May 13, 2020
Partner with CHIA Members in the Upcoming AHIMA Election
AHIMA announced the AHIMA 2020 Ballot and identified candidates with the specific traits and skillsets needed to advance AHIMA's strategic goals. Two candidates on the 2020 AHIMA Ballot are active CHIA members and have contributed to California's HIM community through their CHIA leadership and service.

Please join CHIA in congratulating these candidates and support CHIA's candidates by voting in the upcoming election.
AHIMA Board Director
Maria A. Caban Alizondo
MOL, MLC, RHIT, FAHIMA
CCHIIM Commissioner
Braden Michael Tabisula
MBA, RHIA, CHDA
The entire AHIMA membership—with the exception of students—may vote by electronic ballot beginning July 13 - July 27 at 5 pm (CT). Information on these elected roles and their duties is available at ahima.org/volunteers . Information about the candidates for these positions will be posted in AHIMA's Membership and Business Engage Community: AHIMA Elections - 2020 and will also appear in the June issue of the  Journal of AHIMA .
Catalyze HIM with Community Chats & On-demand Education
One of CHIA's top priorities is to support HIM professionals in staying connected and providing practical resources. CHIA has launched a series of virtual events and a CHIA COVID-19 Resources webpage to connect the HIM community as we navigate this changing landscape.
Webinars on Demand

~Coding For COVID-19: Guidelines, New Codes and Resources

~COVID-19 Part II: Practical Strategies for Coding Professionals

~Coding For COVID-19 Part III: Billing for Physician Services
During the COVID‐19 PHE Telehealth 

~Remote Workforce Management: Operationalizing Change in a New Normal 

~Confidentiality and Release of Information: COVID-19 and Other Hot Topics 
HIM Community Chats
Fridays at 11:00 AM (PT)

CHIA invites HIM professionals to share operational challenges and best practices that have worked for your department and/or organization with the COVID-19 crisis.

Community chats are scheduled every Friday at 11:00 am. This complimentary event is open to CHIA and AHIMA Members
Resources and News Alerts

Discover resources and news alerts to help guide you and your HIM department through this journey

  • California Resources
  • Industry Resources
  • Mental Health Resources
  • Human Resources
CHIA Pivots to a VIRTUAL CHIACON20
CHIA recently announced that CHIACON20 has transformed into a virtual event, with live and prerecorded sessions on June 15-17, 2020.

CHIA remains dedicated to providing the HIM community with a first-class learning experience with over 40 hours of continuing education and is committed to include our exhibitors in this virtual experience. We are evaluating a variety of platforms and will be working with our presenters and exhibitors to launch a virtual event. We are also looking at a variety of packaging and pricing options for this innovative delivery method.

Registration Opens Mid-May
#CHIATogether - Connecting the HIM Community
The latest issue of the CHIA Journal is available now! CHIA members receive a mailed hard copy of the peer-reviewed publication, and all CHIA and AHIMA members can access the digital version online to view, read and enjoy now!  

Cover Story
#CHIATogether
CONNECTING THE HIM COMMUNITY
First and foremost, we hope that you and your loved ones are staying safe and healthy. As we navigate this challenging time, the health and well-being of California’s health information management (HIM) community is our top priority. We have made extraordinary changes quickly to pivot, respond to the needs of CHIA’s HIM community and provide virtual opportunities to assist our members in navigating this new normal.

CHIA’s mission is to develop health information professionals and advocate for practice excellence, and we are inspired by the goals of the CHIA Strategic Plan as we seek ways to focus on this mission during these changing times. CHIA has launched a series of virtual events to connect the HIM community and we continue to provide HIM and coding resources on the CHIA COVID-19 Resources webpage.

CODING FOR COVID-19
In response to the rapidly growing number of cases, new ICD-10-coding guidelines effective April 1, 2020 and CPT codes have been put into place for use. The CHIA Coding and Data Quality (CDQ) Committee has outlined these coding updates and provided guidance to aid HIM coding professionals.
Love writing? Have a paper or idea for an HIM topic that you want to share? Any COVID-19 experiences and strategies you want to pass along?

