Author: Eramo, Lisa A

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: September 2019

By Lisa A. Eramo, MA


The more we know about patients, the easier it is to match them. Or at least that’s the theory. Clinical data, patient-generated data, biometrics, social determinants of health: all of this should make patient matching in health information exchanges (HI....

Author: AHIMA

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: September 2019

Editor’s Note: This Practice Brief is based on an excerpt from the AHIMA Press publication Clinical Documentation Improvement for Outpatient Care: Design and Implementation by Pamela Carroll Hess, MA, RHIA, CCS, CDIP, CPC.


The AHIMA Foundation has established compe....

Author: AHIMA

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: September 2019

By Valerie Watzlaf, PhD, MPH, RHIA, FAHIMA


Over the summer I was fortunate to participate in several conferences. I was both honored to be involved and enthralled at the expertise of all of the individuals who participated and presented.


Data is powerful. Data litera....

Author: Youmans, Karen

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: September 2019

By Karen Youmans, MPA, RHIA, CCS, and Vanessa Youmans, MA, RHIA, CCS, CPC


As healthcare organizations strive for continuous efficiency and sustainability, mergers and acquisitions (M&A)among diverse medical facilities provides organizations new opportunities to reduce costs an....

Author: Hedges, Ron

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: September 2019

By Gail L. Gottehrer, JD, and Ronald J. Hedges, JD


A recently filed class action highlights the risk that the proliferation of health-related smartphone apps, fitness trackers, and the data these programs collect, may enable the re-identification of purportedly de-identified elect....

Author: Fahy, Kristi

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: September 2019

By Kristi Fahy, RHIA


Technology is the segue to the future. It is the very thing that will transform the landscape of today’s world into one with endless possibilities. In healthcare, that transformation is being accelerated by the transition to electronic health records (EH....

Author: AHIMA

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: September 2019

By Karen Starling Greenhalgh, HCISPP, CHC, CHPC


Privacy is often seen as a barrier to electronic health information exchange (HIE). To help address those concerns and meld core privacy principles with proven oversight and accountability mechanisms, the National Institute of Standa....

Author: Clack, Lesley

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: September 2019

By Lesley Clack, ScD, MS, CPH


Telehealth, which refers to healthcare services facilitated remotely through electronic information and telecommunications technology, is on the rise. In 2010, 35 percent of hospitals had partially or fully implemented computerized telehealth systems,....

Author: Butler, Mary

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: September 2019

By Mary Butler


In the film The Farewell, Chinese-American actress and comedian Awkwafina plays a woman torn between two cultural approaches to death and dying when her character, Billi, learns that her grandmother has terminal lung cancer. Billi's grief is compounded when she....

Author: AHIMA

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: September 2019

By Wylecia Wiggs Harris, PhD, CAE, chief executive officer


HIM professionals are well aware of the work involved in matching patients to their unique records. Mismatched records can cost us time, lead to frustration, and cause headaches and dissatisfaction for patients and provide....

Author: Olenik, Keith

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: September 2019

By Keith Olenik, MA, RHIA, CHP


As healthcare services migrate toward outpatient settings, hospitals and health systems are struggling to ensure coding accuracy and quality for owned practices and clinics. With the steady increase in outpatient services, revenue integrity chal....

Author: Casto, Anne B.

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: September 2019

By Anne Casto, RHIA, CCS

The American Hospital Association’s Coding Clinic publishes valuable advice and guidance for coding professionals, but can coding professionals learn even more from this publication? What could coding professionals gain if Coding Clinic ent....

Author: Bielby, Judy A

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: September 2019

Author: AHIMA

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: September 2019

Author: AHIMA

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: September 2019

Productivity expectations can be both qualitative and quantitative. Qualitative productivity is measuring the quality of the work being performed. This is typically measured by performing audits of the CDI professional’s work and then assigning a numeric value so it can be measured (see e....

Author: AHIMA

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: September 2019

An annual plan for ongoing education can be developed and started at the beginning of each calendar or fiscal year, or with the annual employee evaluation. The manager of the CDI team or designee can be required to ensure each education topic is offered to the employee during the year. It is im....

Author: AHIMA

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: September 2019

Recruitment Best Practices


Create a culture where great employees want to work

Consider the candidate’s cultural compatibility, leadership skills, communication skills, and intellectual ability

Consider all candidate streams when recruiting both internally an....

Author: AHIMA

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: September 2019

Orientation for new clinical documentation professionals should include the nuances involved in diagnosis, procedure, inpatient prospective payment systems (IPPS), and outpatient prospective payment systems (OPPS) capture. Some of these topics include concepts such as major diagnostic categorie....

Author: AHIMA

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: August 2019

By Valerie Watzlaf, PhD, MPH, RHIA, FAHIMA


I am so inspired by our leaders all across the country. At last year’s CSA Leadership Symposium it was agreed that AHIMA was in a state of decline and that change was needed. It was an amazing moment—one I will never forget an....

Author: Zak, Cindy

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: August 2019

By Cindy Zak, MS, RHIA, PMP, FAHIMA


Yale New Haven Health (YNHH) began implementing the electronic health record (EHR) across four delivery networks in 2012. As the system moved to the electronic world, it became evident that YNHH needed to address the issue of defining the organi....

Author: AHIMA

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: August 2019

By Wylecia Wiggs Harris, PhD, CAE, chief executive officer


September is a time of new starts. At AHIMA, it’s our busiest time of year as we prepare for our annual conference and a host of other fall and winter activities. It’s also a time to look back on the year: two-....

Author: Butler, Mary

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: August 2019

By Mary Butler


When Rita Bowen, MA, RHIA, CHPS, CHPC, SSGB, broke her elbow while attending an AHIMA event in Baltimore threeyears ago, she soldiered on through the event but summoned her primary care physician for a telemedicine encounter to determine her treatment. Later, when c....

Author: AHIMA

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: August 2019

By Iliana L. Peters, JD, LLM, CISSP, and Pasha Sternberg, JD


ON MAY 30, 2019, Medical Informatics Engineering, Inc. and its subsidiaries (collectively referred to in this article as “MIE”), agreed to pay $900,000 to 16 states that had jointly filed suit for violating t....

Author: Campbell, James R.

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: August 2019

By James R. Campbell, MD, FACP, FACMI


Editor’s Note: This article is an excerpt from Chapter 17 of Healthcare Code Sets, Terminologies, and Classification Systems, Fourth Edition, published by AHIMA Press.


In 2007, the Institute of Medicine set a vision for the....

Author: Sandefer, Ryan

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: August 2019

By Ryan Sandefer, PhD, and David Marc, PhD, CHDA


Skills in data analytics are critical to the future of health information management (HIM), yet there has been considerable confusion regarding how to articulate what data analytics means for the profession. In a survey of more than....