The need for qualified health information technology (HIT) professionals will increase substantially over the next five years as more hospitals migrate away from paper records and convert to EHRs, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics study. As a result of this growing need, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC), in conjunction with Northern Virginia Community College, AHIMA, and Pearson VUE, designed the HIT Pro exams as a means to verify the competency of HIT professionals.
Editor's note: In honor of the holidays, we asked our "MRB Talk" members to send us their HIM holiday wishes. From funny to serious, we hope that each one of your wishes is answered for you in the coming year. And to all of our readers, we hope you have a safe and happy holiday season and a wonderful new year. Now, read on to find out what your colleagues are wishing for this holiday season, and, as always, if you aren't a member of the listserv but would like to be, feel free to e-mail me at akraynak@hcpro.com.
Jefferson Regional Medical Center (JRMC), a 471-bed nonprofit hospital located in Pine Bluff, AR, is the fourth largest medical center in the state and serves 11 counties in south Arkansas. When I started working there in early November 2010, I quickly realized we had a number of opportunities to improve our HIM operations and efficiencies.
As we begin to close out the year, it seems to be a good time to reflect on some of the challenging standards hospitals faced in Joint Commission surveys during 2011.
The Medicare and Medicaid EHR incentive programs are well under way at this point. The federal Medicare incentive program began issuing payments earlier this year, and many states have already done so as well for the Medicaid program.
It's almost that time of year again, when holidays abound and people's lives tend to get even more hectic than normal. As a manager, it means planning holiday parties, dealing with requests for time off, and a myriad of other tasks.
