On this episode of HI Pitch, Laurie Peters, compliance and assurance director at Orion Health, and Wes Morris, CHPS, CIPM, HCISPP, senior director, consulting services at Clearwater Compliance, discuss the key role of health information professionals in cybersecurity events, including how they can help prevent them and how they can contribute in their aftermath.

On this episode of the HI Pitch podcast, Kelly Cooper, RHIA, CHPS, CCS, a commissioner on the Commission on Certification for Health Informatics and Information Management (CCHIIM), discusses the process for this year’s regular update of the Certified in Healthcare Privacy and Security (CHPS) exam and how to prepare for the exam.

On this episode of HI Pitch, Kate McFadyen, director of government affairs at AHIMA, provides a preview of this year’s Advocacy Summit and discusses how the event will position health information leaders and national policymakers to transform health and healthcare through federal legislation. Specifically, she talks about how attendees will have the opportunity to advocate for legislation around social determinants of health and patient identification.

On this episode of HI Pitch, Cathy Vijeh, CMP, DES, director of meetings at AHIMA, discusses how healthcare professionals can submit education proposals for AHIMA22, taking place in person October 9-12 in Columbus, Ohio.

On this episode of HI Pitch, Julie Pursley, MSHI, RHIA, CHDA, FAHIMA, director of health information thought leadership at AHIMA, discusses the AHIMA Naming Policy, which provides guidance and best practices for collecting patient demographics to reduce the risk of patient identity errors, keep patients safe, and preserve data integrity as it is shared across the healthcare ecosystem.

On this episode of HI Pitch, Tammy Combs, RN, MSN, CDIP, CCS, CCDS, director of CDI and clinical foundations at AHIMA, and Brian Murphy, director of ACDIS, discuss a new white paper that addresses rapid technology advancements impacting CDI. CDI is critical to the usability of medical data and ongoing efforts to improve patient care. New technologies, such as artificial intelligence and natural language processing, can streamline CDI initiatives, reduce administrative burden on providers, and achieve high-quality documentation. But the use of these tools requires a more sophisticated approach to assessing and incorporating them into the documentation workflow, the paper’s authors say. The technology tools suggest query opportunities to the CDI professional based on “triggers” that are identified during an automated scan of the health record, such as documentation, vital signs, lab results, radiology findings, or medications. It’s essential, the authors write, that CDI professionals continue to look for opportunities in the record that were not suggested by the technology. “This is especially true when the opportunities are more complex and require critical analysis by the CDI professional to determine the big picture of what is happening during the admission and the clarification needed to reflect the true cause and effect of some conditions,” the authors write. Listen to learn more.

On this episode of HI Pitch, hear from Seth Katz, MPH, RHIA, FAHIMA, vice president of health information management and revenue cycle at Truman Medical Center in Kansas City, Missouri. Seth talks about how the future of healthcare will shape the health information professional’s career and discusses the Evolving Healthcare Webinar Series presented by AHIMA.

On this episode of HI Pitch, hear from Anisa Tootla, executive director of the AHIMA Foundation, as well as Dr. Chris Myers and Mike Doyle, M.ED, who run the Center for Innovative Leadership at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School. They preview the 2022 Mark Dietz Leadership Series, a three-webinar series taught by leadership experts from the Carey Business School. The Mark Dietz Leadership Series begins on February 15 and prepares leaders to take on future challenges by building teams that are inclusive, agile, and innovative. The three webinars making up this year’s series are The Inclusive Healthcare Leader; The Agile Healthcare Leader; and Design Thinking for Healthcare Leaders.

On this episode of HI Pitch, hear from Julie Pursley, MSHI, RHIA, CHDA, FAHIMA. Julie is AHIMA’s director of health information thought leadership and she discusses the new Project US@ Companion Guide from ONC and AHIMA. The companion guide offers unified, cross-standards development organization, health care industry-wide operational best practices related to accurate and timely capture and management of patient addresses developed in ONC’s Project US@ Technical Specification Final Version 1.0. It can be used by health information and healthcare professionals to enhance patient identification and matching.

On this episode of HI Pitch, AHIMA President and Chair Tim Keough, MPA, RHIA, FAHIMA, discusses core leadership qualities, new initiatives on the horizon for the organization, and what health information professionals should be excited about in 2022.