2026 PHIMA Annual Conference
Leading Secure, Data-Driven Healthcare Operations
Overview
Enabling documentation to follow the patient, not the payment model. Where value-based care meets fee-for-service. One team, one platform, with a quality lens throughout. Bridging the fragmentation gap. The result is improved clinical documentation, star ratings, reimbursement accuracy, reduced audit and compliance risk, and reduced administrative burden.
Learning Objectives:
- Identify key sources of documentation fragmentation across care settings and their impact on quality, reimbursement, and audit risk.
- Describe components of a unified documentation review model that supports both fee‑for‑service and value‑based care.
- Explain how longitudinal, patient-centered documentation improves RAF accuracy, CMI, and quality measure performance.
- Recognize the operational and compliance benefits of integrating inpatient, outpatient, and transitions-of-care documentation workflows.
Healthcare professionals are navigating unprecedented demands—mounting documentation requirements, complex regulatory environments, operational inefficiencies, and persistent workforce burnout. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is often discussed as a transformative solution, yet many leaders and professionals struggle to translate AI concepts into practical, day-to-day applications.
This engaging and highly practical session demystifies AI and reframes it as a strategic productivity partner rather than a disruptive threat. Attendees will learn how to responsibly leverage AI tools to streamline workflows, improve organization, reduce administrative burden, and support data-driven decision-making across clinical, operational, and financial domains.
This session emphasizes realistic, ethical, and compliant use cases that attendees can immediately apply—without requiring technical expertise or large-scale system overhauls.
Learning Objectives:
By the end of this session, participants will be able to:
- Identify practical AI use cases that support time management, organization, and strategic planning in healthcare settings.
- Apply AI tools to common challenges such as workflow inefficiencies, data analysis, and communication gaps.
- Evaluate AI outputs critically to support quality improvement, revenue cycle performance, and executive decision-making.
- Recognize governance, compliance, and ethical considerations when using AI in health information and healthcare operations.
- Develop a personal or departmental action plan to begin using AI as a productivity and strategy-enhancing tool.
The healthcare landscape demands an unwavering commitment to safeguarding patient privacy and complying with stringent regulations like HIPAA. This presentation will delve into the critical aspect of HIPAA incident management, outlining the protocols and strategies to efficiently respond to and mitigate privacy incidents.
Learning Objectives:
• Provide a comprehensive overview of what constitutes a privacy incident under HIPAA, including breaches, unauthorized disclosures, and security lapses.
• Highlight the urgency and significance of swift responses to privacy incidents, mitigating potential damage to patient trust, reputation, and regulatory compliance.
• Introduce a structured incident response framework aligned with HIPAA requirements. This includes incident identification, containment, assessment of impact, notification procedures, and corrective actions.
This presentation will cover the current state of the International Classification of Diseases, Eleventh Revision (ICD-11) adoption and implementation efforts in the United States. It will begin with a brief history of ICD revisions focusing on the clinical, operational, and technological benefits that ICD-11 offers. Attendees will gain insights into research findings that support the need for and inform this transition and will understand the multi-stakeholder initiatives currently underway to address both anticipated challenges and opportunities for alignment within U.S. health information infrastructure. The session will also highlight the impact of ICD-11 on data interoperability, public health surveillance, and health policy planning for ICD-11 adoption in the U.S.
Artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping healthcare, and Health Information Management (HIM) professionals are uniquely positioned to lead the way. This session provides an accessible, non‑technical introduction to AI—what it is, how it works, and the ways it is already transforming clinical, operational, and administrative processes. Attendees will explore key types of AI, including generative AI, natural language processing (NLP), machine learning, and predictive analytics, and see real-world examples of how these technologies are being used across the healthcare ecosystem.
Beyond the basics, this session focuses on practical, hands-on strategies HIM professionals can use to incorporate AI into their daily work to increase efficiency, improve accuracy, streamline documentation, reduce administrative burden, and enhance decision support. Participants will walk away with ideas, tools, and prompts they can begin using immediately—no technical expertise required. Whether you’re curious, cautious, or already experimenting with AI, this session will help you confidently and responsibly integrate AI into your own workflows.
Learning Objectives:
By the end of this session, participants will be able to:
• Define and differentiate key types of AI (e.g., generative AI, NLP, machine learning, predictive models) in the context of healthcare and HIM.
• Describe current, real-world examples of AI in healthcare, such as coding assistance, clinical documentation improvement, automated data extraction, workflow automation, and patient communications.
• Identify opportunities to apply AI tools in their own daily HIM tasks, including drafting communications, summarizing documents, conducting research, building training materials, improving data quality, and analyzing trends.
• Apply practical AI prompts and techniques to enhance productivity, accuracy, and efficiency in everyday HIM workflows.
• Recognize the risks and considerations associated with AI use—such as bias, data privacy, and compliance—and articulate best practices for responsible adoption.
• Develop a personal action plan for safely and effectively incorporating AI into their routine work.
