Author: Barnette, Erin; Endicott, Melanie; Ericson, Cheryl E; Wieczorek, Michelle M.

Source: AHIMA practice brief | Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: May 2017

In order to effectively discuss clinical documentation improvement (CDI) opportunities in physician practices, it is important to first understand the drivers and goals of a physician practice CDI program. Historically, diagnosis codes have had little impact in regard to physician practice paym....

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: AHIMA Work Group

Source: AHIMA practice brief | Journal of AHIMA

Publication Date: March 2017

One of the Healthy People 2020 objectives from the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion is to improve the health, safety, and well-being of individuals in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) population.1 This population faces health disparities with barriers to healt....

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....