HIP Professionals Honored in National Spotlight

HIP Week is April 18 Through April 24.

Health Information Professionals (HIP) Week will be recognized April 18 through April 24 according to the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA).   It has been established that the third week in April will be HIP Week.   The theme of this year’s HIP Week is Keeping Health Information Human.   The health information professionals are the people who interact with the providers as well as the patients.   It is their job to ensure that the patient’s health information is available during and after the patient’s health care. 

Some topics that are being discussed this year include:

    1. Information Blocking
    2. Social Determinants of Health
    3. Patient Identification and Matching

Information blocking was addressed in the Cures Act which was passed in 2016.   April 5, 2021 is the deadline for the first stage of compliance.    Information blocking addresses the ability for health information to be exchanged easily with other providers.

Social determinants of health (SDoH) are issues that impact the accessibility of healthcare such as food security, homelessness, access to healthcare, transportation, employment concerns, etc.   The SDoH can be assigned ICD-10-CM codes to capture the information.   One obstacle to consistently reporting this information is the lack of definitions of the SDoH.

Patient Identification Day was celebrated on March 24, 2021.  Patient identification was a topic for AHIMA’s advocacy campaign.   Patient identification and matching are the processes of accurately identifying patients within a database.   In the “old” days when the patient charts were paper documents in file folders, it was easy to see the impact of multiple charts for the same patient.    Patient identification and matching processes are the electronic version of the master patient index clean-up efforts.  

The topics that are included on the AHIMA Innovation portion of the HIP Week website include the following:

    1. Data Analysis Makes the Difference
    2. Achieve Data Visualization Through Staff Training
    3. Data Sharing and Patient Benefits
    4. Data Modeling Identifies Predictors for Better Health

The above topics were submitted by winners of the AHIMA Grace Award in previous years.  The Grace Award is named after the AHIMA founder, Grace Whiting Myers and is given annually.   The award honors healthcare delivery organizations for their innovative and novel approaches to using health information to deliver high-quality care to patients.

The AHIMA website contains a toolkit that can be downloaded to assist in your week’s celebrations.   The AHIMA toolkit contains a catalog of promotional items for purchase, a sample promotional piece, a Power Point template, and backgrounds for Zoom calls.  

Health information professionals interact with all types of healthcare professionals, providers, and patients.    They serve valuable functions of converting the healthcare documentation into ICD-10-CM/PCS and/or CPT®/HCPCS codes, protecting patient information, releasing healthcare information according to state/federal regulations, and assisting physicians in completing their clinical documentation.   Please take the time to honor their contributions to your healthcare organization.

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn

Laurie M. Johnson, MS, RHIA, FAHIMA, AHIMA Approved ICD-10-CM/PCS Trainer

Laurie Johnson is currently a senior healthcare consultant for Revenue Cycle Solutions, based in Pittsburgh, Pa. Laurie is an AHIMA-approved ICD-10-CM/PCS trainer. She has more than 35 years of experience in health information management and specializes in coding and related functions. She has been a featured speaker in over 40 conferences. Laurie is a member of the ICD10monitor editorial board and is a permanent panelist on Talk Ten Tuesdays

Related Stories

Leave a Reply

Please log in to your account to comment on this article.

Featured Webcasts

Mastering Principal Diagnosis: Coding Precision, Medical Necessity, and Quality Impact

Mastering Principal Diagnosis: Coding Precision, Medical Necessity, and Quality Impact

Accurately determining the principal diagnosis is critical for compliant billing, appropriate reimbursement, and valid quality reporting — yet it remains one of the most subjective and error-prone areas in inpatient coding. In this expert-led session, Cheryl Ericson, RN, MS, CCDS, CDIP, demystifies the complexities of principal diagnosis assignment, bridging the gap between coding rules and clinical reality. Learn how to strengthen your organization’s coding accuracy, reduce denials, and ensure your documentation supports true medical necessity.

December 3, 2025

Proactive Denial Management: Data-Driven Strategies to Prevent Revenue Loss

Denials continue to delay reimbursement, increase administrative burden, and threaten financial stability across healthcare organizations. This essential webcast tackles the root causes—rising payer scrutiny, fragmented workflows, inconsistent documentation, and underused analytics—and offers proven, data-driven strategies to prevent and overturn denials. Attendees will gain practical tools to strengthen documentation and coding accuracy, engage clinicians effectively, and leverage predictive analytics and AI to identify risks before they impact revenue. Through real-world case examples and actionable guidance, this session empowers coding, CDI, and revenue cycle professionals to shift from reactive appeals to proactive denial prevention and revenue protection.

November 25, 2025
Sepsis: Bridging the Clinical Documentation and Coding Gap to Reduce Denials

Sepsis: Bridging the Clinical Documentation and Coding Gap to Reduce Denials

Sepsis remains one of the most frequently denied and contested diagnoses, creating costly revenue loss and compliance risks. In this webcast, Angela Comfort, DBA, MBA, RHIA, CDIP, CCS, CCS-P, provides practical, real-world strategies to align documentation with coding guidelines, reconcile Sepsis-2 and Sepsis-3 definitions, and apply compliant queries. You’ll learn how to identify and address documentation gaps, strengthen provider engagement, and defend diagnoses against payer scrutiny—equipping you to protect reimbursement, improve SOI/ROM capture, and reduce audit vulnerability in this high-risk area.

September 24, 2025

Trending News

Featured Webcasts

Surviving Federal Audits for Inpatient Rehab Facility Services

Surviving Federal Audits for Inpatient Rehab Facility Services

Federal auditors are zeroing in on Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility (IRF) and hospital rehab unit services, with OIG and CERT audits leading to millions in penalties—often due to documentation and administrative errors, not quality of care. Join compliance expert Michael Calahan, PA, MBA, to learn the five clinical “pillars” of IRF-PPS admissions, key documentation requirements, and real-life case lessons to help protect your revenue.

November 13, 2025
E/M Services Under Intensive Federal Scrutiny: Navigating Split/Shared, Incident-to & Critical Care Compliance in 2025-2026

E/M Services Under Intensive Federal Scrutiny: Navigating Split/Shared, Incident-to & Critical Care Compliance in 2025-2026

During this essential RACmonitor webcast Michael Calahan, PA, MBA Certified Compliance Officer, will clarify the rules, dispel common misconceptions, and equip you with practical strategies to code, document, and bill high-risk split/shared, incident-to & critical care E/M services with confidence. Don’t let audit risks or revenue losses catch your organization off guard — learn exactly what federal auditors are looking for and how to ensure your documentation and reporting stand up to scrutiny.

August 26, 2025

Trending News

Prepare for the 2025 CMS IPPS Final Rule with ICD10monitor’s IPPSPalooza! Click HERE to learn more

Get 15% OFF on all educational webcasts at ICD10monitor with code JULYFOURTH24 until July 4, 2024—start learning today!

CYBER WEEK IS HERE! Don’t miss your chance to get 20% off now until Dec. 1 with code CYBER25

CYBER WEEK IS HERE! Don’t miss your chance to get 20% off now until Dec. 2 with code CYBER24