Health Information

Management in Australia
Sallyanne Wissmann
Director Information Management, Mater Health Services, Brisbane
Immediate Past President, Health Information Management Association of Australia
Western Pacific Regional Director, International Federation of Health Information
Management Associations
Introduction

Director Information Immediate Past Western Pacific

Management President Regional Director
HIMAA IFHIMA

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Mater Health Services
Mater Health Services (Brisbane, Australia) comprises several hospitals, health
centres, a world-class medical research institute, and pathology and pharmacy
businesses—all with one aim—to provide Exceptional Care
Mater is a not-for-profit private healthcare provider treating:
• Insured (private) patients through contracts with the private insurer health funds
• Mater Children’s Private Hospital
• Mater Mothers’ Private Hospital

• Mater Private Hospital Brisbane

• Mater Private Hospital Redland

• Mater Private Hospital Springfield

• Non-insured (public) patients under

contract with Queensland Health
• Mater Hospital Brisbane
• Mater Mothers’ Hospital
 Information
Supporting
Patient Care

Recording &
Information
Reporting
Governance Patient Activity

Information
Management
at Mater
Governance Information
of the Health Privacy and
Record Access

Data Document
Management Management
What we will cover
HIM Professionals in Australia
HIMAA (national association)
Career Pathway
Competency Standards
Education
Challenges facing the profession
Recent HIMAA achievements
My Role as a Health Information Manager

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HIM Professionals in
Australia

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Who We Support How We Add Value

Patients / Public Health information management professionals ensure your health

information is kept confidential and secure and is available to
clinicians when you come to see them.

Clinicians Health information management professionals ensure quality

patient information is available to you when you provide patient
care.

Government Health information management professionals ensure quality

information is available to support decision making about and
funding of the healthcare system.

Funders Health information management professionals ensure that quality

information is available for billing, revenue and funding purposes.

Employers in Health information management professionals ensure quality

healthcare information is available to support the management of all clinical
delivery and business functions in the organisation.

IT/health Health information management professionals manage all aspects

informatics of the relationship between data and information in information
professionals systems.

Researchers Health information management professionals ensure that quality

information is available for research purposes.

(HIMAA Defined Value Propositions for Health Information Management Professionals)

 About HIMAA
• The peak professional association of health information management (HIM) professionals in
Australia, established in 1949 (1000+ members)
• HIMAA promotes and supports its members as the universally recognised specialists in
information management at all levels of the healthcare system, through:
• positioning and advocacy
• education and training
• Education provider - 500 Clinical Coding students per annum in ICD-10-AM both from Australia and
internationally, as well as students in medical terminology
• Students from: Ireland, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, India, South Africa, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan,
Tonga, Fiji, and New Zealand
• Accredits HIM undergraduate and postgraduate education
• Offers a professional credentialing scheme that is based on continuing professional development and
quality improvement activity (optional for members)
• quality standards
• publications and resources, and
• HIMAA membership networking activities at local and national levels, including an annual national
conference of international standing

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 HIMAA Membership
Membership Type Definition
Full Individuals who have graduated with a HIMAA-accredited Degree
(Undergrad or Masters)
Fellow Full Members of HIMAA with at least 7 years of continuous financial
membership with the Association who have made a significant
contribution to the health information management profession
Senior Associate Individuals who are graduates of a HIMAA approved program in
clinical coding, health informatics, business, management of
information systems/IT or have a minimum of five years senior level
experience within the health information industry
Associate Individuals working in or associated with the health
information/informatics industry and not eligible for Full or Senior
Associate Membership

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Career Pathway

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 Competency Standards
Health Information Manager Entry Level Competency Standards
Domains:
Generic professional skills
Health information and records management
Language of medicine
Healthcare terminologies and classification
Research methods
Health services organisation and delivery
Health information law and ethics
eHealth
Health information services organisation and management
Available on the HIMAA website
Intermediate and Advanced Competency Standards across the same domains are
currently being finalised

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 Health Information Manager
• A health information management professional with a HIMAA-accredited
undergraduate or postgraduate university degree
• who plans, develops, implements and manages health information services, such as
patient information systems, and clinical and administrative data
• to meet the medical, legal, ethical and administrative requirements of health care
delivery
• or who teaches or does research in these areas

• Meets all of the HIMAA Entry Level Health Information Manager (HIM)
Competency Standards

