HIM Department
CIHSR, Dimapur
Today’s scope of HIM Professional is beyond the four corners of just patient’s records and files. HIM Professional provides a variety of services in all aspects of health records management like data collection, data quality management by setting guidelines for integrity, standards, disclosure, privacy and confidentiality of the health records according to the existing laws and regulations for the protection of the physicians, patients, health care providers and the health care facility. The HIM Professionals assist the health care providers to facilitate continuous services in the patient’s treatments in the best interest and safety of the patients and supports the health care providers in decision making pertinent to any medical research, education of health care providers, public health studies and quality review by analyzing the data or information collected and stored.
Roles of HIM Professionals in a healthcare:
1- Secures and protects the confidentiality of patients’ health information and records.
2- Assists in improving the quality of health records documentation by reducing medical errors, inconsistencies and by advancing the delivery of patients-centered medical treatments to the patients.
3- Saves and reduces healthcare costs of the patients that results from medical errors, inefficient, inappropriate or duplicative treatments because of no previous health records or histories or because of incomplete information.
4- Helps by providing accurate information to the health care providers to make the right medical decision for the ongoing treatment of the patients.
5- Serves as a communication link that helps in improving coordination amongst care-givers.
6- It also helps to improve and promote community health activities by facilitating the early identification of health threats and prompt response to it.
7- Facilitates by providing health statistics data for health and clinical research and healthcare quality review.
8- Assists in early detection, prevention and management of outbreak diseases.
9- Assists the facility in any accreditation process.
10- Assists in prompt reporting of health reports to all government agencies as required and when needed.
11- Processes all insurance and reimbursement claims as required.
HIM professionals are employed by hospitals, physician offices, consulting firms, government agencies and even insurance companies where they work as:
1. Health Information Management officer
2. Work as Quality Health data analyst
3. Medical Coder
4. Medical research analyst
5. Medical Transcriptionist
6. Insurance claim analyst etc.
For those who wants to work or associate in a healthcare field without necessarily providing hands-on patient care may opt for HIM though HIM Professionals works closely with the physicians, health care providers, patients and with insurance companies, their focus will be on ensuring that health information documented in the course of the patient care is appropriately maintained according to the set standards, legal requirements and policies and procedures of the healthcare organization.
Becoming a HIM Professional:
Anyone with 10 + 2 Science stream can pursue Bachelor in Health Information Management or Bachelor in Medical Records Science degree fromChristian Medical College Vellore, JIPMER Pondicherry, Manipal University, IGNOUjust to mentionfew of the colleges after which there are scopes to do Masters in Health Information Management, MBA in Hospital Administration, Master’s in Hospital Administration, MBA in Health Care Management, Certified Professional Coder, Certified Coding Specialist etc. CIHSR at present, is also running Bachelor Degree course of Health Information Management - A 4 (Four) years course, affiliated under Nagaland University since 2019, where hands-on training is given to the students and orient them accordingly to the needs of the demand.
It’s important to recognized and established proper health information management department in all the healthcare facilities owing to the importance of patient’s information in near future as stated above and it will also protect from any litigations against the healthcare providers, healthcare facilities as well as the patients from any inevitable accusations of negligence from irate parties.
