The End of the Record As We Know It

摘要

The vinyl record is gone from music, and the paper record is exiting healthcare. But the music keeps coming-in fact, more of it, in smaller and smaller pieces. What does the future hold for that touchstone of health information management-the record? NOT THAT LONG ago, the music industry recorded, managed, and distributed music in an analog format: it recorded music on tape and distributed it on vinyl. Those days are gone. Professional-grade recording tape is no longer made, and vinyl records have become a boutique product, pressed for aficionados, not intended for mass distribution. Now music is captured, managed, and distributed digitally. Health information is traveling that same arc. Several forces are bending the health record: technology, healthcare reform, and a movement toward patient-centered care. Each is exerting pressure to capture, manage, and share health information as a series of ongoing "data elements," not a collection of documents filed in a folder-or in the music analogy, as songs, or even bits of songs (think ringtones), not as LP records. Four AHIMA practice experts gathered for a roundtable discussion on the changing nature of health information management and the parallel evolution of the profession. Michelle Dougherty, MA, RHIA, CHP, is a director of practice leadership at AHIMA. Lydia Washington, MS, RHIA, CPHIMS, and Harry Rhodes, MBA, RHIA, CHPS, CPHIMS, FAHIMA, also are practice leadership directors. Diana Warner, MS, RHIA, CHPS, FAHIMA, is a manager of professional practice resources.