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.
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.
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.
Rose T. Dunn, MBA, RHIA, CPA, FACHE, FHFMA, took on a new role in June: She became the interim CEO of AHIMA. In the past she has also served twice on the AHIMA board of directors, in addition to a term as president of the organization. Dunn was kind enough to take a few minutes from her busy schedule to speak with us about her role and the future of AHIMA, and to offer some advice for those in the field.
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.
Over the course of the past 30 years in the HIM field, I have observed much trial and error on the part of HIM managers who have been pioneers in the EHR journey.
