There will be no shortage of hot-button discussion topics at the 82nd annual convention and exhibition of the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) in Orlando from Sept. 25-30.
At the top of the agenda will most likely be the growing employment opportunities for coders and health information managers in the wake of the federal healthcare reform legislation.
"Probably the biggest thing that's facing the HIM industry right now is the explosive growth and focus on the workforce development relative to the ARRA ONC [workforce] grants," says Lynette Czarkowski, senior vice president, HIM products and services at AHIMA.
Of course, the ever-important and ever-evolving role of electronic health records will also be much talked about. "We've got a number of presentations that deal with EHR implementation from all angles," says Czarkowski.
"For example, one of our general session speakers is Dr. Regina Benjamin, the Surgeon General, and she'll be discussing the importance of EHRs to America's public health,” Czarkowski said. “We also have a general session topic exploring the issues related to implementing EHRs from a legal standpoint. And then there's a number of other sessions on our education tracks that deal with EHR implementation in various settings: hospitals, physician practices, long-term care facilities."
Other looming issues for information management have to do with coding and clinical documentation.
"As always, we have a focus in many of our educational tracks on the latest and greatest programming related to ICD10 coding," says Czarkowski, "We're very concerned with the detail related to ICD10, and we're focusing very strongly on our responsibility for the planning and strategic value of ICD 10 in our healthcare facilities with our payers and with our vendors."
Czarkowski adds that another much talked-about topic at the convention will be "HIPAA privacy changes related to HITECH legislation."
From keynote speakers such as Paul Tang, MD, vice president and CMIO at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation to countless educational sessions and bountiful networking opportunities – the byword for the AHIMA convention this year, says Czarkowski, is "onward and upward."
"We're really expecting a large and exciting convention this year and looking forward to everyone joining us in Orlando," she said. Because, she added with dry understatement: "There's so much happening in healthcare right now."
