IntelliSoft Group Blog

Let’s say that a hurricane was approaching and you were forced to evacuate your home; what would you take with you? Furthermore, what would you be forced to leave behind?

The US has experienced a great deal of natural disasters in the past year, devastating different parts of the country and forcing numerous communities to clean up the mess. Although technology has improved tremendously within the last 15 years, it does not stand a candle to floods, tornadoes, or hurricanes; unfortunately, nature always wins that battle.

In the midst of a natural disaster, it’s easy to forget about the electronic health and practitioner records that were stranded in those devastated hospitals. However, once the storm has ceased and communities are working to repair the damage, salvaging electronic records is no easy task.

Just recently, The American Health Information Management Association Foundation (AHIMA) announced the launch of the Health Information Relief Operation (HIRO) to fund and support Health Information Management (HIM) professionals that have lost their records in a disaster. HIRO is using the $10,000 awarded by AHIMA, as well as generous donations, in their relief efforts.

HIRO will continue to work with damaged healthcare organizations as time goes on. In fact, from this point forward, they are determined to provide more urgent assistance to the organizations that need them; “This is not the last year something like this will happen,” said AHIMA Foundation Chair Lynn Kuehn, MS, RHIA, CCS-P. “But this will be the last year the health information profession will not be immediately prepared to answer the call of entire communities of our colleagues in need.” (2)

IntelliSoft’s IntelliCVO support services ensure the safekeeping of electronic verification information through a secure credentialing and storage system. We store current and archived documents in our database, allowing for healthcare organizations to possess a backup copy of their information. MSPs should not have to worry about losing all of their data to natural disasters; the standard credentialing verification process is time consuming, and nobody should have to recreate all of their hard work.  Learn more at http://www.intellisoftgroup.com/services/credentials-verification.html

1. General information: http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/ahima-foundation-initiates-health-information-relief-operation-fund
2. http://community.advanceweb.com/blogs/hi_1/archive/2011/06/14/ahima-foundation-initiates-health-information-relief-operation-fund.aspx
3. http://www.healthnews.com/en/articles/2bhNPoE8TD2AO56ZIEvosD/Celebrating-Prevention-and-Wellness-Month/