(This guest blog was written by Kayla M. Zirbes of The College of Saint Scholastica. Zirbes is an AHIMA student advisory council member and AHIMA Hill Day 2013 participant.)As a member of the American Health Information Management Association's Student Advisory Council (SAC), I have benefited from many unique opportunities to become active within ...

The much anticipated Supreme Court Decision on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act 2010 (ACA) act will fortify many health IT initiatives already under way. ''I think it is very positive for the health IT initiatives,'' said Leslie Ann Fox, MA, RHIA, FAHIMA, chief executive officer of Care Communications Inc., Chicago, and longtime ...

The proposed rule to delay the compliance date for ICD-10 from Oct. 1, 2013 to Oct. 1, 2014 is posted to the Federal Register, and there is only 1 week left in the 30-day comment period. When proposing the delay to ICD-10, HHS took into consideration feedback that some provider groups have concerns about their ability to meet the Oct. 1, 2013 ...

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 ...

On Sept. 27, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced the launch of HealthCare.gov on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Healthcare.gov. ''HealthCare.gov on Facebook offers Facebook users a new tool to understand and stay informed about the Affordable Care Act,'' said Sebelius. ''This new page is another resource that people ...

At the request of several Members of Congress, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is further delaying enforcement of the ''Red Flags'' Rule through Dec. 31, 2010, while Congress considers legislation that would affect the scope of entities covered by the rule. ''Congress needs to fix the unintended consequences of the legislation establishing the ...

The Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) submitted comments this week to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) in response to the request for information, ''HIPAA Privacy Rule Accounting of Disclosures Under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act; Request for ...

Today, President Obama nominated Dr. Donald Berwick to be Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Dr. Berwick currently serves as President and CEO of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, and is a professor at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public ...

I called it. ''They're going to name someone as soon as I post,'' I declared in January when I pitched my article about the vacant post at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). At the time, there were occasional blogs about Medicare's missing chief--even a quick flurry of comments when it appeared Glenn Steele might earn the nom. ...

After scores of debate, health care reform has finally passed. President Obama is expected to sign the bill into law today, launching a landmark overhaul of the health care system. Great-what's it mean for you? I had the same question, so I trolled around some articles and analyses on the lookout for measures that could affect the HIM ...