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As the use of HIT continues to expand throughout the health care continuum, more professionals are intrigued by joining the ranks of informatics professionals. It’s a burgeoning field filled with opportunity for professionals not usually associated with the IT side of things, namely HIM personnel and nurses. This month’s E-News Exclusive examines how nurses can hop aboard this fast-moving notion, taking their unique skill sets and applying them to the latest technology. Their perspectives on health care delivery may be just the tonic needed to make EHRs function better. — Lee DeOrio, editor Informatics as a Career Option for Nurses By Ramona Yehle, PhD, MS, RN Nurses strive to deliver high-quality and safe patient care. In light of the technology boom, they are increasingly using IT to enhance patient care delivery. Consequently, nursing informatics is a viable option for nurses who understand the importance of technology and have an interest in integrating informatics into a nursing career. Health informatics in general is commonly understood as the use of computers in the sharing of health care information that is frequently represented as text and data format. Moreover, nursing informatics is defined as the “practice of using nursing science and technology to enhance the pathway that data take to become knowledge to improve patient care.”1 Due to the passage of the 2010 Affordable Care Act, informatics is considered to be a driving force behind the changing health care environment. This law contains requirements set forth by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), most notably those pertaining to meaningful use. As a result, electronic health technology is being utilized to improve patient prevention measures, information delivery, and clinical outcomes. According to CMS, three stages are involved in the implementation of meaningful use. Stage 1 involves data capture and sharing, while Stage 2 is concerned with the continuous quality improvement at the point of care and the exchange of health information in a structured format between and among health care agencies. (Numerous health care facilities are currently completing stage 2.) Stage 3 adds to the process of improving patient safety so positive patient care outcomes will increase while health care costs are maintained and regulated. Full Story »   E-News Exclusive The Here and Now on Present-on-Admission Indicators Front- vs Back-End Speech Recognition: Which Fits Better? mHealth in the Mental Health Sector The Challenges of Population Health Management New App Creates the 21st-Century Patient Experience Developing a Framework for Evaluating mHealth Apps Ask the Expert AAPC Preview HIMSS News Industry Insight Tech & Tools The Here and Now on Present-on-Admission Indicators Without proper documentation and coding, hospitals face serious financial setbacks should they misrepresent patient cases. Read more » Front- vs Back-End Speech Recognition: Which Fits Better? Health care organizations must take into account several factors before making the leap. Read more » mHealth in the Mental Health Sector Usability, privacy, and quality issues take center stage as new apps and platforms emerge. Read more » The Challenges of Population Health Management Connecting providers and a cultural readjustment are two keys to a successful initiative. Read more »

HEALTHCON 2016 Offers Edification and Enchantment By Heather Hogstrom HEALTHCON 2016, AAPC’s 24th Annual National Conference, is taking place April 10-13 at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort in Orlando, Florida. Discounted theme park tickets are available for HEALTHCON attendees, who can take a break from educational sessions to enjoy the attractions, including dozens of Disney-themed topiaries at the Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival. More than 90 educational sessions, offering 18 CEUs, are available for attendees to choose from. The conference covers a broad spectrum of health care knowledge, but each session is marked with the areas it pertains to, so attendees can focus on educational sessions that are most relevant to their job title. These areas are as follows: Full Story » HIMSS Conference Highlights Data Security By Lee DeOrio In the wake of recent newsworthy data breaches—in particular the California ransomware case—security was a significant topic at the recently concluded HIMSS conference in Las Vegas. One of the more interesting takes on the topic was presented by Sadik Al-Abdulla, director of security solutions at CDW, who suggested that data breaches were inevitable. As a result, he said the objective of health care organizations should be to “make it less bad when the bad guys get in.” Al-Abdulla compared the situation to the automobile industry’s approach. There’s no way to eliminate car accidents, thus making it imperative to limit the damage when a mishap does occur. For example, the introduction of seat belts and airbags resulted in huge decreases in the percentage of fatalities. Full Story » Online Portals Could Improve Health for Adolescents Study after study shows teens prefer texting, social media, and e-mail to verbal communication. The question is, if teens could communicate with their doctors and receive test results more easily through electronic means, would they? And would it improve their health care? In an effort to improve communication with adolescent patients and provide a more confidential forum for test results and care, University of Florida (UF) Health researchers recently tested use of an electronic patient portal for adolescents. The researchers found adolescent patients, those between 12 and 18, used the portal at the same rate as parents of younger children, who can manage their children’s health care online until age 12 when adolescents receive private access to their health portal. The findings of the study were published in the Journal of Adolescent Health. Read more » Brandix i3 and Ambient Clinical Analytics Market Sepsis Detection System Brandix i3 has entered into a strategic partnership with Ambient Clinical Analytics Inc to market and handle site implementation of Ambient Clinical’s new sepsis decision-support system. The Sepsis Detection And Response Tool, or Sepsis DART, allows clinical care organizations to define specific biological metrics that indicate a patient may have or may be developing sepsis. It also provides decision support rules for treating the possible onset of sepsis. The system can monitor a patient’s progress during the critical first six hours of care and send customized messages to a specific team of caregivers. Learn more » NoteSwift 3.0 Makes Entering Patient Notes Faster The 3.0 version of NoteSwift enables health care providers using Allscripts Professional EHR with Dragon Medical speech recognition to enter patient notes 40% faster than with Allscripts Professional alone. With NoteSwift, providers use just their voice to place both structured data and narrative text into the patient note, reducing more than 100 mouse clicks and keystrokes to fewer than five. NoteSwift also links the narrative details with the structured data, enhancing the overall clarity and completeness of the chart. NoteSwift 3.0 includes robust new time-saving and frustration-reducing features for the most intensively used sections of the patient note, including the reason for the visit, assessment and plan, prescription, and history. Other enhancements include context-sensitive help based on each section of the note, and the ability to use a single profile for local and remote access. Learn more »   The nation's top employers and recruiters of HIM talent advertise in For The Record magazine and post their job openings on AlliedHealthCareers.com. Check out the most recent opportunities that have been submitted by employers across the country! Traveling Inpatient Coders—M*Modal For The Record's online gift shop features a wide variety of items for HIM professionals for any occasion. Whether you are searching for products to give friends or colleagues, hand out to clients, or wear yourself, finding the right gifts is easy and affordable at For The Record's online gift shop. Choose from t-shirts, journals, clocks, buttons, mouse pads, and much more! Check out our secure online shop today or call toll-free 877-809-1659 for easy and fast ordering. New App Creates the 21st-Century Patient Experience Hackensack University Medical Center launched an app designed to enable users to do nearly anything they might want to regarding their health care, according to Becker’s Health IT & CIO Review. Developing a Framework for Evaluating mHealth Apps The Commonwealth Fund developed criteria to evaluate mobile health apps’ levels of patient engagement, quality, and safety. Have a coding or transcription question? Get an expert answer by sending an e-mail to edit@gvpub.com. For The Record offers many flexible advertising programs designed to maximize your results. From print advertising to e-newsletter sponsorships, website advertising to custom e-mail marketing, For The Record helps maximize your investment. E-mail our experienced account executives today for more information or call 800-278-4400! Coming up in our April issue is our Consulting and Outsourcing Showcase. Contact sales for more information. AlliedHealthCareers.com is the premier online resource to recruit HIM professionals. Post your open positions, view résumés and showcase your facility's offerings all at AlliedHealthCareers.com! A Secure, Anonymous Résumé Bank Job Alerts Sent to Your E-mail