Leveling Up without Losing Your HIM Mind: Training for AI in Healthcare

EDITOR’S NOTE: Sharon Easterling continues her exclusive series on article intelligence (AI) and medical record coding.

Let’s be honest: none of us signed up for health information management (HIM) because we dreamed of writing artificial intelligence (AI) prompts one day. And yet, here we are.

During a recent Talk Ten Tuesday episode, I talked about how AI didn’t arrive quietly; it crashed into healthcare like a meteor, and now we’re all standing at the edge of the crater wondering, “so… do I jump in?”

And now, I want to help you walk into that crater – without losing your mind.

Because the truth is, you don’t need to become an AI expert to stay relevant. But you do need to understand how to use it wisely.

AI isn’t necessarily coming for your job – but it is changing it! Let’s get this out of the way first: AI isn’t here to replace us. But professionals who know how to work with AI will absolutely outpace those who don’t, and some may be left behind.

And that starts with building the right kind of knowledge and perspective. You don’t need to learn Python or train neural networks, although learning it won’t hurt. What you do need is AI literacy: the ability to understand what AI is doing, when it helps, when it hurts, and how to use it without violating the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which, yes, still exists in 2025.

So, what do you really need to learn? If you work in HIM, clinical documentation integrity (CDI), coding, compliance, or revenue cycle, here’s where to focus out the gate:

• Prompting: Learn how to ask clear, actionable questions.

• Reviewing: Develop the skills to critically assess AI-generated output.

• Spotting risks: Be able to detect hallucinations, incorrect codes, or unsupported logic (in the AI world, a “hallucination” happens when the tool generates an answer that sounds confident, but isn’t factually correct. It’s not lying; it’s predicting. That’s why human validation is non-negotiable. AI can assist, but it can’t replace clinical or coding judgment.)

• Compliance awareness: Know what content is safe to run through AI – and what’s not.

• Translating value: Explain to others what AI can and can’t do in your world.

You are still the clinical and regulatory expert. AI can make suggestions, but you’re the one who decides what makes it to the final record, query, or claim. Take a breath and just take it all in. Trying to learn AI doesn’t have to feel like learning a new set of Excel shortcuts or code set.

Start light. Use a safe, low-risk prompt. Last week, we joked that you could take a picture of your fridge and have AI tell you what’s for dinner. This week? Try this:

“Write a denial appeal in the voice of a pirate.”

Does it help you with actual payer strategy? No. But it will help you see how tone, structure, and context play into AI output – and you’ll laugh (which we all need; it’s summer.)

For leaders: don’t wait to upskill your team. If you lead a department, start the AI conversation now. Don’t assume that everyone’s in the same place. Some are curious, but cautious. Others have been quietly testing tools behind the scenes.

Set expectations. Provide real examples. Create a safe space to experiment, with clear guidance on compliance boundaries. This isn’t a one-time training. It’s an ongoing skill set. Think of it like evaluation and management (E&M) – you never stop learning, and the rules always evolve.

Here’s your challenge for this week:

• Pick one repetitive task you do all the time.

• Use a compliance-safe AI tool to experiment with it – using no personal health information (PHI), of course.

• Track what changes you notice – did it save you time? Help you think differently? Create a starting point?

Final thought: stay curious, as always, but let’s add “capable” this week. We’re not expected to know everything, but we are expected to adapt, protect the data, and lead with integrity. And AI gives us an opportunity to do all three – if we lean in now.

So, level up at your pace. Laugh when the pirate appeals from your colleagues hit your inbox. And never forget: Stay curious. Impact change. Because the HIM professionals who grow with this shift are the ones shaping healthcare’s future. I cannot wait to see you along the way.