The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) announced its support for the 2013 WEDI Report that outlines recommendations for health IT over the next decade.
Developed by the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI) Foundation, the report reflects the thoughts of more than 200 industry leaders. AHIMA CEO Lynne Thomas Gordon RHIA, MBA, CAE, FACHE, FAHIMA, was a member of the executive steering committee that contributed to the report and oversaw its development.
The report includes 10 recommendations intended to serve as a roadmap for healthcare organizations, with the intention of facilitating improvement in electronic exchange of healthcare information. It focuses on four areas:
- Patient Engagement: Consumer (patient) engagement through improved access to pertinent healthcare information.
- Payment Models: Business, information, and data exchange requirements that will help enable payment models as they emerge.
- Data Harmonization and Exchange: Alignment of administrative and clinical information capture, linkage, and exchange.
- Innovative Encounter Models: Business and use cases for innovative encounter models that use existing and emergent technologies.
“Patients are placed front and center in this report, along with ways for them to take greater ownership of their health information,” said Thomas Gordon. “This aligns with AHIMA’s mission to drive the power of knowledge and provide health information where and when it’s needed. The report also outlines ways for health information to be exchanged more efficiently to lower costs and improve health care outcomes.”
The full report is available on WEDI.org.
About AHIMA
Celebrating its 85th anniversary this year, the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) represents more than 71,000 educated health information management professionals in the United States and around the world. AHIMA is committed to promoting and advocating for high quality research, best practices and effective standards in health information and to actively contributing to the development and advancement of health information professionals worldwide. AHIMA’s enduring goal is quality healthcare through quality information. www.ahima.org.