Essay on AHIMA: Nonprofit for Health Information Management Professionals

Introduction

AHIMA (American Health Information Management Association) is mainly a non-profit organization representing thousands of HIM (Health Information Management) experts working within the health care sector across the USA (Mon, 2009). As such, the HIM professional associated with AHIMA is educated trained and certified to offer services to in the healthcare industry (Berretoni et al., 2011) by reporting, analyzing, managing, as well as utilizing information crucial for providing care to patients, while safeguarding its access to researchers along with the health caregivers (Mon, 2009). Therefore, one may argue that AHIMA is an organization accountable for the provision of resources that ensure the safety of patients, along with the efficiency of quality health care delivery across the US (Fenton et al. 2017). As such, this paper seeks to offer a detailed discussion concerning AHIMA's functions that define its role based on the available published toolkits.

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Functions of AHIMA Toolkits

One of the functions noted from AHIMA's toolkits includes the management of breaches associated with health care information (AHIMA, 2018). This function stands outlined in AHIMA's (2018) breach management toolkit; It addresses various roles of the HIM members, including maintaining, implementing as well as planning a breach management procedure. Moreover, the toolkit includes mechanisms for mitigating solutions, monitoring risk factors, goal setting, determining responsibilities and roles, as well as the process for prioritizing development steps for addressing breaches. Most fundamentally, the violation described in the toolkit involves the acquisition, utilization, disclosure, or access of protected health care data in a way that compromises either the privacy or the security of safeguarded health care information. Such action is further regarded as a violation of the 1996 HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) privacy regulation.

The second function includes disaster planning as well as recovery for potential disasters. As such, AHIMA (2013) Disaster Planning and Recovery Toolkit offer HIM professionals guidance on the steps for planning and recovery from potential mishaps, along with the preservation of relevant records, as well as the release of information with the main emphasis on protecting and collecting health data. Most fundamentally, the AHIMA's role includes the provision of education concerning the advanced planning for potential disasters, particularly the risk assessment and evaluation of the requirements, along with the actual preparation of catastrophe. As such, both approaches necessitate the consideration of systems associated with appropriate guidance on the investigations and management of HIEs (Health Information Exchanges) as a patient advocacy strategy during the planning and preparation of disasters (Dooling, 2013). The toolkit further informs HIM experts concerning how to handle the recovery of the disasters they faced. In this context, the role of the toolkit involves the demonstration that successful recovery requires collaboration between the HIM professionals with each departmental stakeholder, along with timely communication in a well-practiced and rehearsed way to attain the objective of restoring health care systems with the least disruption of the care offered to patients.

The third function includes guidance on how to establish and implement a telemedicine program. This role is highlighted on AHIMA's (2017) Telemedicine toolkit, which was published as the current telehealth globe, is poised to expand in the next decades. As such, both hospital institutions, as well as other health-related practices, can utilize the toolkit to evaluate potential opportunities associated with their specific need in safeguarding quality end efficient health care required by patients. The additional role includes the provision of guidance for the evaluation of reimbursement, legal and documentation practicalities in advance of developing ad implementing a telehealth system. The toolkit further plays a crucial function in guiding the development of telehealth programs with a particular focus on virtually and securely engaging patients in ways that align with business and clinical strategies as well as a hospital's existing information governance program. Moreover, the toolkit gives HIM professionals and healthcare providers the resources to understand the exact process and regulations that are needed to put a successful telemedicine program into action. This function is consistent with the value of the rapidly growing telemedicine, which involves its ability to increase patient access to healthcare, making the proper care possible, in many cases, and more convenient in others.

The fourth function includes the provision of a CAC (Computer-Assisted Coding) program that would be particularly helpful for practitioners wishing to plan as well as prepare for its adoption within the ambulatory (including the physician), outpatient, inpatient, along with acute care settings (AHIMA, 2014). Weinberg, Peterson, Marc, and Sandefer (2015) noted that when the CAC is combined with a credentialed coding program, it can potentially assist the users with quicker coding of the records of patients without minimizing accurateness. As such, CAC will dramatically alter how medical records will be coded and reviewed. Moreover, the HIM experts must be engaged in that procedure to safeguard its efficiency. Whereas competence advances are significant, the precision of the diagnostic record recognized by the CAC system is of the utmost priority within the health care sector. Most importantly, the solutions based on the CAC technology exemplify a method of assisting in structuring and compensate some of the mislaid reimbursement, as well as the productivity that the ICD-10 will establish (AHIMA, 2014).

References

AHIMA (2013). AHIMA Disaster Planning and Recovery Toolkit. Retrieved from AHIMA website: https://library.ahima.org/Toolkit/DisasterPlanning#.XqILMCkzZdh

AHIMA. (2014). Computer-assisted coding toolkit (978-1-58426-435-4). Retrieved from AHIMA website: https://bok.ahima.org/doc?oid=300442#.XqIVWikzZdg

AHIMA. (2017). Telemedicine toolkit (978-1-58426-622-8). Retrieved from AHIMA website: https://bok.ahima.org/doc?oid=302358#.XqIL9ikzZdgAHIMA. (2018). Breach management toolkit: A comprehensive guide for compliance (978-1-58426-674-7). Retrieved from AHIMA website: https://library.ahima.org/Doc/E/B/5/Breach%20management%20toolkit#.XqG2HSkzZdg

Bertoni, A., Bochantin, F., Brown, T., Busch, R., Chapman, J., Cobia, T., ... & Hugo, K. (2011). He functions in healthcare quality and patient safety. Journal of AHIMA, 82(8), 42.

Dooling, J. A. (2013). Meaningful Use and Disaster Infrastructure Q&A: HIM Professionals Share Lessons Learned. Journal of AHIMA, 84(10), 64-65.

Fenton, S. H., Low, S., Abrams, K. J., & Butler-Henderson, K. (2017). Health information management: changing with time. Yearbook of medical informatics, 26(01), 72-77.

Mon, D. T. (2009). American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) Written and Oral Testimony at the NCVHS Privacy, Confidentiality, and Security Subcommittee Hearing on Personal Health Records May 20, 2009. AHIMA AtestimonyonPHRprivacy-final052009.pdf (http://www. ahima. org/downloads/pdfs/advocacy/AHIM AtestimonyonPHRprivacy-final052009.pdf)

Weinberg, J., Peterson, S., Marc, D., & Sandefer, R. (2015). Aligning computer-assisted coding and information governance efforts. Journal of AHIMA, 86(10), 36-40.