Findings from the 2021 Yearbook Section on Health Information Management.

Area of Science:

• Health Information Management
• Health Informatics
• Public Health Informatics

Background:

• The field of Health Information Management (HIM) encompasses the management of patient health-related data and information.
• Key areas of research include data quality, privacy, security, and health information exchange (HIE).

Purpose of the Study:

• To summarize recent literature and identify the best research papers in Health Information Management and Health Informatics published in 2020.
• To highlight emerging trends and persistent themes in HIM research.

Main Methods:

• A systematic literature review was conducted by section editors and a medical librarian.
• Bibliographic databases were searched using MeSH headings and keywords.
• A shortlist of fifteen papers was selected and peer-reviewed by external reviewers.

Main Results:

• Health Information Exchange (HIE), Data Quality, and Privacy and Security were the dominant themes, comprising 80% of the selected papers.
• Other topics included personal health records, information governance, and HIM professionalism.
• A limited focus on pandemic-related applications was noted.

Conclusions:

• Core HIM concerns regarding practice, workforce, data quality, coding, HIE, and privacy remain central to the research literature.
• HIM professionals possess valuable expertise for public health informatics research, particularly relevant during public health crises.
• Increased involvement of HIM professionals in public health informatics research is recommended.