HIM Body of Knowledge™

The HIM Body of Knowledge™ (BoK) is an online library that places the breadth of health information management (HIM) knowledge at your fingertips! Articles from the Journal of AHIMA, practice briefs, position statements, job descriptions, and more are regularly updated. Always current and always comprehensive, the HIM Body of Knowledge™ is available, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, anywhere you have access to the Internet.

The HIM Body of Knowledge™ provides access to:

Most Journal of AHIMA articles published since January 1998
Proceedings from AHIMA's Annual Convention and Exhibit
Many AHIMA Advantage articles published since January 2002
AHIMA practice briefs, position statements, reports, guidelines and white papers, job descriptions, and other Association information (including House of Delegates Resolutions)
Government publications such as parts of the Federal Register and DHHS documents
Links to other useful HIM documents
Practice guidance reports on current e-HIM topics
New: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) Resources

This exclusive member benefit (join AHIMA now) is easy to use. Simply log in to MyAHIMA and select “HIM Body of Knowledge™.” You’ll find options to search by keyword or perform advanced searches for specific types of publications. You’ll also find folders of information gathered under HIM topics such as, but not limited to the following:

ARRA
Coding/Classification
Compliance
Disaster Planning
HIPAA

Practice Briefs

One of the resources in the BoK is AHIMA Practice Briefs. These Briefs provide practical and consensus-based guidance on traditional health information management (HIM) principles and evolving e-HIM® functions. Through research and professional volunteer efforts this best practice guidance is offered to AHIMA members and the healthcare industry as a resource for achieving our vision for quality healthcare through quality information. The practice briefs are organized by the topics below to help you more easily identify useful guidance.

Tool Kits

The BoK contains a wealth of resources, not only practice briefs, but also tookits and a multitude or articles. Search the BoK to find the resource you need. Examples of toolkits include the following.

Amendment in Transcribed Reports

Traditional practices within the paper record support a single error line through the original documentation. However, these practices will not necessarily transfer to a transcribed report, and new practices should be evaluated against organizational policy. As organizations move towards the integration of transcribed reports to the EHR as well as new applications such as electronic signatures, core HIM principles should be adapted to incorporate these new technologies. This toolkit is designed to provide guidance to HIM professionals when addressing amendment, correction, and deletions within a transcribed report.

Terminal Digit Filing Toolkit

The location of paper records may no longer be within the walls of the health information management (HIM) department, but rather at an off-site warehouse as the organization transitions to an electronic record. However, the management of these records continues to be important in an organization’s day-to-day operations. As such, these legacy records are often maintained to meet statute of limitation requirements of individual states or organizations. Understanding how to file, retrieve and maintain these paper records continues to be a core function of many HIM Departments. This toolkit is intended to provide guidance regarding terminal digit filing of paper records.