of profound change. Which makes this the best time to re-engineer coding workflow. Five steps help HIM professionals assess and evolve coding workflows with an eye toward tomorrow.

Synergism-where total outcome is greater than the s....

Author: Cooper, Ted

Source: In Confidence (newsletter)

Publication Date: April 02, 2003

In 1997, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) highlighted the value of electronic health records in The Computer-based Patient Record: an Essential Technology for Health Care. The Computer-Based Record Institute was created as a result of recommendations from the IOM study. Under the auspices of t....

Author: Connecting for Health

Source: External - used with permission

Publication Date: April 06, 2006

Author: Combs, Tammy; DeVault, Kathryn; Easterling, Sharon; Endicott, Melanie; Isom, Crystal; Lojewski, Tedi; Simmons, Cortnie R.; Wolf, Beth

Source: AHIMA practice brief | Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: June 2016

Editor’s Note. This Practice Brief has been updated. See the latest version at Guidelines for Achieving a Compliant ICD-10-PCS Query
. This version is made available for historical purposes only.




The complex and highly specific nature of ICD-10-PCS has changed....

Author: Combs, Tammy

Source: AHIMA practice brief attachment

Publication Date: March 2018

Untitled Document



A Summary of the AHIMA CDI and Coding Collaboration in Denials Management Toolkit


Healthcare insurance payment structures in the United States have processes in place to monitor for appropriate payments to submitted insurance cla....

Author: Combs, Tammy

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: January 27, 2016

When an architect draws up plans for a building, they pay close attention to the details of the foundation. This provides the support to the building and prevents it from crashing down at any moment. If the building later has structural damage it is easy to fix when the foundation is not i....

Author: Combs, Tammy

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: March 23, 2016

When calculating the productivity guidelines for a clinical documentation improvement (CDI) program it is important to remember both quantitative and qualitative perspectives. Sometimes it is very easy to focus solely on the quantity of reviews that are performed. If the quality of those r....

Author: Combs, Tammy

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: February 24, 2016

Understanding clinical documentation improvement (CDI) metrics can be confusing, especially when you first start reviewing them.


Let’s dive a little deeper into the topic and take a closer look at some frequently reported CDI metrics and evaluate how these measures can reflect the....

Author: Clawson, Cathy

Source: AHIMA Convention

Publication Date: September 28, 2010

Introduction: Since Mountain States Health Alliance implemented the Dolbey Speech Recognition platform in October 2007; gains in productivity, decrease in outsourcing, and financial savings have confirmed the successful implementation of this technology.
Background/History: Mountain Sta....

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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: Carpenter, Jennifer E.

Source: AHIMA practice brief

Publication Date: May 1999

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

Author: Carpenter, Jennifer E.

Source: AHIMA practice brief

Publication Date: July 1998

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

Author: Carpenter, Jennifer E.

Source: AHIMA practice brief

Publication Date: February 1998

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

Author: Carpenter, Jennifer E.

Source: AHIMA practice brief

Publication Date: January 2000

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

Author: Carpenter, Jennifer E.

Source: AHIMA practice brief

Publication Date: January 1999

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

Author: Canadian Institute for Health Information. Partnership for Health Information Standards

Source: External web site

Publication Date: January 01, 2004

Author: Byrd, Katherine

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: March 2001

Suppose you were asked to do something unethical on the job. What if you were asked by your supervisor to hide delinquent charts just prior to a Joint Commission survey? What would you do?

As a profession, HIM professionals understand our moral obligation to the patient to p....

Author: Buttner, Patty; Houser, Shannon H.; Flanigan, Jill; Mikaelian, Raymound; Ryznar, Barbara; Smith, Clarice Pittillo

Source: AHIMA practice brief

Publication Date: June 2016

This update supersedes the September 2013 practice brief, Understanding Publicly Available Healthcare Data, which replaced the January 2010 practice brief with the same title.


Healthcare organizations increasingly collect and utilize data for internal and external reporting on pa....

Author: Butler, Rhonda R.; Mills, Ronald E; Averill, Richard F.

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: June 2011

Automation is a major help in converting to the ICD-10 code set, but it is not a magical solution. In fact, skipping a human review of converted systems exposes an organization to legal and financial risk.

People who are secondary users of coded medical records-who see only the resul....

Author: Butler, Mary

Source: Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: March 2015

For the uninitiated, information governance can be a somewhat abstract concept to explain and visualize. To help health information management (HIM) professionals grasp the importance of information governance—a set of principles designated to better organize and protect healthcare da....

Author: Butler, Mary

Source: Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: June 13, 2016

The implementation of ICD-10 did result in a perceived loss of coding productivity, with a minimal dip in coding accuracy, according to a recent coding productivity and accuracy survey. The survey was conducted by the AHIMA Foundation in the first three weeks of May, and was released today....

Author: Butler, Mary

Source: Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: October 2015

The HIM Problem


To get physician buy-in on clinical documentation specificity, one provider formed an all-physician CDI team

The HIM Problem Solvers


Lorena Chicoye, MD, RPh, corporate medical director, managed care network development and medical....

Author: Butler, Mary

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: June 2017

In many ways ICD-10 coding professionals share a lot in common with college students preparing to spend a semester abroad. Both spend invaluable hours in a classroom learning the nuances and permutations of a new language, as well as months of practicing their new skills in workshops with....

Author: Butler, Mary

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: March 2015

Accounts of mistaken identity, anecdotally at least, seem to happen to everyone at least once in the healthcare realm with both paper and electronic records. But in an increasingly electronic world employing electronic health record (EHR) systems and other health IT where patients ar....