AHIMA Applauds Patient Identification Efforts

"The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) is encouraged to see the guidance being offered by the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations that recognizes correctly identifying patients is a critical component of patient safety as well as important for health information exchange.

By allowing the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to provide technical assistance to private-sector led initiatives on this issue, we believe important gains can be made. Health information exchange is essential for making our healthcare system safe and efficient.

AHIMA remains committed to our belief that telling a patient's story begins with the patient being identified correctly. The 103,000 health information management professionals we represent deal daily with this challenge and remain committed to finding a solution to making critical health information available where and when it's needed.

We hope our Congressional leaders will support this drafted language in the final HHS-Labor spending bill." — AHIMA CEO Lynne Thomas Gordon, MBA, RHIA, CAE, FACHE, FAHIMA

Source: AHIMA