• May apply some or all of the HIMAA Intermediate and Advanced Health
Information Manager (HIM) Competency Standards depending on their
experience and professional development
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 HIM Education in Australia
3-4 year undergraduate Bachelor or a postgraduate Master degree
5 Universities offer HIM degrees in Australia:
Queensland University of Technology
Western Sydney University
La Trobe University, Victoria
University of Tasmania
Curtin University
HIMAA is the official, formal accrediting body for all Health Information
Management courses in Australia against the HIM Entry Level Competency
Standards
HIMAA also undertakes formal review and accreditation of Health Information
Management courses internationally, upon request from individual countries and
universities.
Higher Colleges of Technology, United Arab Emirates

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 Where HIMs work
• Hospitals
• Primary Health Care – GP practices etc
• Aged Care
• Government departments
• Clinical registries
• Research
• Health IT software companies
• Other health based organisations
• Where ever there is health data, HIMs could be working

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 Clinical Coder
• A health information management professional who is a
graduate of a HIMAA-approved clinical coding course or a
HIMAA-accredited tertiary course
• who assigns codes to narrative descriptions of patients'
diseases, operations and procedures in accordance with
recognised classification systems
• to allow for easy storage, retrieval and analysis of health data

• A Clinical Coder specialises in a subset of the HIMAA Entry

Level Health Information Manager (HIM)Competency
Standards
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 Clinical Coding
Clinical coding is the process of abstracting relevant clinical data from the
health record for every patient who is admitted to hospital and assigning
relevant and accurate classification codes to each coded concept –
diagnoses, complications, procedures and interventions
ICD-10-AM Classification
International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health
Problems– 10th Revision – Australian Modification
Australian Classification of Health Interventions
Australian Coding Standards
AR-DRG Classification
Australian Refined Diagnosis Related Groups
The AR-DRGs classify units of hospital output. The classification groups
inpatient stays into clinically meaningful categories of similar levels of
complexity (outputs) that consume similar amounts of resources (inputs)
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 Clinical Coder Education in
Australia
Initial education options:
A component of the HIM degree, or
A standalone course, offered by HIMAA or another provider
Followed by:
On-the-job competency based learning

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 Workforce

Reporting &
Tools
Benchmarking

Audit & Clinical Documentation

Assurance
Coding

Clinician
Accuracy
Engagement

Timeliness
 Challenges Facing the Profession
Changing healthcare environment
Standing, visibility and positioning of the profession
Workforce
Workforce shortages – HIM and Clinical Coders
Role substitution
Organisational pressures
eHealth and ICT

http://
perspectives.ahima.org/addressing-challenges-to-the-health-information-management-profession-an-australian-
perspective
(Journal article by S Wissmann, April 2015)
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Positioning
Membership
& Advocacy
Education
 Recent HIMAA Achievements
HIMAA membership increases
Increased profile and advocacy of the profession
Development of nationally recognised clinical coding
qualification – Certificate IV Clinical Classification
Certified HIM (CHIM) and certified HIP (CHIP)
credentialing
Skilled migration requirements
Very active professional association…

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www.himaa2.org.au

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www.himaa2.org.au

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My role as a Health
Information Manager

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 Information
Managemen
t at Mater
Information
Governance

Governance Information
of the Health Supporting
Record Patient Care

Data Recording &

Managemen Reporting
t Patient Activity

Document Information
Managemen Privacy and
t Access
Information Management Functions

Patient Master Index / Patient

Information registration
Supporting Paper health record management
Patient Health record scanning
Care Clinical transcription
Patient alert management
Clinical documentation advice
Information Management Functions
Clinical coding inpatient episodes
Recording & (ICD-10-AM)
Reporting DRG expertise (AR-DRG)
Patient Activity Patient Administration System
Policies and procedures
Data quality
Statutory reporting:
Government and health funds
Information Management Functions
Privacy Act compliance
Information Release of patient information
Privacy & Access Privacy impact assessments
Health record access
Patient Declaration and Consent
Information Management Functions
Clinical forms management
Document Patient information
Management Enterprise document management
Document Management Framework
Mater Document Centre
Information Management Functions
Clinical and non-clinical data
Data integration
Management Mater Clinical Data Repository
Database administration
Information architecture
Information Management Functions
Storage, retention & destruction
Governance Management of patient information
of the in systems
Policies and procedures
Health Record
Business Owner - Health Record,
Clinical Portal, Patient Portal, Mater
Doctor Portal, Health Provider
Directory
Information Management Functions
Information Strategy
Information Information Governance Framework
Governance Data Excellence Framework
Accreditation requirements
What does Best Practice Health Information
Management Look Like?
What is needed for Health Information
Management Best Practice?
• Practice standards, policies and procedures
• Trained and educated staff
• Accountability
• Continuous improvement
• Continuous learning
• Governance
Thank You
Sallyanne Wissmann

Contact me via:
Sallyanne.Wissmann@mater.org.au
LinkedIn
Twitter @SallyanneWissmn

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