EHRs, Data Stewardship Focus Of Just Associates, Exempla Health Presentation At IFHRO 2010 Congress

The data integrity and patient safety challenges confronting hospitals as they implement electronic health records (EHRs) and the evolving practice of health information management (HIM) to manage those issues are the focus of a joint presentation by Just Associates, Inc. and Exempla Healthcare at the 2010 Congress of International Federation of Health Record Organizations (IFHRO) underway in Milan.

Just Associates President and CEO Beth Just, MBA, RHIA, FAHIMA, along with Exempla Healthcare Senior Director of HIM Barbara Manor, MA, RHIA, and EHR System Director Karen Proffitt, RHIA, CHP, will present "Data Stewardship - Key to Building Transparency and Trust in the EHR" on Nov. 17.

IFHRO (www.ifhro.org) is affiliated with the World Health Organization (WHO) and supports national associations to implement and improve health records and the systems that support them. Among its supporting partners is the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA).

"While EHRs provide tremendous opportunity for improving the quality and efficiency of healthcare, they also create unexpected and difficult challenges that can impede improvements and negatively impact care," said Just, whose consulting firm specializes in data integrity and data quality solutions for the HIM, health information exchange (HIE), health informatics and health IT markets. "What many people do not realize is the vital role HIM can and should play in overcoming those challenges, in particular the development of EHRs and the governance and policies guiding their use."

In addition to discussing electronic documentation challenges and their impacts on the legal health record, Just, Manor and Proffitt will provide insights into the HIM challenges that are emerging as EHRs are implemented and utilized, and discuss the evolving practice of HIM and emerging roles and opportunities for the profession as highlighted by the AHIMA HIM "core model."

Headquartered in Denver, Exempla (www.exempla.org) is a not-for-profit, community-based organization sponsored by the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth Health System and Community First Foundation. It consists of three Joint Commission accredited hospitals and a network of clinics throughout the Denver metro area.

About Just Associates, Inc.
A recognized leader in health information data integrity and management, Just Associates, Inc. is a healthcare data integration consulting firm that delivers superior value to its clients through improved data integrity. Just Associates has the process expertise and systems knowledge to deliver tailored, value-added solutions that improve clients' financial outcomes and business processes, supports delivery of quality patient care, and meets the expectations of diverse stakeholders through improved data integrity. For more information, visit www.justassociates.com.

SOURCE: Just Associates, Inc.