Taking A Peek Into The Future

Journal of AHIMA Analyzes Results of Survey on HIM Workforce Shifts

Findings from a study by the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) illustrate the health information management (HIM) profession is changing rapidly and that leadership responsibilities is the area that will increase the most significantly.

The findings are analyzed in the story, “Survey Predicts Future HIM Workforce Shifts,” in the July issue of the Journal of AHIMA.

“The changes in HIM give our professionals the opportunity to highlight their skill set and take on a leadership role within their organization,” said AHIMA CEO Lynne Thomas Gordon, MBA, RHIA, CAE, FACHE, FAHIMA. “Promoting and championing the importance of Information Governance (IG) is just one example of ways HIM professionals can lead so that organizations realize that information must be valued as a strategic asset and is essential for realizing their goals.”

In addition to leadership, other areas that are expected to increase the most significantly are teaching and informatics. Those surveyed believe this will create opportunities in diverse settings such as management, higher education and information technologies. The top six skills noted that survey participants think will be more important in the future than today include big data analysis, informatics, data mining, system development, interoperability and IG.

By contrast, diagnosis and procedural coding was the biggest area where respondents anticipated they will spend a lower percentage of their time.

The demand for more data analytics is expected to trend ahead of supply. The authors write, “HIM professionals are perfectly geared to fill this ‘data’ niche because they have a very strong understanding of healthcare data, operations and clinical processes. Such expertise is often lacking among applicants who are looking to fill analytics roles.”

A total of 58 percent of survey respondents were HIM professionals; the other respondents consisted of employers, healthcare professionals, students, educators and other related groups. The final survey analysis was based on 3,370 responses.

Also in this issue:

• The story, “Preventing Healthcare's Top Four Documentation Disasters,” highlights some common mistakes so there can be “procedures in place to stop them before they can strike.”
• The practice brief, “Best Practices in the Art and Science of Clinical Documentation Improvement,” (CDI) explains why CDI “has emerged as one of the most important vehicles for bridging the gap between the clinical documentation contained in the health record and the resulting clinical and claims data utilized for reimbursement, research and outcomes management.”

About AHIMA
The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) represents more than 101,000 health information professionals in the United States and around the world. AHIMA is committed to promoting and advocating for high quality research, best practices and effective standards in health information and to actively contributing to the development and advancement of health information professionals worldwide. AHIMA’s enduring goal is quality healthcare through quality. For more information, visitwww.ahima.org