Industry Spotlight: National Health Information & Technology Week is November 5^th -11^th, 2006

The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) instituted Health Information and Technology (HI&T) Week 17 years ago to educate peers, family, friends, and the public about the critical role played by HIM and HIT professionals in healthcare. The week has continued to grow into an increasingly visible opportunity for education and celebration. For 2006, the Canadian Health Information Management Association (CHIMA) continues to co-sponsor HI&T Week.

This year, AHIMA is celebrating their profession and educating people on its importance from November 5th through 11th. The theme for this year’s week reflects the important role HIM and HIT plays in providing information between healthcare providers and settings for improved continuity of care: “Managing Information, Improving Care.” The work HIM professionals do helps advance the cause of quality healthcare. HI&T week is a means to let everyone know about their crucial contributions to health information, so that people can truly see how improved patient care results from reliable data and the professional management of information.

The MEDITECH Community Bulletin would like to use the occasion of National Health Information and Technology (HI&T) Week to recognize all HIM professionals for their important contributions as members of multidisciplinary patient-care teams. Not only are they responsible for managing patient health information, but HIMprofessionals play the critical role of ensuring the information is complete, accurate, and kept confidential. The move from paper to electronic medical records (EMRs) will help doctors, nurses, and other medical staff make important healthcare decisions on a real-time basis.

Like any information-intensive field these days, the Medical Records field is greatly impacted by the explosive growth of computers. Medical Records, contemporarily known as Health Information Management (HIM), is dedicated to the effective management of patient information and healthcare data needed to deliver quality treatment and care to the public. As the healthcare industry moves further into the information age, HIM professionals perform an integral role in the implementation of electronic medical records (EMRs).

Implementing EMRs ranked among the top priorities of conference attendees this year at the HIMSS Annual Conference and Exhibition in San Diego, CA (February 12th-16th, 2006). As more physician offices consider and implement EMR systems, the challenge hospitals are now facing is integrating with them. When physicians choose vendor solutions that differ from the hospital's clinical applications, without an integration option available, the hospital risks losing that physician and the referral revenue they represent.

But, vendors are addressing the issue of EMR Interoperability with solutions that allow hospitals to deliver electronic results & clinical information to physician offices regardless of the EMR systems in place. One such vendor is Accenx Technologies, Inc., a leading integration solutions company in the healthcare industry. Accenx unveiled their latest solution, EMR Interoperability for Physician Outreach with RyTRAK ACM-ASP, at the HIMSS 2006 Conference.

Accenx's EMR Interoperability solution provides hospitals with the technology to deliver all types of electronic clinical results to physician office EMR systems and offers to manage the integration process, including support and maintenance for each physician office. The key benefit for hospitals is having a service to offer to referring physicians that secures loyalty and the revenue they represent, while alleviating the burden on IT staff resources to manage and execute the service, so they can remain focused on the unending internal priorities for the hospital. Other benefits include simple deployment, secure (encrypted) information exchange which is HIPAAcompliant, no VPN required, and a low cost alternative to traditional integration options.

"EMRInteroperability is key to healthcare and creating more efficient ways to provide patient care and safety," explains Mike Connors, VP Business Development, Accenx Technologies. "Our EMR Interoperability for Physician Outreach solution establishes interoperability between hospitals and physician offices so electronic clinical information can be shared seamlessly, bettering the continuity of care and establishing the foundation for RHIOs."

Are you an HIM Professional?

As an HIM professional, you perform a very important role. No matter what your specific title, if you’re involved in health information management (HIM) or health information technology (HIT), your work is vital to delivering quality healthcare. Without the information and privacy and security safeguards you provide, the field of healthcare could not advance. More and more, your work is getting noticed by those outside the industry.

Fast-paced changes in technology have accelerated the demand for HIM professionals. The U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, projects a 49 percent growth in the number of HIM workers by 2010, making HIM one of the nation’s fastest-growing health occupations. The field currently offers nearly 40 different work settings and more than 125 job titles. Opportunities in the field include management of a hospital’s HIM department, working in information systems with implementation of the EMR, or designing health information systems for a software vendor.

Regardless of the path you choose, we’ll be there with you.

Systems Personnel is a professional search firm specializing in Healthcare Management and Information Technology. All of our clients need Health Information Management &Technology professionals at one time or another. If you’d like to keep your career options open, then please let us know. Even if we don’t have an immediate opportunity for you, we’d be happy to discuss your background, interests, and career options in order to consider you for future opportunities. Please feel free to call or email us at any time. Your personal privacy is guaranteed!

Again, we’d like to thank you for all that you do and wish you a happy
National Health Information and Technology Week!