March 27 , 2019

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HIP-HIP-Hooray!

Celebrate the 30th Annual HIP Week

March 24-30, 2019

You’re invited to join the celebration and be recognized for your contributions to the HIM profession during the 30th annual Health Information Professionals Week (HIP) Week!

HIP Week is a great opportunity for professionals to showcase the benefits of their profession, and collectively work to lead the way in health information. Help spread our message with pride by participating in HIP Week and using #HIPWeek19 in your social posts.

Showcase your #HIPWeek19 spirit by using these AHIMA HIP Week Resources :

This year, five CHIA leaders and an AHIMA State Advocacy Council Member joined other component state association leaders at the 2019 AHIMA Advocacy Summit in Washington DC, March 25 – 26, 2019. The CHIA representatives included CHIA President-elect, Nancy Andersen; CHIA CEO/Executive Director, Sharon Lewis; Sara Bickle; Esther Tolentino; Lin Zhang; and AHIMA State Advocacy member Debi Primeau.  

HIM leaders throughout the country learned about “HIPAA in a 21st Century Digitized World” from Timothy Noonan, Deputy Director, Health Information Privacy HHS Office for Civil Rights; “Improving Interoperability of Health Information” from Dr Andrew Gettinger, Chief Clinical Officer, Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT; seven key characteristics of leadership from Pam Lane, Vice President, Public Policy and Government Relations, AHIMA; and were introduced to Cheryl Martin, AHIMA’s Chief Knowledge Officer who emphasized the importance health information integrity. 

While in DC, CHIA leaders had an opportunity to meet with both California Senators and their own respective jurisdiction Representatives. During the meetings, they encouraged California legislators to support patient matching through removal of verbiage in 1999 appropriations language prohibiting the use of funds by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to adopt any standard for a unique health identifier; modernizing HIPAA by requesting policymakers to take action to align HIPAA’s right of access with Health IT Certification, and extending HIPAA individual right of access to non-covered entities; and encouraging note sharing with patients in real time.  

The conversations also offered an opportunity to remind the nation's legislators about the specific health care leadership and expertise HIM professionals bring to the table. The CHIA representatives specifically asked that the HIM profession be directly represented in any discussion centered around key health care initiatives.  

The CHIA leaders appreciated the opportunity to stay connected at a national level and grateful to attend the summit to carry forward key messages, strengthen existing relationships, and develop new connections.

Elected delegates from each Component Local Association (CLA) will convene at the House of Delegates (HOD) on Sunday June 9, 2019 at the CHIA Convention & Exhibit in Indian Wells. The HOD provides the opportunity for elected delegates to express the desires of its members and provide direction and support of the CHIA association and HIM profession. 

In addition to routine association business, the 2019 delegates will provide input into CHIA’s 2020-2022 strategic initiatives.

All CHIA members have the opportunity to express their opinions and suggestions. If you have an idea or perspective, contact your CLA President and share your thoughts. 

Visit the CHIA House of Delegates webpage for full details and available materials .

Invest In Your HIM Career at #CHIACON19  

June 8 - 12, 2019 • Hyatt Indian Wells, Indian Wells, CA

CHIA is celebrating 70 years of service to the health information management (HIM) profession. Join HIM professionals in beautiful Indian Wells for the 2019 CHIA Convention & Exhibit - Empowering Patients, Breaking Boundaries, and Bridging Gaps.

Celebrate CHIA’s 70 years of success while shaping its future! Discover innovative ideas and strategies for tackling day-to-day issues as leading industry experts discuss challenges facing today’s HIM professionals in electronic health record best practices, patient access/release of information, compliance, organizational leadership and management, data integrity, clinical documentation improvement, consumer/patient engagement, coding, compliance and more. 

Full registration fees start at $445. Register by May 8 and Save!

Learn more and register at Californiahia.org/convention-exhibit  

For full program schedule and descriptions, presenter details, and exhibitor listing,

visit the CHIA Convention Program webpage . For a quick view, check out the

Convention Preliminary Flyer , or the Convention Schedule At-a-Glance .

CHIA is looking for articles on a variety of timely educational topics that represent the depth and breadth of HIM roles and interests, and can include tips, strategies, techniques, case-studies, opinions and commentary to be included in the peer-reviewed CHIA Journal . CHIA encourages members, Corporate Partners, educators, and HIM professionals to submit articles and share their knowledge with CHIA readers. Learn more or submit a article here . 

CHIA is partnering with the Health IT Summit to offer complimentary passes to CHIA members . Use code CHIACOMP when registering.

Join top executives, physicians, practice management and IT decision makers from North America’s leading provider organizations and physician practices in San Diego, CA for a two-day executive Health IT Summit. We've developed a concise program where leading healthcare thought leaders interact with their fellow executives and solution providers to discuss the latest strategies and tactics to address a wide range of issues and topics, including: data security, population health, data analytics, accountable care, telemedicine, and more. This exclusive, high-level program is a great opportunity to stay ahead of the challenges we all face and to network with other healthcare leaders and colleagues.

