Welcome to Research Perspectives

A Message from the Editor

Welcome to the premier issue of Research Perspectives, a quarterly e-newsletter. This e-newsletter will provide up-to-date information on current issues related to HIM and HIT, funding opportunities, proposal tips, and other information regarding the conduct of research. Research Perspectives e-newsletter will highlight current articles and features in our scholarly, peer-reviewed research journal, Perspectives in Health Information Management. We hope this will provide you with a source of information that promotes health information management and applied research.

Bill Rudman, PhD
Editor, Research Perspectives e-newsletter and
Perspectives in Health Information Management

External Funding Opportunities
HIM and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

On February 17, President Obama signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). ARRA provides approximately $59 billion to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for healthcare research and direct patient care, to improve health information technology (HIT) and infrastructure, and to provide education and training for the current and future work force. Of that $59 billion, $19 billion is allocated for Medicare and Medicaid HIT physician incentives, $2 billion to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, $14 billion for health and life science research and infrastructure, $10.4 billion to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for scientific challenges and new research activity, $1.5 billion to Community Health Centers, $1 billion for preventive and wellness implementation and research, more than $1.1 billion to NIH to conduct comparative effectiveness research, and $100 million for HIT security and accountability. Read more.

Preview of the Next Issue of Perspectives in Health Information Management, July 2009
First Quarterly Issue—Guest Editor’s Note

by Elizabeth Layman, PhD, RHIA, CCS, FAHIMA

Special Issue of Perspectives: The Impact of Health Information Management and Informatics on Policy and Research: An Overview of the State of the Art

Practitioners, researchers, and educators joined forces to publish a special issue of Perspectives in Health Information Management. This special issue explains the impact of health informatics and information professionals on policy and research in the past. More important, the issue delineates our future roles and potential contributions to research and policy in health informatics and information management. Beginning with a research framework to build the body of knowledge in health informatics and information management, authors redefine our roles in scholarship, privacy and security, e-health and the EHR, public health, quality improvement, and clinical terminologies and classifications. The past, present, and future work forces are described. Finally, we are called to leadership in health information at all levels of healthcare organizations.

Upcoming Articles in Perspectives in Health Information Management, July 2009

Redefining HIM Leadership
by Patricia Thierry Sheridan, MBA, RHIA, and LaShunda Blanding Smith, MSM, RHIA

Leadership is one of the most examined human behavioral phenomena. While leadership appears easy to see, it remains difficult to define.

HIM leaders have a unique opportunity and a professional responsibility to create a new vision of HIM leadership and to develop their own leadership framework. To do this they should draw on leadership theories that most resonate for the profession. Leadership theories are the frames that provide a guide and a lens through which leadership can be better understood and integrated into a professional’s daily life.

In moving towards a new HIM leadership framework, it’s helpful to understand some of the significant insights gained from the contemporary study of leadership.

Redefining the Health Information Management Privacy and Security Role
by Laurie A. Rinehart-Thompson, JD, RHIA, CHP; Beth M. Hjort, RHIA, CHPS; and Bonnie S. Cassidy, MPA, RHIA, FAHIMA, FHIMSS

This article discusses the HIM professional’s role in privacy and security both historically and in light of numerous evolutionary changes and the need to extend access to patient information for purposes beyond the realm of patient care.

Spotlight on Government Funding Agencies

Every month we will spotlight a government agency or program that is offering funding or promoting research, policy, and best practices in health information management and related fields.

June Spotlight: National Science Foundation

The National Science Foundation (NSF) funds research and education in most fields of science and engineering. It does this through grants and cooperative agreements to more than 2,000 colleges, universities, K-12 school systems, businesses, informal science organizations, and other research organizations throughout the US. NSF accounts for about one-fourth of federal support to academic institutions for basic research. Read more.

Do You Wish to Be a Member of the Editorial Review Panel for Perspectives in Health Information Management?

Please send a note to Bill Rudman at bill.rudman@ahimafoundation.org with a cover letter describing your interest, background, and copy of your CV. You will also need to complete an interest form. Bill will provide the form. Review panel members comprise the peer-review blinded panel that reads and reviews articles submitted for Perspectives. Some qualities needed for the review board include past experience in publication, editing and writing experience, research experience, and expertise in particular areas of health information management.

Research Perspectives is published four times a year by the AHIMA Foundation, 233 N. Michigan Ave., 21st Floor, Chicago, IL 60601-5809.

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Copyright © 2009 by the American Health Information Management Association. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
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Summer 2009

AHIMA Foundation Announces a New Format for Perspectives in Health Information Management

Perspectives in Health Information Management, the online scholarly, peer-reviewed research journal of the AHIMA Foundation, promotes the linkage of practice, education, and research, providing contributions to the understanding or improvement of health information management processes, solutions, and outcomes.

The journal is being rebranded and recognized as a publication of the Foundation and will have a new format and publication cycle. Perspectives will become a quarterly journal starting with the July 2009 issue. Quarterly issues will be published in January, April, July, and October. This e-newsletter, which complements Perspectives, will be published in March, June, September, and December.

New Web Site on the Horizon

The Perspectives in Health Information Management Web site will soon have a new look. Stay tuned and look to www.ahima.org/perspectives for the redesign, coming this summer. You will receive a short email announcing the July issue as it is published.

Call for Papers

Perspectives in Health Information Management     
                    
January 2010—Issue focuses on personal health records

April 2010—Issue focuses on state-level health information exchange

Contact Bill Rudman (bill.rudman@ahimafoundation.org), editor, or Jewelle Hicks (perspectives@ahima.org), managing editor, for more information.

Coming in September

The next issue of Research Perspectives e-newsletter, coming in September, will include an updated list of editorial board members.