Meredith, a HIM Director, just returned from an invigorating full week meeting with several peer HIM leaders from her region. The presentations were extremely beneficial and Meredith had the opportunity to network with other talented professionals. Because the meeting was so dynamic, Meredith was feeling extra motivated to begin her day.

Upon entering her office, Meredith was surprised to see a stack of documents requiring clarification waiting on her desk. Emma, the newly hired HIM Manager reporting to Meredith, had made a very minimal attempt to gather additional information herself during Meredith’s absence. Emma became increasingly frustrated when she could not determine which department she needed to work with and did not take any further action. The HIM staff had a variety of questions on various patient care forms. It appeared that many forms were unfamiliar to the staff, and Meredith found several notes with questions such as where to index certain forms to in the chart. A few of the notes contained questions and concerns about document barcodes that were not reading correctly after scanning. Additionally, there were notes that identified conflicting patient identity information on some of the forms. Meredith determined that the best way to get started was to first determine which department each form belonged to.

Why do you think it is important to understand the interactions between HIM and other hospital departments?

HIM is counted on to process information very quickly after discharge. Do you think it was a good idea for the HIM Manager to leave the stack of forms on the HIM Director's desk to get clarification upon her return?

Why do you think it is important to understand the interactions between HIM and other hospital departments?