American Health Information Management Association

And yeah, by the end of the year, I think it should be around 50 or so, which is about average for me in a given year, which again, I'm privileged to do and don't take it for granted.

And it is such a thrill for me to be able to go to so many because I love talking to people, and I love learning about new technologies and new things and just-- But it does allow me to do one thing which i- is unique, which is to see trends across different sectors of healthcare and, and see some things that are happening and some commonalities and some differences, right? So everything from what's happening in the radiology world at RSNA to what's happening in the HIM world at AHIMA and CHIMA and other events like that.

So it's been, it's always a lot of fun.

fun.So the question was just like, well, so are you seeing changes in what the conversation's about this year versus previous years?

Who's involved, what's their mission, and how do they plan to carry it out? I'll talk about that.

Then I welcome Priya Bathija and Lauren Riplinger to share AHIMA's new nine-step framework for building patient trust.

It's based on their new white paper, so they talk about how to incorporate the framework's steps when collecting, utilizing, and sharing social determinants of health data, and they give an exclusive preview of next week's AHIMA conference in San Antonio.

I'm Jared Johnson.

Let's get it.

Thanks, Jared.

Excited to be here.

So Lauren and Priya, you're both authors of a white paper that AHIMA recently published, and we're gonna dive into that.

The debut of ICD-10, the growth of value-based care and CMS pay-for-performance initiatives, the rise of EHRs and dreaded RACs.

For more than a decade, he's brought that distilled wisdom to the ACTIS National Pre-conference, teaching a popular day-long seminar for physician advisors, and he's now authored a new book from HCPro AHIMA, The Physician Advisor's Guide to Clinical Documenta- uh, Clinical Documentation Integrity, Third Edition.

So yeah, Trey's seen a lot, uh, and he's also seen a lot of heavy metal concerts, which is sort of where I come in here.

As Trey was pouring his heart and wisdom into this new book, I was pouring myself into a book of my own, Growing Up Metal: Story of a Fan Who Kind of Rocked, now available on Amazon.

And I was working for a woman who was over the women's and children's department part time while I was going to school.

She left while I was there to become the CEO of AHIMA, which is the American Health Information Management Association, and called me a couple of months before I was about to graduate and said, hey, I know you were thinking about staying there and being a project manager, but how would you feel about coming to an association and helping me with strategic planning? And she asked me to get my Lean Six Sigma black belt.

So I got that before I graduated.

It was a really rough A couple of months to get everything done that I needed to.

which again, I'm privileged to do and don't take it for granted.

And it is such a thrill for me to be able to go to so many because I love talking to people and I love learning about new technologies and new things and just, but it does allow me to do one thing, which is unique, which is to see trends across different sectors of healthcare and see some things that are happening and some commonalities and some differences, right? So everything from what's happening in the radiology world at RSNA to what's happening in the HIM world at AHIMA and CHIMA and other events like that.

So it's always a lot of fun.

So the question was like, well, so are you seeing changes in what the conversation's about this year versus...

I have been on a personal quest this past year to document and learn firsthand about the evolution of the health information management profession that's happening right under our noses.

I've spoken to friends at AHIMA in the US, CHIMA in Canada, and now I've met with the folks at HIMA here in Australia.

The story is the same.

The profession is no longer just about medical billing and coding.

We can't wait to talk to you.

I am truly excited because I've been on a mission just to try and find out the commonalities and the differences between HIM professionals across different countries.

I love the folks at AHIMA in America, CHIMA in Canada, and now I get to talk to you about what's happening here in Australia.

Brilliant.

To bill accurately, providers must be free to respond honestly without coercion.

The 2026 AHIMA and ACTIS Guidelines for Achieving a Compliant Query Practice defines a compliant query as one that allows providers to exercise independent clinical judgments.

Options like ruled out and other explanation of clinical findings please specify are often included or should be included in queries because disagreement must remain a real exercise choice, not a theoretical one that nobody is allowed to pick.

A query is just a question until the provider signs their name to the answer.

Some new requirement just comes out from the American Hospital Association about how to code this new acute diagnosis in the inpatient hospital system.

Or perhaps AHIMA puts out a new requirement about what compliant documentation looks like for revenue cycle or Like, the rules are always shifting.

And now clinicians don't have to attend lunch and learns to learn revenue cycle and keep up with those rules.

AI can keep up with those rules.