Leading the e-HIM Transformation
TODAY, EMPLOYERS ARE counting on
us to achieve great success in adopting
health IT, creating strategy, managing
implementations with new workflows,
and demonstrating meaningful use while
properly planning for the monumental
transition to ICD-10.
These are the most revitalizing times
in the history of health information management, and HIM professionals must
rise up in support of one another and
challenge ourselves and our peers. It is a
time for us to come together to promote
and advance our values as HIM professionals—a time that our voices be heard.
Making e-HIM Dreams Reality
HIM leadership must continue to create
the best practices that ensure the privacy, security, accuracy, and value of health
information in our electronic healthcare
industry. More than ever before we must
work harder, smarter, and faster. Each of
us must dream big and break down barriers separating our dreams from reality.
AHIMA members must passionately
promote HIM education, best practices,
standards, policy, and research and continue to provide services for today while
being visionary in setting the bar for the
future. Developing a prosperous reality
where dreams come true is possible, but
only after hard work.
Spotlight on HIM Skills
Because we lead the HIM profession, it’s
important that we make change. What
makes us strong as an association are
our diverse skills and experiences. ARRA
and ICD-10 have put the spotlight on the
HIM profession. It is an incredible opportunity for us to leverage our strengths
and demonstrate our ability to deliver
value-added services.
EHRs get implemented, but it is our
discipline and professional principles
By Bonnie S. Cassidy, MPA, RHIA, FAHIMA, FHIMSS
that guide the development of our organizational HIM policy and EHR governance. We are uniquely qualified to lead
the ICD-10 implementation and establish
strategies for implementing computer-assisted coding.
We have the expertise to build structure
and governance for the secondary use of
health information and quality measurement initiatives, adding value to quality
health information’s significant role in the
overall delivery of quality care.
This is the greatest transformation in
the history of our healthcare system and
cannot be done successfully without
your leadership. With electronic health
information’s widening availability, great
advances in medicine are not only possible, they are mandatory for affordable
quality healthcare worldwide.
HIM’s Commitment to the Future
AHIMA’s ethical code differentiates the
HIM profession and strengthens our
commitment to one another and to HIM.
By virtue of our mission, vision, and values, it is our responsibility alone to lead
the HIM profession and its practitioners
and do everything in our power to deliver
for humanity as a whole. The time for our
commitment has come, and the time for
us to act on that commitment is now.
At AHIMA, we’re building a world-class
association that supports HIM’s ability to
prosper through anything, together, one
member at a time. At this time we know
that we all can stand together with the
power to be powerful, believing we can
make things better.
This is how we will lead healthcare into
the electronic age of health information:
together, one member at a time. ¢
Bonnie S. Cassidy ( bonnie.cassidy@ahima.org)
is vice president of HIM product management at
QuadraMed.