Share your article for publication in the CHIA Journal . All CHIA members, Corporate Partners, educators, and HIM professionals are encouraged to submit articles and share their knowledge with CHIA Journal readers.
NEW CHIA eLearning Program
Health Record Confidentiality & ROI
The traditional Health Record Confidentiality & Release of Information (ROI) face-to-face seminar has been transformed into an eLearning Program. CHIA is pleased to offer a new flexible approach that includes all of the content presented during the original seminar and more!

Designed for flexible access anytime, anywhere. Ensure your knowledge is up-to-date with this flexible learning offering. This innovative learning methodology consists of: 

  • Five ROI-related eLearning modules
  • Webinar on Demand: Confidentiality and ROI: COVID-19 and Other Hot Topics 
  • Confidentiality: Protecting and Releasing Health Information in California manual (optional) 
  • 7.5 continuing education units

Available for purchase until August 31, 2020
RN Link's CDI Specialist Training - Discount for CHIA Members
May 16-17, 2020 from 8 am to 4 pm - Online Training
June 6-7, 2020 from 8 am to 4 pm - Online Training

Interested in learning about clinical documentation improvement (CDI)? Are you a retired nurse or a nurse who wants to explore other career options? There are enormous needs in the health care industry to become a CDI Specialist where you will assist physicians to accurately document how truly ill patients are with severity ratings. The trend nowadays is quality documentation and this course will teach you how to achieve this.

  • Day 1: Overview of CDI lingo, coding guidelines, PRE-MDC, MDC 1 through MDC 7 with case studies.
  • Day 2: Completion of MDC 8 through 25 and "The Mall." Case studies, major disease topics, clinical indicators discussed for the most common query opportunities.  

RN Link is offering a 10% discount to CHIA Members. ​ Learn more and register today!
Latest HIM News Updates & Resources
OCR Issues Guidance on Covered Health Care Providers and Restrictions on Media Access to Protected Health Information about Individuals in Their Facilities
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services; May 5, 2020

Today, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued additional guidance reminding covered health care providers that the HIPAA Privacy Rule does not permit them to give media and film crews access to facilities where patients’ protected health information (PHI) will be accessible without the patients’ prior authorization. 

The guidance explains that even during the current COVID-19 public health emergency, covered health care providers are still required to obtain a valid HIPAA authorization from each patient whose PHI will be accessible to the media before the media is given access to that PHI. The guidance clarifies that masking or obscuring patients’ faces or identifying information before broadcasting a recording of a patient is not sufficient, as a valid HIPAA authorization is still required before giving the media such access. Additionally, the guidance describes reasonable safeguards that should be used to protect the privacy of patients whenever the media is granted access to facilities. Read More . 
CMS NEWS ALERT MAY 7, 2020
U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services; May 7, 2020

Here is a summary of recent Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) actions taken in response to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), as part of the ongoing White House Task Force efforts. To keep up with the important work the Task Force is doing in response to COVID-19, click here www.coronavirus.gov. For information specific to CMS, please visit the CMS News Room and Current Emergencies Website. CMS updates these resources on an ongoing basis throughout the day; the information below is current as of May 7, 2020 at 11:00 a.m. ET. Read More . 
AHA Slams CMS for Advancing Hospital Price Transparency Rule
Xtelligent Healthcare Media, LLC.; May 13, 2020

A leading hospital group criticized CMS for its latest efforts to move forward with hospital price transparency requirements that will require hospitals to disclose their privately negotiated rates to the public.

Within the 1,602-page proposed Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) rule released Monday, CMS expressed its intention to still require hospitals to release pricing information next year, including private payer reimbursement rates. The agency also included a proposal to use the data to determine relative Medicare reimbursement rates for hospital procedures. Read More . 
CHIA Events Calendar
CHIA HIM Community Chat: COVID-19 Operational Challenges & Best Practices
Friday, May 15 - Live Chat

CHIA HIM Community Chat: COVID-19 Operational Challenges & Best Practices
Friday, May 22 - Live Chat

CHIA HIM Community Chat: COVID-19 Operational Challenges & Best Practices
Friday, May 29 - Live Chat

Virtual CHIACON20
Monday, June 15 - Wednesday, June 17