January 22, 2020

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The CHIACON20 House of Delegates will be meeting on Wednesday June 17, 2020 from 12:15 – 2:45 pm (PT) during the new annual CHIA Member Engagement Meeting. The purpose of this new meeting time and format is to address part of the CHIA 2020-2022 Strategic Plan goal to “Connect the Health Information Community.” As CHIA continues to implement the strategic plan, the CHIA Board of Directors is evaluating opportunities to strengthen community connectivity and make membership more inclusive. A strategy that will be brought before the house this year is creation of a year-round House of Delegates for discussion of issues that govern the health information profession and the organization.  

The strategy behind changing to a year-round House of Delegates is three-fold:

The CHIA Board and Bylaws Committee (consisting of CLA representatives) are currently discussing what the associated bylaws verbiage changes might look like. The discussion includes evaluation of composition of the House of Delegates to assist the CLAs in simplifying the process of delegate selection. A year-round House of Delegates will drive the CHIA strategic goal to more fully connect the health information community through tactics to strengthen opportunities for community connectivity, make membership more inclusive as we continue to guide the profession, increase the proportion of members that are actively engaged face-to-face during CHIA’s annual business meeting and review of CHIA’s accomplishments.

As the HIM profession strives to position itself for the future, it is important that all eligible members participate in helping to choose CHIA’s next leaders. Candidate biographical information and responses to reactor questions are available in the January/February CHIA Journal . Candidate information is also available on the CHIA website here . Reviewing candidate biographical information and position statements will help members make informed choices regarding CHIA’s next leaders; individuals who in turn will be influential in helping lead the HIM profession into the future.

CHIA Active and Emeritus members are eligible to vote

Eligible voters will be entered in a drawing to win "Dinner and a Movie" on CHIA. To enter, provide your email address at the end of the ballot. 

Day One: ICD-10-CM - Wednesday, February 19 - Irvine, CA

Day Two: ICD-10-PCS - Thursday, February 20 - Irvine, CA

This two-day advanced workshop is designed to improve coding skills and knowledge by assisting coding professionals with coding of advanced cases in ICD-10-CM and ICD-10-PCS. Join us for one or two days of extensive training related to the complexities of ICD-10-CM and PCS coding.

This advanced workshop is intended for intermediate coding professionals. Attendees should have basic understanding of the ICD-10-CM and/or ICD-10-PCS definitions and guidelines before arriving to class.

Advanced Registration Ends January 30

Learn more about each day and rates here

The purpose of the CHIA Awards and Scholarship Fund is to promote the importance of HIM professional credentials, strengthen the HIM profession, promote the value of AHIMA and CHIA membership, identify and engage future leaders, and support HIM-related research. 

Learn more or apply for one of these opportunities.

February 15-16, 2020 in Glendale, CA

Registration closes on February 1

March 28-29, 2020 in Orange County Location TBD

Registration closes on March 14

Are you a coding professional 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. 

RN Link is offering a 10% discount to CHIA Members. ​ Learn more and register today!

February 4-5, 2020

Hyatt Regency La Jolla at Aventine, San Diego, CA

Join top executives, physicians, practice management and health care decision makers from North America’s leading provider organizations and physician practices for a two-day executive Summit. Healthcare Innovation has developed a concise program where leading health care thought leaders interact with their fellow executives and solution providers to discuss the latest strategies and tactics to address a wide range of issues and topics. In San Diego, a nationally leading market for managed care innovation, speakers and panelists will delve into a host of topics around payer-provider data-sharing, the most innovative approaches to care management across populations, and the lessons being learned around revenue cycle management and IT governance, as patient care organization leaders move their organizations into the emerging health care system. Learn more and see the full agenda.

CHIA members and vendors may be eligible for a complimentary or discounted registration . Use the discount codes when registering; Members: CHIACOMP / Vendors: CHIA50

Take the Next Step in Leadership - Apply for an Elected Volunteer Position with AHIMA

AHIMA is looking for strategic, innovative, dedicated members to be considered for one of our five elected roles in 2021. Nominations are due March 31 .

View the opportunities for the AHIMA President/Chair-elect, Board of Directors, CEE members, CCHIIM Commissioners, and Speaker-elect of the House of Delegates on the AHIMA website . Select the Elected Positions tab from the top toolbar to review each description. The application for each position is posted on Engage’s Volunteer Center . Questions? Feel free to contact profession.governance@ahima.org .

Advanced Directives for Dementia

An Advanced Directive for Dementia will not be honored in most states, including California. Skilled nursing facilities and other facilities for long term treatment of dementia are required by state and federal law to offer regular daily meals, with feeding assistance if necessary. There’s no provision for decisions to refuse food and water that instructs caregivers to withhold hand-feeding and fluids at the end of life to avoid the worst ravages of dementia.

A key question is whether patients with dementia, or those who may develop the disease based on family history, can decide in advance whether they wish to have oral food and fluids stopped at a certain point causing death from dehydration, also known as voluntarily stopping eating and drinking (VSED). This is an approach currently used practiced among some terminally ill patients who want to end their lives. In those cases, people who still have mental capacity can refuse food and water, resulting in death within about two weeks.

Many states including CA prohibit the withdrawal of assisted feeding, calling it basic “comfort care” that must be offered. Critics are concerned these types of documents may be biased, reflecting a society prejudiced against age, disability and cognitive change and could lead to forced starvation of incapacitated people.  Learn More . 

New Additions to the Health IT Playbook 

HealthIT Buzz; Jan 21, 2020

Today, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) released an updated version of the Health IT Playbook, a tool developed in 2016 to help clinical practices make the most of their health IT investment and reduce the burden of Electronic Health Records (EHRs). The Playbook reflects input from other HHS agencies, physicians, and professional societies, such as the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American College of Physicians and the American Medical Association.  Learn More .

Free PEPPER Resources Available for HIM Professionals

The RELI Group, along with its partners TMF Health Quality Institute and CGS, is contracted with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to develop, produce and disseminate provider-specific comparative data reports, referred to as the P rogram for Evaluating Payment Patterns Electronic Report, or PEPPER . PEPPER summarizes one provider’s Medicare claims data statistics and provides comparative data with the state, jurisdiction and nation. Providers can review the PEPPER to evaluate their statistics and determine whether they should take any actions, such as reviewing records to ensure the care provided was necessary, and that documentation supports the diagnosis codes and services billed. 

Discover more information on PEPPER , including sample reports, user’s guides, recorded training sessions and national-level comparative data. View the PEPPER distribution schedule and information on how to get your organization’s PEPPER.