In anticipation of the HIMSS 2013 Annual Conference and Exhibition to be held March 3 to 7 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, New Orleans, ADVANCE interviewed Bonnie Cassidy, MPA, RHIA, FAHIMA, FHIMSS, senior director of HIM Innovation at Nuance and AHIMA approved ICD-10-CM/PCS trainer. Cassidy spent the majority of her career on the ...

(Editor's Note: This guest blog was written from AHIMA 2012 by Sandra Kersten, MPH, RHIA, who is AHIMA director of HIM Solutions.) Aneesh Chopra, the former first American federal chief technology officer of the U.S., described President Obama's overall vision for innovation, or ''how will this country get its mojo back?'' within the context of ...

(Editor's Note: This guest blog was written from AHIMA 2012 by Karen Kostick, RHIT, CCS, CCS-P.)What happens when a HIM professional and physician share the same clinical documentation improvement (CDI) mission? Results.  Together, Dr. Jon Elion, CEO and founder, ChartWise Medical Systems Inc., and Darice Grzybowski, MA, RHIA, FAHIMA, ...

  (Editor's Note: This guest blog was written from AHIMA 2012 by Harry B. Rhodes, MBA, RHIA, CHPS, CPHIMS, FAHIMA, who is AHIMA director of HIM solutions.) The goal of Meaningful Use Stage 2 is improved data reuse through standardized, structured, and interoperable exchange of discrete and timely patient information designed to improve the ...

(Editor’s Note: This guest blog was written from AHIMA 2012 by Julie Dooling, RHIT, who is AHIMA director of HIM solutions.) Walking into AHIMA’s 84th Annual Convention and Exhibit is like walking into a county fair; you just don’t which way to go! With more than 225 exhibitors to choose from, attendees can earn one Continuing Education Unit ...

If you attended the 2012 Annual HIMSS Conference & Exhibition, held in Las Vegas at the Venetian Sands Expo Center from Feb. 20-24, you were part of a record-breaking event. As of Friday morning, attendance at HIMSS12 reached 37,032 attendees, surpassing the HIMSS11 attendance figure of 31,500 attendees. They participated in more than 300 ...

The consortia training program, launched a year ago by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, was intended to address the need to add 50,000 more health IT professionals to the workforce as America converts to a healthcare system driven by electronic health records and a national health information exchange. Even though 82 community ...

The Association of Health Information Outsourcing Services (AHIOS) announced that Bonnie Coffey, former AHIOS president and charter member, will be presenting an education track at the 2010 American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) Convention and Exhibit in Orlando, FL, next week. Coffey's presentation, titled ''Overcoming EMR ...

(Editor's note: This blog post was written by Deborah Leighty MEd, RT(R)(BD), program coordinator at Hillsborough Community College in Tampa, FL.) It's that time of year again: graduation season. Chances are, you either know someone personally or have your students participating in some form of graduation ceremony. Not only are my ...

Around this time last year, I was schlepping clothes, photos and a hodgepodge of kitchenware from my college house to my mom's place, an hour away. I was in that weird place between incredible relief that classes were over and immense grief as I said goodbye to faculty and friends. Graduation was over and, quite frankly, I couldn't wait to sit on ...