Author: White, Jim

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: April 20, 2017

One of the more significant healthcare trends we see today is the consolidation (mergers and acquisitions) of hospitals, physician groups, and insurance companies into larger integrated systems. The goal of this activity have been focused on: increased market share, increased financia....

Author: Burton, Ben; Downing, Katherine

Source: AHIMA practice brief | Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: April 2017

Editor’s Note: This Practice Brief update supplants part of the 2013 Practice Brief “Patient Access and Amendment to Health Records.”


Before April 2003, a patient’s legal right to amend his or her health records was limited to those patients treated at hea....

Author: Palkie, Brooke

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: March 16, 2017

As I begin digging into the intricacies of long-term digital preservation (LTDP) of electronic healthcare data, I am realizing how little I knew. The ever-changing formats and standards for accessing personal health information (PHI) come to mind. Once obsolete, how will this information b....

Author: Journal of AHIMA Staff

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: March 2017

Crumbling, decaying, and abandoned hospitals aren’t just physically dangerous examples of urban decrepitude—they also could be prime targets for medical identity thieves who know what they’re doing.


Take the case of Chicago, IL’s Edgewater Medical Center, a....

Author: Downing, Kathy; Fahy, Kristi; Foster, MeShawn; Hermann, Michelle; Meehan, Ann M.; Washington, Lydia; Woebkenberg, Jami

Source: AHIMA practice brief | Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: February 2017

When an organization begins to implement an enterprise information governance (IG) program, one of the major initial tasks is to understand the scope and types of information in its possession. An inventory of an organization’s information is necessary in order to facilitate decision maki....

Author: VanOver, Jennifer; Lusk, Katherine

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: November 16, 2016

When health information management involved keeping paper records in file rooms, a rule of thumb was that after two years with infrequent activity, medical records were often moved to off-site storage. This reduced the cost of maintaining medical records onsite long term. The records often....

Author: Lail, Pamela J; Laird, Sarah S; McCall, Kris; Naretto, Joe; York, April

Source: Perspectives in Health Information Management

Publication Date: October 2016

Abstract


This article examines the current state of affairs of the health information management role in facility closure as well as the impact on revenue cycle operations. Health information management professionals are uniquely positioned to assist an organization in closure eff....

Author: Carey, Susan; Beahan, Sally

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: September 2016

Historically, health information management (HIM) staff has provided paper copies of medical records in response to authorized requests. No specialty patient education was needed because the paper record was essentially self-explanatory.


But with the ongoing industry trans....

Author: Butler, Mary

Source: Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: August 01, 2016

The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has taken many steps to try and clear up consumer confusion regarding the more consumer-centric aspects of HIPAA’s Privacy Rule and Security Rule. The most recent efforts include the Office of the National Coordinator’s Patien....

Author: DeMasters, Dana; Deanna, Peterson

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: February 2016

A police officer with a body-worn camera records video of an altercation in an emergency department involving a patient who has become violent. During the recording another patient not involved in the altercation has their image captured. The officer leaves the facility wit....

Author: Kadlec, Lesley

Source: AHIMA practice brief

Publication Date: January 2016

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: Hedges, Ron

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: October 15, 2015

As stated in the preamble of AHIMA’s Information Governance Principles for HealthcareTM (IGPHC), “AHIMA defines information governance as an organization-wide framework for managing information throughout its lifecycle and supporting the organization’s strategy, operation....

Author: Hedges, Ron

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: September 16, 2015

Editor’s note: The views expressed in this column are those of the author alone and should not be interpreted otherwise or as advice.



For this month’s post, I’d like to discuss the results of the 2015 Legal Hold and Data Preservation Benchmark Survey re....

Author: Datskovsky, Galina; Hedges, Ron; Empel, Sofia; Washington, Lydia

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: September 2015

Editor’s Note: This is the final installment in a series of four articles that discuss the eight Information Governance Principles for Healthcare™.