Artificial Intelligence is rapidly entering Health Information Management. But most conversations are either overly technical or unrealistically optimistic. This session cuts through the noise.We will examine where AI actually delivers value in HIM today. Especially in clinical documentation improvement, coding accuracy, denials management, and compliance workflows. We will separate automation from intelligence. And productivity gains from measurable quality improvement.The session also addresses real operational risks. Data quality, auditability, regulatory exposure, model bias, and overreliance on generative systems in clinical environments. HIM leaders must own governance. Not just adoption.Finally, we will focus on workforce transformation. What skills HIM professionals must build now. How to design AI-augmented workflows instead of AI-replaced roles. And how to prepare teams for a future where documentation, coding, and compliance are increasingly human plus machine.This talk is designed for forward-looking HIM leaders who want clarity, strategy, and a practical roadmap.
Learning Objectives:
By the end of this session, participants will be able to:Differentiate between AI hype and practical, evidence-based use cases within Health Information Management workflows.Identify high-impact AI applications in clinical documentation improvement, coding accuracy, denials management, and compliance monitoring.Evaluate risks associated with AI deployment in HIM, including data quality, auditability, regulatory compliance, and model bias.Assess how generative AI and automation tools affect documentation integrity and revenue cycle performance.Design AI-augmented workflows that preserve human oversight while improving efficiency and quality outcomes.Define the core skills HIM professionals must develop to remain relevant in an AI-enabled healthcare ecosystem.Develop a practical roadmap for responsible AI adoption aligned with organizational governance and compliance standards.
In this uplifting and thought-provoking keynote, Melanie shares her transformational journey from a traditional Health Information Management career to becoming a world-traveling entrepreneur leading adventures across the globe. Through honest storytelling, humor, and powerful lessons learned along the way, she reveals how the skills, resilience, and perspectives gained in HIM uniquely prepared her for a life defined by passion, courage, and reinvention.
Attendees will hear a behind-the-scenes look at what it really means to step outside your comfort zone, take calculated risks, and build a life and career that aligns with your values. Melanie connects the dots between her HIM roots and her new path—showing professionals that whether your passion is leadership, travel, creativity, or a new direction entirely, the characteristics that make HIM professionals strong are the very ones that power meaningful change.
This keynote delivers a blend of inspiration, relatable experiences, and actionable insights—leaving HIM professionals feeling empowered to explore their own aspirations, embrace personal growth, and see their career potential in an entirely new light.
Learning Objectives:
- Identify transferable HIM skills that support professional growth beyond traditional roles.
- Describe the mindset shifts and decision-making strategies required to pursue new career directions.
- Apply techniques for aligning career choices with personal passions, values, and long-term fulfillment.
- Recognize the importance of resilience and adaptability when facing career transitions or personal pivots.
In today’s healthcare environment, leaders are expected to deliver results while navigating constant change, staff burnout, and increasing complexity. Authentic leadership offers a powerful framework for leading with integrity, self-awareness, and trust—without sacrificing performance.
This session explores what authentic leadership really means in practice and why it matters in health information management and healthcare leadership. Participants will learn how aligning values, actions, and communication can strengthen teams, improve engagement, and create cultures of accountability and psychological safety. Through real-world examples and practical reflection, attendees will leave with actionable tools to lead more confidently, transparently, and effectively—starting where they are.
Learning Objectives:
By the end of this session, participants will be able to:
- Define authentic leadership and explain its relevance in today’s healthcare and HIM environments.
- Identify core components of authentic leadership, including self-awareness, values-based decision making, transparency, and relational trust.
- Recognize common leadership challenges in healthcare that authentic leadership can help address, such as burnout, disengagement, and resistance to change.
- Assess their own leadership style and identify opportunities to lead more authentically in daily interactions and decisions.
- Apply practical strategies to build trust, improve communication, and foster stronger team relationships through authentic leadership behaviors.
This dual-perspective session explores the unexpected rewards and challenges of transitioning from healthcare executive to academic leader, while highlighting the transformative power of professional connections in shaping HIM careers. As a former Chief of Health Information Management in a large, complex healthcare organization who now serves as an HIM Academic Department Chair, the primary speaker will share candid insights about how executive leadership skills translate and transform in academia. From strategic planning to student success metrics, from managing departments to building futures, discover how the passions that drove excellence in industry find new expression in education.
The session takes an innovative approach by featuring a current HIM professional who joined a Health Information Management Department after an initial connection at a local MdHIMA conference. This collaboration illustrates the real-world impact of the very principles being discussed: the importance of students and emerging professionals actively engaging in professional organizations, attending conferences, building meaningful connections, and seeking mentorship opportunities. Together, the speakers will explore how industry experience enriches academic programs, why mentorship and internship opportunities are critical bridges between classroom and practice, and how seemingly brief professional encounters can catalyze career opportunities and growth.
Attendees will leave with actionable strategies for career transitions, fresh perspectives on the symbiotic relationship between industry and academia, and renewed appreciation for the power of professional networking and mentorship in advancing the HIM profession. Whether you’re an industry professional considering academia, an educator seeking to strengthen industry partnerships, a student building your professional network, or a leader invested in workforce development, this session offers valuable insights and inspiration for your journey.
Learning Objectives:
1. Identify at least three transferable leadership competencies from healthcare executive roles that enhance academic program leadership and student outcomes.
