NEW AHIMA INITIATIVE SUPPORTS CRITICAL NEED FOR HIT-TRAINED WORK FORCE
e-HIM Virtual Lab puts technology in hands of HIM students

CHICAGO, May 12—In response to the healthcare industry’s need for a work force capable of developing, implementing, and using health communications and information technologies, the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) announced the development of its electronic health information management (e-HIM®) Virtual Laboratory at today’s Capitol Hill Steering Committee on Telehealth and Healthcare Informatics. The lab—funded by AHIMA’s Foundation of Research and Education (FORE)—will provide students hands-on experience with leading-edge health information management (HIM) technologies.

“We recognize the importance of technology training for HIM students, as well as the difficulty programs face in making the technology available to their students,” said Claire Dixon-Lee, PhD, RHIA, FAHIMA, vice president for education and accreditation at AHIMA. “The e-HIM Virtual Lab is an economical and practical way to bring this knowledge and experience directly to the classroom.”

AHIMA is currently piloting the e-HIM Virtual Lab with 1,900 students and instructors from 47 academic programs around the country—with the goal of having 100 academic programs and 4,000 students participating by the end of 2007. The pilot Lab currently includes applications for patient identification, administrative and reimbursement coding, data capture, and abstracting. Additional applications scheduled for implementation through the remainder of 2006 include electronic document management, documentation quality management, dictation, transcription, speech recognition and natural language processing.

“Developed in partnership with health information technology software companies, the Virtual Lab will allow students to work with software they will encounter in the workplace, in an environment that closely simulates real world application of those technologies,” adds Dixon-Lee. “Students will apply problem-solving and analysis skills, and will gain experience and familiarity with a range of healthcare applications.”

Beginning in the fall of 2006, subscriptions to the e-HIM Virtual Lab will be available to HIM academic programs accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management Education (CAHIIM). As the Lab’s lesson repository develops, it will expand to serve as a resource for training beyond academic programs with products developed specifically for employer training, professional development and life-long learning.

Technology applications for the Virtual Lab have been provided through in kind contributions to FORE by the following corporate partners: QuadraMed, Dictaphone, Siemens, McKesson, Smart Document Solutions, Nauvalis, and Cerner.

For more information about AHIMA’s Virtual Lab, visit the Association’s Web site at http://campus.ahima.org/vlab/.

FORE provides financial and intellectual resources to sustain and recognize continuous innovation and advances in HIM for the betterment of the profession, healthcare, and the public. For more information, visit www.ahima.org/fore.

AHIMA is the premier association of health information management (HIM) professionals. AHIMA’s 52,000 members are dedicated to the effective management of personal health information needed to deliver quality health care to the public. Founded in 1928 to improve the quality of medical records, AHIMA is committed to advancing the HIM profession in an increasingly electronic and global environment through leadership in advocacy, education, certification, and lifelong learning. For more information about the Association, go to www.ahima.org.