AHIMA representatives to the World Health Organization participate in the development and maintenance of classifications that create consistent data worldwide. In the July print edition, Sue Bowman and Rita Scichilone describe three work groups on which they serve. This online version of the story includes additional information on each group’s specific charges.

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The World Health Organization maintains the Family of International Classifications, a suite of classification products that may be used in an integrated fashion to compare health information internationally and nationally. The International Classification of Diseases is published and maintained by WHO-FIC. ICD-10 is the current edition, and ICD-11 is in development.

Internationally endorsed classifications such as those in WHO-FIC facilitate the storage, retrieval, analysis, and interpretation of data; they enable the comparison of data within populations over time and between populations at the same point in time. Their use results in the compilation of internationally consistent data. (more…)

What’s the difference between a taxonomy and a terminology? A terminology and a vocabulary? The January “e-HIM Fundamentals” column offers help in differentiating the terms that describe data management in electronic clinical records. The online version (available to AHIMA members) offers an expanded list of definitions.

“HIM and health IT are finding that the scope and responsibilities of individual job functions are increasingly crossing department domains,” write the authors of the practice brief “HIM and Health IT,” published in this month’s issue. They note a “universal need for alignment between the two disciplines to ensure that both business processes and technology are in place to advance successfully toward a fully functional [electronic health record].”

The brief explores that need for collaboration through three domains: confidentiality and security, data use and maintenance, and terminology asset management. Seven Web-only extras offer tools to help with that alignment. (more…)