March 24-30 is Health Information Professionals Week, a showcase for the thousands of health information management (HIM) professionals who perform their duties masterfully throughout the year.
HIM professionals play a key role in the effective management of health data necessary to deliver quality health care to patients. Some of the many activities Baptist’s credentialed coders and other HIM team members perform include:
- Leading the efforts to ensure the availability, accuracy, integrity and security of the health record
- Handling mandatory reporting to various state agencies/registries about births, deaths, traumatic brain injuries, etc.
- Coding of diagnoses and procedures for all patient visits
- Overseeing release of information activities to assure compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Office for Civil Rights, Office of Inspector General, and state and federal regulations
They also play a key role in the revenue cycle process and electronic health information exchanges.
