By Lesley Kadlec, MA, RHIA, CHDA, and Annessa Kirby

We hear so much about the amount of data available in healthcare today. But we are just beginning to understand the

importance of analyzing that data to make decisions. As buzzwords like “information governance” and “data analytics”

are becoming more mainstream, the analysis of data is becoming an expectation—a requirement, in fact—for

healthcare organizations. It is no longer an acceptable practice to ask for information and not do anything with it. In

order to continue to be progressive in healthcare and to meet the “triple aim” we need to analyze and use healthcare

data more effectively to produce the kind of outcomes in healthcare that are needed and that our consumers expect.

Given this lofty goal, the members of the AHIMA Informatics and Data Analytics Task Force were asked to share some

thoughts about how HIM professionals are putting this expectation into action. One task force member started with

sharing some background definitions: “In general, informatics is the natural progression of health information

management. Webster’s definition of informatics is: the collection, classification, storage, retrieval and dissemination of

recorded knowledge. HIM has been doing that even with the use of paper records—providing the records to other

people—and natural progression into the electronic world, free text, structured data fields.”

Resoundingly, the overwhelming feeling of the team members echoed the importance of HIM to the progression of

informatics and data analytics in healthcare organizations. One of the respondents stated, “We are the profession who

has this knowledge to manage and analyze data accurately. We have the text book knowledge and best practice

experience (and) can contribute to the informatics war, the new terminology, the new demand and broader aspects and

domains of healthcare.” In fact, another member went on to say that “Our profession needs to emphasize that we

understand the data and what it is saying. It justifies that we are needed for that [type of new role]. HIM professionals

make the best data analysts because they truly understand the data!”

One of the members also me