AHIMA’s Information Governance Principles for Healthcare™ (IGPHC) provide a framework for healthcare organizations to enhance....

Author: Hedges, Ron

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: August 21, 2015

Editor’s note: The views expressed in this column are those of the author alone and should not be interpreted otherwise or as advice.



AHIMA’s newly developed Information Governance Principles for Healthcare (IGPHC)TM offer healthcare professionals an informat....

Author: Hedges, Ron

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: July 15, 2015

In last month’s Legal e-Speaking, “ESI Meets Court Order,” I posed a series of questions about preservation and spoliation of electronically stored information (ESI) in the context of an actual order entered in a state court. I also posed those questions to members of The....

Author: Hedges, Ron

Source: AHIMA blog post | Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: June 11, 2015

I’ve written for AHIMA on various subjects, including preservation and spoliation of electronically stored information (ESI). This month, I want to ask you to think about both.


To start, consider this premise: The parties to a civil action agreed to an order “on D....

Author: Butler, Mary

Source: Journal of AHIMA - website

Publication Date: May 20, 2015

As the costs associated with data storage and storage infrastructure continue to shrink—thanks to innovations such as cloud computing—individuals who manage records for a living must accept a new reality: destroying information and setting retention schedules will soon b....

Author: Butler, Mary

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: October 2014

If a brazen television show producer were looking to cash in on the popularity of shows about hoarders, observing a health information management (HIM) department could be a good place to start.


Stories about hoarding records abound. Some hospitals have reinforced their fl....

Author: Hedges, Ron

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: October 2014

The September e-HIM Best Practices article answered some basic questions about preservation of records in the context of civil litigation. This article will consider the question, “What if something goes wrong?”

Spoliation Defined


Health information management (H....

Author: Hedges, Ron

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: September 2014

The term preservation, when used in a legal context, refers to placing information identified as relevant to a civil or criminal US court case in a legal hold to ensure the data is not destroyed or tampered with.


Health information managers, or anyone who works with records....

Author: Eramo, Lisa A

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: September 2014

It’s midnight, and your cough has been unrelenting. You power up your laptop and visit one of the many websites that feature online access to physicians 24/7. Within minutes, you’re engaging in a video consultation with a board-certified physician who evaluates you, provides clinical inst....

Author: Hedges, Ron

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: August 2014

Courts don’t remain civil on their own. It takes well-crafted procedural rules, enforced by knowledgeable attorneys and judges, to keep the American legal system humming along in an orderly fashion. Aiding with the civility of the law is the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (Federal Rules....

Author: Dimick, Chris

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: November 2013

Though sometimes used interchangeably, data governance and information governance are two distinct terms with very different meanings. And information technology (IT) governance is something completely different as well. With AHIMA pushing its members and the healthcare industry to embrace information governance as a major tent pole of HIM work, it is important for HIM professionals to understand the difference and interrelation of these governance terms and just what an individual can do to help foster governance initiatives that aim to improve health records and patient care....

Author: AHIMA

Source: AHIMA practice brief

Publication Date: October 2013

Editor's note: This update supersedes the August 2011 practice brief "Retention and Destruction of Health Information."



Health information management professionals traditionally have performed retention and destruction functions using all media, including paper, images, optic....

Author: AHIMA

Source: AHIMA practice brief

Publication Date: October 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 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: Coleman, Johnathan

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: February 2013

Not all protected health information (PHI) is created equally. Some health data requires special handling according to law, organizational policies, or patient preferences. For appropriate sharing of health information to occur, a patient must trust that a provider organization will proper....

Author: Crawford, Mark

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: February 2013

Patient portals are becoming commonplace in healthcare facilities, which have installed the technology to provide patients and physicians immediate online access to electronic medical records. Adoption of patient portals will continue to increase, driven in part by stage 2 “meaningfu....

