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: 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: Denton, Debra Beisel; Endicott, Melanie; Ericson, Cheryl E; Love, Tammy R.; McDonald, Lori; Willis, Daphne

Source: AHIMA practice brief

Publication Date: December 2016

One of the more challenging tasks for both coding and clinical documentation improvement (CDI) professionals is clinical validation. This is a relatively new responsibility that has evolved as CDI programs mature and CDI and coding professionals advance their knowledge and collaboration on clin....

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: Orlova, Anna; Rhodes, Harry B.; Warner, Diana

Source: Journal of AHIMA | AHIMA practice brief

Publication Date: November 2016

Despite the many advancements in health information technology (HIT) that the industry has seen in recent years, the interoperability of HIT applications continues to present a challenge. Implementing standards—a definition, set of rules or guidelines, example format, or other document th....

Author: AHIMA Work Group

Source: AHIMA practice brief

Publication Date: October 2016

This update supersedes the November 2013 practice brief, Guidelines for a Compliant Business Associate Agreement.



The Privacy Rule portion of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) defines a "business associate (BA) as a person or entity that performs....

Author: AHIMA Work Group

Source: Journal of AHIMA | AHIMA practice brief

Publication Date: October 2016

Accurate patient identification is a major challenge faced by healthcare organizations across all levels of care throughout the industry. Health information management (HIM) professionals play a critical role in collecting identifiable information and matching the patient to their health record....

Author: Campbell, Angela; D'Amato, Cheryl; Rugg, Donna

Source: AHIMA practice brief | Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: September 2016

Editor’s Note: This Practice Brief is an update of the March 2010 version, which replaced the November 2007 Practice Brief “Planning for Present on Admission.”


Section 5001(c) of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 requires hospitals to report patient primary and....

Author: Denton, Debra Beisel; Endicott, Melanie; Ericson, Cheryl E; Love, Tammy R.; McDonald, Lori; Willis, Daphne

Source: AHIMA practice brief | Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: July 2016

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

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....