AHIMA Conference Continues to Inspire and Innovate

AHIMA conference programs include subjects designed to improve one’s proficiency in the areas of coding, documentation and compliance.

The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA), holding its annual convention and exhibit in Los Angeles this week, has as a theme, “Inspire, Innovate and Lead.” It  is a joy to attend as the conference brings a sharing of best practices covering all healthcare settings and for a variety of specialized areas also within healthcare.

The convention began with pre-convention meetings and events on Oct. 7 and 8. These meeting included two days for the coding community. The general convention education and exhibits began on Oct. 8 and will continue until Oct. 11. A single day will be dedicated to military services special Interest session on Oct. 12. With the “Hollywood Glamour” theme in the background, there are 46 continuing education units (CUEs) available to be earned to support the health information management (HIM) professional certification maintenance.

Educational topics covered during these six days include but not limited to the following:

• Apprenticeship
• Coding (ICD-10-CM/PCS and CPT®)
• Clinical Documentation Improvement (CDI)
• Data Analytics
• Health Information Management
• Informatics
• Information Governance
• Leadership
• Physician Practice
• Privacy and Security
• Standards

For those who specialize in clinical coding, this convention is especially meaningful since there are programs for auditing, compliance, ethics, revenue cycle, physician practice coding, CDI, risk adjustment and coding apprenticeship programs. 

Monday’s keynote speakers included Don Rucker, MD, National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, who provided a government update on the state of health information technology (HIT). Also on Monday was a moderated point/counterpoint session on healthcare with former U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and former Republican Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Newt Gingrich.

Today’s opening program has health panelists Charles Jaffe, MD, PhD, CEO, HL7, along with H. Stephen Lieber, president and CEO Emeritus of the Healthcare Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS). The program is expected to be moderated by AHIMA CEO Pamela Lane.

Wednesday’s program will  feature Emmy®, Tony®, and Oscar® award-winning actress Viola Davis, who is scheduled to give a keynote address on “Inspiration, Innovation and Leadership.” What a treat that will be!

You can tell from the above topics being covered that the approximately 3,500 attendees will be busy and let’s not leave out the over 120 vendors, schools and universities, along with consulting firms that will share their HIM products and services.

Be sure to plan to join next year for the 90th AHIMA Convention and Exhibit planned to be held in Miami, Fla. Sept. 22 – 27, 2018 and obtain more knowledge and skills from and about the HIM and Health coding profession.

PROGRAM NOTE: Hear Gloryanne Bryant report on the AHIMA convention underway today on Talk Ten Tuesdays at 10:00 a.m. ET.