Question

Why should HIM professionals be aware of laws affecting the management of personnel?

Answer 1

HIM professional undertake a vital responsibility of acquiring, analyzing and protecting the patient information in both traditional and digital formats which is essential to provide quality patient care. The role of HIM ranges from analysis and protection of data to leverage the power of advancement in the IT to use it in innovative methods of data management and enhance the patient care. Besides subject matter expertise, HIM professionals are also expected to have other traits and knowledge base. Managing personnel is one of them.

HIM, being one of the most evolving field, always needs to have honest, innovative, dedicated, care minded and intelligent individuals. Working in a critical role also needs them to have attention to detail, interpersonnel skills and resilience among the other traits, thus the method of their selection, training and development needs to be comprehensive and good enough to attract and retain the best. The HIM professionals also need to be conversant with theories of motivation, leadership and fulfillment to be able to develop a leadership that not only holds subject expertise but also is keen to steer the organisation to growth. Being in critical role, they must know the laws that govern human resource management to avoid any step that compromises the safety of data of patients and to avoid violation of a provision that may cause trouble later and may dilute the quality of healthcare.