December 2016 Department Discovery: Health Information Services

The December 2016 Department Discovery shines a light on Campbell County Health’s Health Information Services Department.

Health Information Services (HIS), or more commonly referred to as Medical Records, is dedicated to providing prompt processing of all medical record requests while ensuring that all medical information is disclosed in accordance with federal and state laws.

HIS Director Kim Johnson says, “We maintain accurate confidential records for patients who have been treated at CCMH and Campbell County Health services.” Kim is a Registered Health Information Administrator, which means that she has a bachelor’s degree in health information, and maintains 30 continuing education credits every two years in health information to stay certified.

Patients most commonly come to the HIS department to receive a copy of his or her medical record or ask that a copy be sent to a new doctor. For those who don’t know, medical records maintained by the hospital are confidential and legal documents that cannot be disclosed to anyone without the consent of the patient. To make it easy for patients of CCMH and the Campbell County Medical Group Clinics to access their medical records, you can sign up for their online medical record systems called My Health Home—providing secure access to your personal health information quickly and at your fingertips 24-hours a day. There may be a charge for some medical records.

The department of 15 is absolutely committed to maintaining all individual’s right to confidentiality when processing and releasing Protected Health Information (PHI). “I have some really long-time employees—some have been in Health Information Services for 20 or 30 years,” says Kim. And, the majority of those employees have certifications for their positions. Positions in the HIS department include:

• Analyst Clerks, who are often registered health information technicians, which means they have earned an Associate’s degree and have passed a national exam. These individuals take orders from doctors and review them to make sure they are complete – signed, dated, have a diagnosis and make sure that the tests the doctor has ordered for the patient are complete and included in the order. They also release records to patients. At this HIS office, they have a goal of having everything out the door within five days, but the average turnaround time is just two days! And, from January 2-December 19, 2016, analysts in the office released nearly 20,500 thousand records!
• Transcriptionists, who convert voice-recorded reports dictated by doctors or other healthcare professionals, into text format to be included in the patient’s medical record.
• Coders, who take the patient’s diagnosis, procedures, medical services, and equipment and translate them into universal medical alphanumeric codes (ICD 10) for billing and reporting purposes.

The HIS department has been at the forefront of a very large project in the hospital for the past year—launching and adapting a new Electronic Health Record (EHR) system. These EHRs allow patient’s medical records to be more easily transferred to other health care systems when needed. They are also helping the CCMH Radiology Department get a new medical record system going this year as well.

“I do have to say that I’m quite blessed to work with my team. The majority of individuals help one another out whenever help is needed. I work with a great group of people,” says Kim.

A big round of applause to the Health Information Services staff! Thank you for all that you do for keeping our community safe.