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All Aboard: The Tech Innovation Train Makes a Stop at AHIMA25

By Beth Friedman, FACDM

The health technology innovation train has left the station, and one of its first stops was AHIMA25. Hundreds of educational sessions and technology vendors presented during AHIMA’s 2025 Convention, delivering three promising messages for HIM professionals:

• Empower: AI and other nascent technologies bring proven efficiency to traditional HIM workflows.
• Evolve: HIM roles are evolving and upskilling is needed to meet the moment.
• Impact: HIM professionals continue to play a vital role in improving clinical data quality, the foundation for AI success, better reimbursement, and quality care outcomes.

HIM professionals are taking their seats on the innovation train. As a 20+ year attendee, I saw a profound shift from conservative protectionism to active leadership in digital transformation. Proven and responsible progress was demonstrated in every session and conversation.

The new mandate for HIM professionals, from coders to enterprise vice presidents, is to reinvent operations through the responsible use of intelligent tools, including AI, autonomous coding, and ambient documentation. The energy around these innovations was palpable, defining a new era of HIM. Here are my key takeaways from this year’s annual convention.

New Technology Is Here: The AI Toolkit
AHIMA25 emphasized that the future of HIM is inextricably linked to three core technological advancements, all requiring a "human-in-the-lead" approach: ambient clinical documentation, autonomous coding, and automated retrieval.

Ambient Clinical Documentation — This technology is poised to rapidly reshape the physician experience and the mid-revenue cycle. Ambient clinical documentation was also a key highlight at Becker’s Health IT + Digital Health + Revenue Cycle Conference in Chicago, and the technology is popular with physicians and revenue cycle teams alike.

Ambient clinical documentation captures patient-provider conversations at the point of care, translating them into structured, compliant clinical documentation. “By having more complete, consistent documentation closer to the point of care, CDI [clinical documentation improvement] can better validate information and resolve discrepancies to ultimately reduce bill hold days and mitigate payer denials,” according to Staci Josten, RN, BSN, CCDS, senior vice president of CDI services at e4health. However, responsible use of all new technology is essential.

“Policies should include best-practice procedures to obtain patient consent for recording and a process to document care if the patient does not consent,” according to Jami Woebkenberg, RHIA, CPHI, FAHIMA, senior director of HIM operations at Banner Health. Woebkenberg also recommends that health systems establish vendor agreements for long-term management of voice files (eg, maintenance and access to files beyond integration into the EHR).

Autonomous Coding and Large Language Models — Autonomous coding, powered by large language models and generative AI, is rapidly moving from pilot to production. Case studies from systems like Cleveland Clinic, Duke University Health System, and a chain of national imaging centers demonstrated remarkable success.

Jennifer Nicholson, MEd, RHIA, CCS, CCDS, CDIP, RRT, associate vice president of revenue management and HIM at Duke, called AKASA’s automated coding tool a “coder ally vs a threat.” The ability to serve up evidence for AI’s code recommendations builds trust between human and machine.

“Inclusion of proof points from the clinical documentation are also necessary to share with payers and drive speed-to-value for autonomous coding,” adds Abhinay Vyas, chief data officer at RapidClaims. Both parties seek truth throughout the billing and claims reimbursement process.

Monica DuBois, RHIA, vice president at Maverick Medical AI, shared the following insights regarding the adoption of autonomous coding by the HIM workforce:

• Coders are moving from fear to openness, and even excitement, about the new capabilities.
• Tools give coders a better work-life balance as systems perform easier tasks automatically and delegate complex cases to human experts.

Lolita Jones, MSHS, RHIA, CCS, CRC, CPC, at TruBridge provided the most pragmatic quote related to autonomous coding. During her standing-room-only session regarding dual-path coding, she shared, “I was worried about autonomous coding for about two minutes, and then I remembered we have a 30-year coder shortage.”

Automated Retrieval — Technology is automating record retrieval in the release of information (ROI) process for high-volume requests. In the case of risk adjustment requests, Angela Rose, MHA, RHIA, CHPS, FAHIMA, vice president of client success at MRO, stated that automated retrieval delivers an 80% to 90% accuracy rate and fills payer requests for records in hours vs weeks. Rose and her expert panel shared that automated retrieval, with guardrails for provider-payer data exchange, significantly accelerates revenue flow and improves payer relationships while protecting patient data.

According to Sabrena Gregrich, MBA, RHIA, CHPS, CPEHR, director of corporate HIM at Yale New Haven Health System, “We haven’t heard a peep from payers for risk adjustment requests; it’s been a beautiful thing.”

HIM Roles Expand: Smart Data Exchange, Data Quality, and Case Review
Another prevailing mindset at AHIMA25 was the shift from restrictive data protectionism to responsible data governance and better data quality in health care. From determining which legacy data to integrate into EHRs to best practices for holistic data exchange, experts continually emphasized the need for HIM expertise. Here are a few specific takeaways related to HIM’s role in clinical data quality and management.

Actionable Data — “The focus is on moving beyond point-to-point ROI transactions to timely, holistic data exchange for multientity care coordination,” according to Hassan Abdallah, JD, CHC, FACHDM, chief compliance officer at MRO. Compliance now centers on clarity, classification, and control.

Data Quality — The convergence of CDI, coding, and quality review requires professionals who can interpret and optimize AI’s output while keeping a watchful eye on data quality and integrity. For example, HIM know-how facilitates better denial prevention and management. “We need HIM professionals in the revenue cycle to analyze denial analytics and appeal dashboards, guide internal audit activity, and help focus resources on high-impact risk areas,” according to Dawn Crump, MA, CHC, LSSBB, vice president of revenue integrity solutions at MRO.

Data Curation — The need to continually find new workflow efficiencies remains an undercurrent in health care. This is particularly true as health systems prepare for reimbursement cuts in the years ahead. Using humans plus technology to “review once, use many” is becoming the industry’s best-practice approach to reduce the number of record touches and automate case reviews in health care.

“From registries to coding and claims, consistent and smarter use of technology alongside internal and outsourced staff will open doors to greater productivity and outcomes in the year ahead,” suggested Andrea Romero, RHIA, senior health care executive at TruBridge.

The bottom line from AHIMA25 is clear: staff won’t be replaced by AI, but “those that use AI will replace those that don’t,” as Nick Judd, MBA, RHIA, senior director of revenue cycle and HIM from Cleveland Clinic advised. The time for HIM leaders to lean in, adopt these technologies, and reinvent traditional HIM workflows is now.

Looking Ahead to 2026
One of my last conversations at AHIMA25 was with Sabrina Yousfi, MBA, RHIA, CCS, CDIP, senior vice president of mid-revenue cycle at e4health. We talked about surprises at the conference and expectations for the year ahead.

“I definitely saw more technology vendors here and joined more conversations about how AI and other tools are shifting staff into new, more valuable roles,” Yousfi mentioned. “We’re also discussing how to upskill HIM professionals to quickly fill new roles as expertise is desperately needed across data abstraction, data management, revenue cycle, and more.”

Yousfi expects to see even greater use of technology to support value-based care and care redesign in 2026. From her perspective, “HIM leaders must continually look for the next step in technology innovation and adapt professionally, vs just waiting for things to happen.” I fully concur.

See you in San Antonio at AHIMA26!

— Beth Friedman, FACDM, is senior partner at FINN Partners.