AHIMA Members Advocate on Capitol Hill

Carrie Arens and Congressman Tom Latham

Over 200 members of the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) gathered in Washington, DC on Tuesday, March 19 to deliver important advocacy messages about health information management (HIM).  Four members of the Iowa Health Information Management Association (IaHIMA), along with 41 other state associations, met with their US Representatives and Senators to discuss key advocacy issues.  

Attendees from IaHIMA discussed Recovery Audit Contractor program reforms, the need for uniform patient identifiers, and the importance of the HIM profession for achieving quality healthcare through quality information.  AHIMA members understand the need and benefit of sharing their expertise with policy makers.

Carrie Arens, IaHIMA President Elect, Director of Health Information at Horn Memorial Hospital stated, “It was great to learn that Congressman Steve King had already signed on to support the legislation for program reform of the Recovery Audit Contractors. Our group worked hard to explain the need for the unique patient identifier.  As the nation moves forward with health information exchanges, it will be pertinent that patients are identified correctly so their health information does not get comingled with other patients with the same or similar names.” 

Hill Day participants attended an early morning briefing session on Capitol Hill prior to attending meetings with their US Representatives and Senators.





Horn Memorial’s patients are a priority each and every day…in recognition of “Patient Safety Awareness Week”
attached is a spotlight of some of the ways we make our patients’ safety our priority.