ROI 101 Blog

The Release of Information 101 blog provides an educational forum on the basics of release of information, the process involved and challenges faced within hospitals and physician or group practices. Authored by Rita Bowen, MA, RHIA, CHPS, SSGA, Past President of the Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) and HealthPort Senior Vice President of HIM and Privacy Officer, Release of Information 101 is an educational resource and will discuss reasons why a solid and compliant release of information process matters to healthcare providers.



About Rita…
Rita Bowen is a distinguished health information management professional and a long standing expert on topics of interest to the healthcare community. She currently serves as HealthPort’s Senior Vice President of HIM and Privacy Officer where she identifies and further develops best practices for release of information and customer satisfaction.

Click here to see all of Rita's upcoming speaking engagement!

• Breach Notification Triggers Receive Update

  April 10, 2013

  Rita Bowen was recently quoted in a Journal of AHIMA article discussing far-reaching changes in the HIPAA Rule with Bas, including financial incentives for compliance.

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• Rita Bowen's interview at HIMSS 2013 with EMR and HIPAA

  April 08, 2013

  Rita Bowen kept the HealthPort booth buzzing at this year's HIMSS conference during her interview with EMR and HIPAA. Rita discussed the new HIPAA Omnibus Rule and how Bas will now share compliance accountability with Ces. 

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• Rita Bowen's interview at HIMSS 2013 on the New HIPAA Omnibus Rule

  April 05, 2013

  Rita Bowen's interview at HIMSS 2013 on the New HIPAA Omnibus Rule has gone viral on YouTube. Learn more on how you  can prepare yourself for these changes.

  Click here to view the video.

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• Rita Bowen Weighs In on Health IT Issues at HIMSS13

  April 03, 2013

  At HIMSS 2013, Rita Bowen participated in an interview with HITECH Answers with other C-level executives. Rita discussed the new HIPAA Omnibus Rule and the significance of these changes that went into effect on March 26.

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• How to Prepare Business Associates for the Impending HIPAA Changes

  April 01, 2013

  Rita Bowen was mentioned in the March edition of ADVANCE for Health Information Professionals on Preparing Bas for HIPAA Changes.

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• The Next Wave of HIM

  February 21, 2013

  In this month’s issue of AHIMA Advantage, I had the pleasure of being interviewed alongside Linda Kloss, MA, RHIA, FAHIMA, and others to discuss “Information Governance: The Next Wave of HIM”.  

  As stated in the article, technology is often implemented before good information management policies. HIM professionals experienced this phenomenon in the paper world. Now they must re-establish their leadership and expertise for electronic systems. 

  This article explains how information governance problems are magnified tenfold in electronic environments. It also provides practical advice for managing the “va-va-va-voom” of big data in healthcare. 

  Click here to read the article in its entirety.  

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• Data Governance at Vanderbilt University Medical Center

  February 04, 2013

  Back in September I posted my thoughts on data governance. My goal was to emphasize the value of digital patient information. I answered the questions: How is data best harvested? Why is it so crucial to cultivate our data goldmines? Since then I’ve had the privilege of speaking with Mary Reeves, RHIA, Administrative Director, Medical Information Services at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. 
  
  Mary shared her expertise and experiences in data governance with me, and together we composed an article on the topic that will appear in the February issue of HFM. So as not to require a “spoiler alert” within this blog, I’ll share just the gist of our HFM story with you now.
  
  The Value Proposition of Data Governance. Hospitals have access to veritable mountains of electronic patient information and business intelligence. This data offers huge insights to assist with analysis and enhance predictive capabilities for decision making and strategic planning. And patients, for their part, benefit from greater transparency and more granular quality reporting. But if it is not managed well, data can inundate hospitals, which may swim in irrelevant information and become vulnerable to breaches and suits. 
  
  The need for effective data governance is ubiquitous across all clinical, financial and operational information systems. To effectively calculate the value of data governance, hospitals must understand the risks associated with not implementing a program. Strong data governance ensures that data flowing into the EHR is accurate and complete. The experience with managing data at Vanderbilt University Medical Center gives us valuable insight into what lies ahead. 
  
  The Vanderbilt University Medical Center Experience. Having begun their EHR efforts in 1997, Vanderbilt University Medical Center was swimming in data after only a few years. By the fall of 2009, the need for stronger data management was clear and initial steps were taken to build a data governance infrastructure. 
  
  Vanderbilt leadership began addressing these process and workflow issues through their traditional medical records committee, but that method proved inefficient. They enlisted a top consulting group to develop a data governance structure, which involved creating a new Health Record Executive Committee (HREC) to guide that structure. The HREC now competently oversees data governance throughout the organization. 
  
  Benefits of Strong Data Governance. Data governance is a journey and not a quick fix. It is not “one size fits all” or simply a matter of purchasing a solution. It is a step toward managing information as a key resource and then maintaining that valuable resource. 
  
  The HFM article. Mary Reeves and I will provide additional detail in our HFM article. We’ll present tips toward building an effective program, architecture and infrastructure. The current age of accountability demands strong data governance efforts. The cost of information failure is simply too high. 
  
  Happy New Year! Best wishes for a productive, safe and data-rich 2013! 
  
  

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• Reflections on AHIMA

  October 25, 2012

  A few weeks ago, I was an attendee and featured speaker at the 84th National Convention and Exhibit in Chicago Illinois.  At the conference, HIM professionals debated and discussed a number of important topics related to healthcare IT including privacy, data governance and meaningful use. As a recap, I provided 4 key takeaways from the conference (published in the online issue of www.hitconsultant.com) that  I along with my colleagues overheard during sessions and in the exhibit hall. Click here to review my AHIMA review.
  
  Also while at AHIMA, I participated in a video interview by industry blogger John Lynn on some of the challenges and risks associated with the disclosure of health information in this new world of EHR.  Click here to view my YouTube debut.
  
  Were you in attendance at the AHIMA conference in Chicago?  I would love to read about your takeaways.  Inquiring minds want you to comment below!

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• 3 Points on Why Hospitals Need to Build Data Governance Into HIT Infrastructure

  September 13, 2012

  In a recent online issue of Becker’s Hospital Review, I share the importance of a solid data governance program in the article, “3 Points on Why Hospitals Need to Build Data Governance Into HIT Infrastructure.”  Everyone of the hospital’s source systems is a medical record system and data governance builds in accountability for data integrity and record retention of these system.  Bottom line, data governance is integral to how updates are received and how they are communicated back to each system and provides critical data integrity information to an Electronic health record.  

  Click here to read the article in its entirety and feel free to comment in the area provided below.

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• Spotlight on HIM Trends and Challenges

  August 03, 2012

  This week, HealthPort sponsored its first HIM Educational Summit which was a huge success!  We were very impressed by the HealthPort staff and industry experts that presented the “Hot” topics of importance to HIM professionals. 

  As part of our media coverage from the Summit, I provided my take on what role HIM plays in healthcare today, and how this might change in light of healthcare reform in the article, “Spotlight on HIM Trends and Challenges,” which appeared on Billian’s Health Data website.  Click here to read the article in its entirety and let me know if you agree with me.

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