AHIMA Names Its Seven Big Health Information Initiatives in 2012

The Chicago, Ill.-based American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) has come up with a list of seven initiatives that will impacthealth information management (HIM) professionals in 2012. The issues, which will be covered throughout the year by AHIMA’s HIM experts, were featured in a recent Journal of AHIMA piece.

The seven initiatives that AHIMA identifies are as followed:

1.    ICD-10

2.    Accountable Care Organizations

3.    Meaningful Use

4.    Health Information Exchange

5.    Privacy and Security

6.    Electronic Health Records

7.    Data is the New Bottom Line

Other hot topics that will impact the healthcare industry and HIM professionals in 2012, according to AHIMA include:

·     Medicare RAC program expansion

·     Limited code updates to ICD-9-CM and ICD-10-CM/PCS

·     Enforcement of version 5010 HIPAA transaction standards

·     More physician practices will merge with large hospitals

·     Permanent program will launch in conjunction with stage 2 rule for meaningful use electronic health record certification.