Electronic Health Records implementations are forcing rapid changes in the Health Information Management departments. The role of HIM in an EHR environment is getting redefined inside out. Traditional roles within the HIM departments are getting rapidly transformed. e-HIM departments are realizing the needs for roles of HIM Data Analysts, Clinical Data Integrity Specialists, Health Information Exchange coordinators etc.  Existing HIM roles could become obsolete if current staff do not foresee these changes and quickly upgrade their skills to match these changing environments.

In an era where clinical documentation is generated and maintained in an ‘episode’ nature, EHRs pose significant challenges especially when you have to share the data. EHRs maintain data in a ‘continuous’ care mode and therefore it becomes challenging to decide from which data point should you share the information to other stake holders in the care domain. Challenges also emanate from the gradual shift towards ‘charge for care’ rather than ‘charge for service’ model.

Contrary to conventional thinking, the advent of EHRs has actually brought the entire clinical documentation area into the front and center of patient care.