2. Articulate specific strategies for building and leveraging professional connections through conference attendance, organizational involvement, and mentorship relationships to advance career opportunities in HIM.
3. Develop an action plan for strengthening the industry-academia pipeline through internships, mentorship programs, or collaborative partnerships that benefit both students and healthcare organizations.
In an era of rapid change, lifelong learning is no longer optional—it is a professional imperative. Whether driven by evolving technology, new regulations, or shifting career aspirations, today’s professionals must continuously adapt, grow, and re‑engage with their work. This session explores what lifelong learning really looks like across the span of a career, including formal pathways such as returning to school, as well as flexible, self‑directed, and experiential approaches that fit into busy professional lives.
Participants will examine the motivations, benefits, and tradeoffs of pursuing advanced degrees or certifications, alongside alternative ways to remain intellectually engaged—such as micro‑learning, mentoring, teaching others, stretch assignments, professional communities, and reflective practice. Through practical examples and guided reflection, attendees will leave with a personalized framework for sustaining curiosity, relevance, and fulfillment throughout every stage of their career.
Learning Objectives:
By the end of this session, participants will be able to:
- Explain lifelong learning as a core leadership capability, essential for sustaining relevance, credibility, and effectiveness in an evolving professional landscape.
- Evaluate formal learning pathways, including returning to school, certifications, and advanced degrees, through a leadership lens—assessing when these investments support leadership growth, influence, and career progression.
- Identify leadership-focused alternatives to formal education, such as mentoring, teaching, stretch assignments, and peer learning, that foster continuous development and engagement.
- Recognize how ongoing learning strengthens leadership presence, adaptability, and decision-making while helping leaders avoid stagnation and disengagement.
- Develop a personalized lifelong learning strategy that aligns individual leadership goals, career stage, and organizational impact.
Recently, I have worked with many CDI programs that have begun or are considering including mortality components to their workflow. Capturing comorbid conditions with a focus on improving mortality measures is an element that many front line CDSs are not familiar with nor quite understand the value. At the heart of this practice is the Elixhauser Comorbidity Index, as it is the foundation of many mortality quality tools (Premier, Vizient, etc.) and utilized by many quality rating organizations (CMS Stars, Leap Frog, US News & World Report, etc.). The presentation will provide an overview of the Elixhauser Comorbidity Index, its components, and how it is utilized by organizations to predict mortality, risk, and resource allocation. There will be a focus on how this affects the standard CDI workflow and key performance measures. The presentation will also discuss how the index is utilized by quality tools and rating organizations, expanding on how those ratings can impact a healthcare facility.
Learning Objectives:
- To gain insight into the Elixhauser Comorbidity Index, its components and how it calculates comorbid conditions.
- To understand how the Elixhauser Comorbidity Index can be used to predict mortality, risk, and resource allocation.
- To appreciate why CDI programs are placing a focus on the mortality measures and incorporating the process into their CDI workflows.
- To learn how the Elixhauser Comorbidity Index is utilized in proprietary quality tools used by healthcare organizations and how the index is an important component in national healthcare quality ranking measures.
Today’s middle revenue cycle is producing large amounts of data, which if harnessed successfully, can deliver valuable dividends for your organization in the form of increased team efficiencies and optimized performance. In this session, you will hear what the most innovative organizations are doing to ensure their coding and clinical document integrity (CDI) teams are taking advantage of these newfound opportunities. The agenda for this session includes:
- Options to generate valuable insights by leveraging data your team is creating.
- New measures and views of MRC data that you likely have not previously experienced.
- How real-time monitoring and alerts enables information at your fingertips without pressing any buttons.
The speaker promises to get you excited to take learnings back to your organization and become a “analytics hero” by sharing the new approaches you will hear about in this session.
Learning Objectives:
• Identify approaches to gain necessary information to make the best decisions for your middle revenue cycle teams
• Generate novel insights never seen before through the combination of clinical and financial data
• Create approaches that alert and monitor scenarios for your teams in real-time
Course Info
Published Date
July 2026
Total CEs
12.5
Domain(s)
Clinical Foundations
Data Structure, Content and Information Governance
Evolving Topics
Health Law & Compliance
Organizational Management and Leadership
Revenue Cycle Management
Pricing
Bundle Pricing
PHIMA Member
$225
Non-Member
$275
Individual Session Pricing
PHIMA Member
$40
Non-Member
$50
PHIMA Member – an AHIMA dues-paying member who has selected Pennsylvania as their Component Association (CA)
Non-Member – includes AHIMA dues-paying members from other AHIMA Component Associations (CA) as well as AHIMA Credentialed Non-Members
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Speaker
Name
Additional Information
AHIMA
This educational offering has been approved for continuing education credit for use in fulfilling the continued education requirements of the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA).
AAPC
CEUs are accepted from programs sponsored by AHIMA national offices and the state or regional AHIMA branches. One hour of instruction is worth one CEU. A certificate of attendance or completion is necessary to show participation.
ACDIS
AHIMA CEUs that are CDI-related are accepted.
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Course Content
Course Includes
- 16 Lessons
- Course Certificate
