Industry Insight

AHDI Announces New Credential

Technology has drastically altered the landscape of health care documentation and, in turn, the role of the health care documentation specialist (HDS). In recent years, HDSs have worked as medical secretaries, medical transcriptionists, speech recognition editors, auditors of clinician-created documentation, and scribes. Regardless of the title, the goal has always been the same: ensuring complete and accurate patient health stories that support optimal health care outcomes.

More health care professionals than ever are creating and interacting with the medical record. Providers, scribes, medical assistants, coders, HDSs, etc are all responsible for capturing the patient’s story accurately and completely.

Through research and analysis, we have identified professional standards required to successfully work within the medical record. Because AHDI advocates for a fully credentialed workforce, the Credentialing Commission for Healthcare Documentation developed a new credential using those standards. This new credential will validate an individual’s knowledge and expertise as a health care documentation professional. The Certified Healthcare Documentation Professional (CHDP) credential is intended for anyone who interacts with the medical record. Two micro-credentials have also been developed—one for auditors (CHDP-A) and one for scribes (CHDP-S)—that will further attest to the specific knowledge required for these roles. Covered topics include medical terminology, clinical medicine, HIPAA privacy and security, regulatory compliance, health IT, documentation standards, critical thinking skills, patient risk evaluation, and job roles and responsibilities.

Cyndi Sandusky, CHDS, AHDI-F, chairperson of the Credentialing Commission for Healthcare Documentation, is “excited to offer credentials for those working in capacities other than traditional transcription or speech recognition editing.” She says, “In addition to validating an individual’s general knowledge of the health care record, the CHDP allows for not only scribe and auditor micro credentials but additional ones as new roles in health care documentation evolve.”

The CHDP and the Scribe and Auditor microcredentials are now available. Learn more at www.ahdionline.org/chdp.

— Source: Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity

Carequality Interoperability Framework Expands to Allow Federal Participation

Carequality, the nonprofit trusted exchange framework for nationwide health information exchange, recently announced an expansion of the framework to enable participation of federal government agencies. Expanding the Carequality policy agreements to enable federal participation will expand the framework’s value further in promoting exchange across the private and public sectors.

“The Carequality Interoperability Framework is a living, evolving framework for health information exchange across networks, technologies, geographies, and now private sector-government boundaries. The more we can accommodate each and every type of organization and care setting that need access to electronic health information, the closer we get to the vision of true nationwide health data sharing. Federal agencies are a critical part of ensuring this vision,” says Alan Swenson, executive director of Carequality.

The eHealth Exchange, the principal way federal agencies exchange health information electronically, joined Carequality in 2021, and immediately its private-sector participants could use the network to share data with other networks leveraging Carequality. The federal agencies, on the other hand, had specific policy language they needed included in Carequality agreements before they could participate through eHealth Exchange. The policy changes now have been made, and the federal agencies will now be able to opt into eHealth Exchange’s Carequality Bridge.

The policy change was incorporated in the development and release of an updated Carequality Connected Agreement effective August 1, 2022. It is an important milestone to expanding exchange between the private-sector and government agencies.

“The eHealth Exchange seeks to support health information exchange as a public good infrastructure,” says Jay Nakashima, executive director of the eHealth Exchange. “The more ways we enable exchange of patient data when, where, and how it is needed, the better. We already support more than 1 billion transactions monthly, but we’ll always choose to expand that connectivity further to the benefit of our members and the health care providers and patients they serve—whether through Carequality, TEFCA [Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement], or whatever tomorrow brings. The eHealth Exchange and its members are excited about the new frontiers the industry is moving into.”

— Source: Carequality

MRO Announces Nathan Eastman as New CFO

MRO, Corp (MRO), the leading clinical data release platform in health care, announces that Nathan Eastman has joined the company as its new CFO. A longtime health care technology and clinical data executive, Eastman brings more than 25 years of experience driving business growth and transformation and building world-class finance and administrative organizations. Eastman will succeed current CFO, Peter Schmitt, who is retiring after joining MRO as CFO and president in 2015 and is credited with helping drive its business growth and evolution into a market leader in clinical data release. Schmitt will remain with MRO the balance of 2022 to ensure a successful transition.

Eastman has extensive experience leading all aspects of the finance function, mergers and acquisitions, and legal and corporate strategy in both public and private environments. Most recently, Eastman was CFO of Availity, LLC, an integrated health care technology company that leverages its digital information network to improve care coordination and patient outcomes, and increase financial and operating efficiencies for payers and providers. Prior to Availity, Eastman was CFO at Inovalon, Inc, a health care data connectivity and clinical analytics company. Eastman began his career in various finance roles at Express Scripts, Inc and PWC, LLP.

"We are thrilled Nate is joining the MRO team and bringing his deep expertise in clinical data, health care technology and provider-payer connectivity. Nate has the depth and breadth of experience to help us continue to innovate, drive client success, and deliver strong growth," says Jason Brown, MRO CEO. "On behalf of MRO, I would also like to congratulate Peter Schmitt on his retirement. We are grateful for Peter's contributions to MRO and the release of information industry broadly. He has been an impactful leader and steward of MRO, helping deliver industry leading results for our clients over many years."

"I am excited to be joining MRO at such a transformational moment," Eastman says. "The process to acquire, ingest, curate, and release clinical data is just getting more complex. MRO sits at the epicenter of these industry challenges and is uniquely positioned to assist providers, payers, and other third-party requesters of clinical data through innovation, technology, and best in class operational performance. I look forward to joining Jason and the MRO leadership team in serving our clients and the health care industry more broadly."

— Source: MRO