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: Demster, Barbara

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: September 2012

Technology has transformed the world of health information management (HIM), bringing about change for many of the field’s longstanding professional concepts and work methods. The classic rule of ownership in the words-on-paper era of health records was that “the paper (physical medium) belong....

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....

Author: AHIMA

Source: AHIMA practice brief | Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: February 2012

Editor's note: This practice brief supplants the November 1996 brief "Managing Health Information in Facility Mergers and Acquisitions."



Healthcare's rapidly changing environment has prompted an increase in mergers and acquisitions as facilities and providers strive to s....

Author: AHIMA

Source: AHIMA practice brief attachment

Publication Date: February 2012

Purpose:
To ensure all health information-related tasks are addressed in the process of setting up a new clinic.
Departments Needed: Contracting, Marketing, IS, HIM, Patient Management Systems, EMR Team, Clinic Management, Billing/Coding Questions to Answer:
1. What is the legal name....

Author: AHIMA

Source: AHIMA practice brief | Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: November 2011

The most common type of media used in healthcare practices in the past several decades has been text. Text is comprised of printed words, letters, and numbers translated into information used for diagnosis and treatment.

Today's healthcare practices have adopted more sophisticated me....

Author: Dooling, Julie A; Downing, Kathy

Source: AHIMA Convention

Publication Date: October 02, 2011

Under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act of 2009, Stage I meaningful use incentives focus on electronically capturing health information in a structured format. While scanned images do not meet these requirements, electronic document management syst....

Author: Wiedemann, Lou Ann

Source: AHIMA Convention

Publication Date: October 02, 2011

The Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA, 45 CFR, section 164.524 and 164.526) and subsequent privacy rule revisions under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act changed how covered entities approach a patient’s right to ac....

Author: AHIMA

Source: AHIMA practice brief attachment

Publication Date: August 2011

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: August 2011

Author: AHIMA

Source: AHIMA practice brief attachment

Publication Date: August 2011

Author: AHIMA

Source: AHIMA practice brief attachment

Publication Date: August 2011

This document is intended to be used as a guide and is not intended to be all-inclusive. It should be adapted to the setting or organization type.

Purpose: To ensure appropriate health information management tasks are processed during the acquisition, closure, or dissolution of an org....

Author: AHIMA

Source: AHIMA practice brief attachment

Publication Date: August 2011

Author: AHIMA

Source: AHIMA practice brief

Publication Date: August 2011

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

Publication Date: August 2011

Editor's note: This update supplants the November 2003, March 1999, and September 1996 practice briefs "Protecting Patient Information after a Facility Closure."



Today's healthcare environment fosters competitiveness and complex business relationships. These environment....

Author: AHIMA

Source: AHIMA practice brief attachment

Publication Date: August 2011

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

Author:

Source: AHIMA online training

Publication Date: May 17, 2011

This webinar addresses the management of legacy systems around patient care and compliance directives, how to manage, retain and maintain legacy systems to limit the amount of lost data, and preserve important data to expedite legal cases and payments.

Author: Center for Studying Health System Change

Source: External web site

Publication Date: May 05, 2011

Author: AHIMA

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: May 2011

The laws surrounding release of a deceased patient's records can lead to complex and frustrating situations in the HIM department. Just who has access rights depends on federal law, state law, and individual circumstances, illustrated by the two scenarios below.

Last summer the Office....

Author: AHIMA

Source: AHIMA practice brief | Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: May 2011

Editor's note: This update supplants the November-December 2006 practice brief "Privacy and Security in Health Information Exchange".


The primary function of a health information exchange (HIE) is to permit access to clinical information on demand at the point of care. HIEs enabl....

Author: Haas, Mark

Source: Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: April 2011

Since 2007 Massachusetts General Hospital has been working toward a do-it-yourself model for records requests. Not only does the organization save time and money when patients fulfill their own requests, the model also aligns with the emerging philosophy of patient-centered care, wher....