A professional practice journal of the Health Information Management Association of Australia Limited
Dear HIM-Interchange readersWelcome to the final issue for 2019. This issue will be published around the time of the 2019 Health Information Management Association of Australia (HIMAA)/National Centre for Classification in Health (NCCH) National Conference and I hope to see many of you at the conference in Sydney from 23 to 25 October 2019.
The majority of readers of HIM-Interchange will be familiar with morbidity coding, that is, the clinical coding of diagnoses and interventions that affect patient management during an episode of care. However, many of you will be unfamiliar with mortality coding. This article will attempt to explain the differences and similarities between the two.
This article follows on from the articles published in HIM Interchange Volume 9, Number 1, 2019 ‘Supporting Clinical Coders: future proofing the integrity of our clinically coded data’ and HIM Interchange Volume9, Number 2, 2019 ‘Supporting Clinical Coders: understanding the challenges’.
There is awareness that health information is of major importance for healthcare organisations and that data is a major asset particularly in relation to accreditation of health services (Briggs 2008). Health Information Managers (HIMs) have traditionally been involved with providing health information to support accreditation processes including, provision of documentation, evidence of quality improvement through data audits and maintenance of patient information.
The Health Information Management Association of Australia (HIMAA) Research Advisory Committee (RAC) was established in March 2016 followinga recommendation of the HIMAA Research Strategy Working Group. The purpose of the RAC is to operationalise the strategy ‘to underpinthe competency domains of health information management resulting from the use of evidence- based research, to render the profession a tangible asset for the health care system and its future’ (HIMAA 2017a). Figure 1 outlines the purpose of the RAC as per the Terms of Reference (version 2) (HIMAA 2017b).
1. The Executive Board at its 144th session considered an earlier version of this report,1 containing a draft resolution.2 The Board noted the report but agreed to suspend consideration of the draft resolution so that informal consultations could be held during the intersessional period prior to the Seventy-second World Health Assembly. A separate report will be submitted to provide details of the outcome of the consultations. 3
