Transformation as Renewal: Springtime for HIM, by Linda Klo by Karen Snyder

From time to time we have the good fortune of having guest bloggers join our Iron Mountain blog voice. I've asked Linda Kloss, CEO Kloss Strategic Advisors, Ltd., for some additional thoughts on the future of Health Information Records Management (HIRM) and the new world of Information Governance. It's a great complement to #HIPWeek, which honors Health Information Professionals who show their mastery of this very subject every single day.

Below are her thoughts.

It's the first day of spring after a very challenging winter filled with many below zero mornings when even the dog didn't want to go for a walk. This first day of spring I happen to be driving through the beautiful state of Tennessee. I heard birdsong this morning and saw a blooming tree. It is a time of renewal and new possibilities.

I have been researching how the practice of health information management is changing and believe that it is a time of renewal and exciting possibilities. Reflecting on how much is changing, a HIM director recently remarked to me it's exciting, but it's also intimidating to not know exactly how it will all fit together. She is leading multi-year transformative change in a complex health system. Most recently, she sought and received approval to recast the role of HIM to enterprise HIM.

It is intimidating. There is no road map and few models. She is a vanguard at the forefront of change, and as a vanguard she is laser focused on the goals of improving the value of the information assets of her organization, while achieving compliance and effective cost management. The teams are organized to advance the integrity of health records and master enterprise data such as master person index information. They safeguard information through access controls and appropriate release to third parties. They promote and support patient access to health information and contribute to prevention of medical identity theft. They manage smart and cost effective information archiving for electronic and paper records. And, of course, the teams generate timely and accurate codes for reimbursement. All these functions sound familiar, but there are very big differences.

Healthcare information is no longer managed in silos. High integrity longitudinal patient information are required while at the same time preserving the integrity of the legal health record according to reimbursement and licensure rules designed for a siloed world. No small task. Clinical, claims and other data must be linked for cost and quality improvement and risk-based payment. And all this is done across health systems that are growing through mergers and other affiliations that require alignment of policy, process, technology, and people.

Transformation requires a focus on new work and moving on from legacy work. In our white paper Redefining the Role of Health Information Management in the New World of Information Governance, we suggest steps that produce short term results while building the case for information governance and an enterprise view of information management. This is not theoretical. HIM vanguards are making it happen.

While it isn't clear how it will all come together, and each organization will require its own adaptation, HIM professionals are guided by the age old principles and values of ethical information practice. These are sustaining. So, on this week, #HIPWeek, when AHIMA leads a celebration of the important contributions Health Information Professionals are making to health care's transformation, let me add my congratulations .and best wishes for a glorious spring.

LINK:	http://blogs.ironmountain.com/2014/industry/healthcare-information-man...
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