Learn more and see the full agenda

May 4-5, 2019 | Glendale, CA

Are you a coding professional interested in learning about clinical documentation improvement (CDI)? Are you a retired nurse or a nurse who wants to explore other career options? There are enormous needs in the health care industry to become a CDI Specialist where you will assist physicians to accurately document how truly ill patients are with severity ratings. The trend nowadays is quality documentation and this course will teach you how to achieve this. 

RN Link is offering a 10% discount to CHIA Members . ​ Learn more and register today !

RHIT to RHIA Proviso: New Eligibility Criteria for the RHIA Exam

The Commission on Certification for Health Informatics and Information Management (CCHIIM) has amended the eligibility criteria to sit for the RHIA certification exam for individuals who hold the RHIT. Individuals who have the RHIT will be eligible for the RHIA exam starting July 1, 2017, through December 31, 2021, if they have received a baccalaureate degree or higher from a regionally-accredited institution or nationally-recognized accreditor (official sealed transcripts must be sent to AHIMA for verification); and received their RHIT credential on or before December 31, 2018; and have complied with the Standards for Maintenance of the RHIT credential.

These time-limited criteria are a provision of the HIM Reimagined initiative, which aims to prepare HIM professionals for the jobs of the future. Learn more here.

Death By 1,000 Clicks: Where Electronic Health Records Went Wrong

By Fred Schulte, Kaiser Health News and Erika Fry, Fortune; Mar 22, 2019

The pain radiated from the top of Annette Monachelli’s head, and it got worse when she changed positions. It didn’t feel like her usual migraine. The 47-year-old Vermont attorney turned innkeeper visited her local doctor at the Stowe Family Practice twice about the problem in late November 2012, but got little relief.

Two months later, Monachelli was dead of a brain aneurysm, a condition that, despite the symptoms and the appointments, had never been tested for or diagnosed until she turned up in the emergency room days before her death.

Monachelli’s husband sued Stowe, the federally qualified health center the physician worked for. Owen Foster, a newly hired assistant U.S. attorney with the District of Vermont, was assigned to defend the government. Though it looked to be a standard medical malpractice case, Foster was on the cusp of discovering something much bigger — what his boss, U.S. Attorney Christina Nolan, calls the “frontier of health care fraud” — and prosecuting a first-of-its-kind case that landed the largest-ever financial recovery in Vermont’s history. Read Article.

FEMA ‘Major Privacy Incident’ Reveals Data from 2.5 million Disaster Survivors

By Joel Achenbach, William Wan and Tony Rom; Mar 22, 2019

The Federal Emergency Management Agency shared personal addresses and banking information of more than 2 million U.S. disaster survivors in what the agency acknowledged Friday was a “major privacy incident.” 

The data mishap, discovered recently and the subject of a report by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General, occurred when the agency shared sensitive, personally identifiable information of disaster survivors who used FEMA’S Transitional Sheltering Assistance program, according to officials at FEMA. Those affected included the victims of California wildfires in 2017 and Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria, the report said.

In a statement, Lizzie Litzow, FEMA’s press secretary, said, “FEMA provided more information than was necessary” while transferring disaster survivor information to a contractor. Read Article. 

CMS Artificial Intelligence Health Outcomes Challenge

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services; Mar 27, 2019 

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Artificial Intelligence Health Outcomes Challenge is a three-stage competition to accelerate artificial intelligence solutions to better predict health outcomes such as unplanned hospital and skilled nursing facility admissions and adverse events for potential use by the Innovation Center in testing innovative payment and service delivery models under the authority of section 1115A of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1315a). CMS is partnering with the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) and the Laura and John Arnold Foundation to award up to $1.65 million to selected participants during the three stages of the Challenge.

The Goals of the Challenge - The CMS Artificial Intelligence Health Outcomes Challenge is an opportunity for innovators to demonstrate how artificial intelligence tools, such as deep learning and neural networks, can be used to predict unplanned hospital and skilled nursing facility admissions and adverse events for potential use by the Innovation Center in testing innovative payment and service delivery models under the authority of section 1115A of the Social Security Act. The Challenge prioritizes explainable artificial intelligence solutions to help front-line clinicians understand and trust artificial intelligence-driven data feedback to target scarce resources and improve the quality of care.  Learn More.

ONC Progress Report on Efforts to Address Information Blocking, EHR Burdens

By Anne Zender on Mar 26, 2019

The burdens caused by electronic health records (EHRs) and the difficulties created by information blocking are two issues the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) wants to help with, according to Andrew Gettinger, MD, ONC chief clinical officer. At AHIMA’s Advocacy Summit on Monday, Gettinger discussed how ONC has been making progress on these topics with a report and a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM).

In November 2018, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a draft report, “Strategy on Reducing Regulatory and Administrative Burden Relating to the Use of Health IT and EHRs,” for public comment. This work, led by ONC in partnership with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, was required by Congress under the 21st Century Cures Act. Read More.