Yesterday, I read the Nov. 23 article on HISTalk about a multi-group practice that went electronic, and then turned its defunct chart storage room into useful office space. The ''before and after'' photos were particularly striking. Pre-scanning, the room is lined with overflowing shelves; post-scanning, it's a cavernous space with a ...

[This post was written by Charlie Wong, from the Nuance HIM Team] Last week we noted that one of the goals posted on our ''What's Your Goal?'' wall at AHIMA was ''to see a working electronic health record (EHR) deployed before I retire!'' This simple statement speaks to the mountain of complexity involved with deploying an EHR: not ...

No matter your stance on war, it's only right to honor and thank veterans who put their lives on the line for our country. Military personnel witness firsthand what most of us find too hard to watch through a camera lens, and it's bound to have an impact. The least we could do, then, is offer quality health care upon their return. The Department ...

(Editor's note: The following blog was written by Mark McGraw, an associate editor on staff at ADVANCE.) It's movie night, and you're not interested in subtitles or surrealism. Maybe next week you'll go for the one with the ''Winner: Best Foreign Language Film, 2008 Venice Film Festival'' sticker on it. But tonight you're in the mood for a ...

If you've been following Jay's blog, ''XY Files in and MT World,'' recently, you know there have been some frightening reports of medical records being sold overseas. It's enough to make you hunker down in the States and demand your records stay local. On the contrary, some patients are ditching domestic services and seeking medical care abroad. ...

My first day at the 2009 American Health Information and Management Association (AHIMA) Convention and Exhibit is off to a great start. I attended the Student Academy this morning, where Barbara Black, director of human resources, and Gwen Hughes, director of eHIM, Care Communications, shared the dos and donts of writing cover letters and ...

With all the prep for next week's American Health Information Management Association Convention and Exhibit and our HIM Team of the Year coverage (Yes, we have a winner!), I've been neglecting my Google Alerts. Well, I found some time this morning to browse the news on electronic health records (EHRs), and there's a whole lot of good, bad and ...

The government's ''Cash for Clunkers'' program was a clever idea--and a pretty successful one to boot. Dealerships swelled with drivers ready to trade in their rag-tag autos for a sleek new ride. Salespeople moved inventory, the environment got some smog relief and buyers got a few Gs of credit. Automakers even joined the trend, offering their own ...

The ADVANCE team likes to be inquisitive (it's part of our job, ya know). Sure, we've met you at conferences, chatted you up on the phone, but we want to know what really goes on in that head of yours. Thus, we introduced ''What Makes HIM Professionals Tick,'' a series of 10-question surveys about anything from your first job to your favorite ...

For the past 2 months, I've been collecting entries for our 2009 HIM Team of the Year contest, and it can be...inundating. (Not that I wouldn't love to see a dozen more entries!) A copy for each judge, plus one for our files-it's a whole bunch of printing and stapling, and it gives a computer junkie like myself a new appreciation for all you ...