Dichotomy Was the Through Line at AHIMA23

Dichotomy of Healthcare Dr. Zeev Neuwirth opened the 2023 American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA23) conference and spoke about the dichotomy of healthcare. He shared with the audience that is simultaneously frustrated at and excited by our industry. On the frustrating side, clinicians have more regulations, financial uncertainty, and workload to deal with than ever before. These pressures are leading to an increase in moral injury (Dr Neuwirth’s preferred term for burnout) which is resulting in more clinicians leaving the profession. Dr. Neuwirth shared an especially poignant story of a colleague who took his own life, in part, due to these pressures. On the exciting side, medical and technological advancements are happening faster than ever. mRNA vaccines, ambient voice scribes, and of course AI. For me, dichotomy was the through line for AHIMA23. Evolving Role of Health Information Management Professionals I spoke with several long-time attendees (25+ conferences) who told me stories of the “golden age” when the conference was all about better ways to store physical records and when Dictaphone (the company, a piece of which is now part of Nuance/Microsoft) was the dominant sponsor. “Back in those days we had 5,000+ attendees and the party featured bands like the Temptations,” recounted one attendee who was attending her 40th AHIMA conference. With the widespread adoption of EHRs, the need for armies of people to handle paper dwindled and HIM pro...
Source: EMR and HIPAA - Category: Information Technology Authors: Tags: Analytics/Big Data Healthcare IT HIM Hospital - Health System Interoperability Revenue Cycle Management AHIMA AHIMA23 American Health Information Management Association Dessiree Paoli health data stewardship Interlace Health Johns Source Type: blogs