HIM 685 Module 4 Discussion Example

Reviewed by Delia Ravenscroft, MSN, RN

This HIM 685 Module 4 Discussion sample examines the leadership roles a health information director takes on when an organization joins an exchange. It was written for SNHU HIM 685 (HIM-685), where the fourth module has MS Health Information Management learners discuss how HIM leaders shape strategy and change. The composite writer leads health information at a 180-bed hospital in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Reading the exchange project plan, the writer finds health information management named only as a source of data. In practice, the department has inherited five roles: steward of patient identity, owner of document quality, decision maker on disclosure, translator between IT and clinicians and leader of a release-of-information team whose work is about to change. The post argues that the last role matters most and asks peers which roles their own project plans leave unnamed.

CourseHIM 685 Advanced Topics in HIM II
ModuleModule 4
Paper typegraduate discussion post on HIM leadership roles in an exchange project
LengthAbout 360 words, 3 pages
FormatAPA 7 student paper
SchoolSouthern New Hampshire University
ProgramMS Health Information Management
UpdatedOctober 2026

Free sample paper for HIM 685 Module 4

1

Module Four Discussion

Five Roles Nobody Assigned

Our exchange project plan has 140 tasks. Health information management appears in four of them, each time as the source of a data feed. Reading it alongside the data dictionary I just finished, I counted five roles the project has handed my department without naming any of them.

What this page is doingThe post starts from a gap in the project plan.
2

The first is identity steward: we own the matching that decides whether the exchange sees one patient or two. The second is document quality owner: discharge summaries will be retrieved by strangers, so they must be complete and signed on time. The third is disclosure decision maker: with the privacy officer, we decide what is shared and how patients who opt out are honored. The fourth is translator. IT speaks in interfaces, clinicians in workflows, and HIM is the department that understands both the record and the rules.

The fifth is leader of people whose work will change. Our release-of-information team of seven has spent years copying and mailing records. As more requests are answered automatically through the exchange, their work will shift toward managing feeds, checking matches and handling exceptions. Kotter (1995) argued that big change efforts rarely die from a bad strategy; they die when leaders rush past the slow work of making the need felt, building a leading group and talking about the change far more than seems necessary. Weiner (2009) describes readiness for change as shared commitment plus shared belief in the group's ability to do it, and my team has neither yet. Vest and Gamm (2010) noted that exchange efforts have stalled more often on organizational barriers than on technology.

So I would argue that the fifth role matters most. The other four depend on people who understand and support the change, and those people sit in my department. If the team believes the exchange is a plan to replace them, they will protect the old process, and no interface will fix that.

What this page is doingFive roles are named, and research ranks the human one first.
3

I have asked the project manager to add the release team's transition as its own workstream with my name on it. For peers: which roles has your organization's project plan handed to HIM without saying so?

What this page is doingA concrete step precedes the prompt for peers.
4

References

Kotter, J. P. (1995). Leading change: Why transformation efforts fail. Harvard Business Review, 73(2), 59-67.

Vest, J. R., & Gamm, L. D. (2010). Health information exchange: Persistent challenges and new strategies. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 17(3), 288-294. https://doi.org/10.1136/jamia.2010.003673

Weiner, B. J. (2009). A theory of organizational readiness for change. Implementation Science, 4, Article 67. https://doi.org/10.1186/1748-5908-4-67

What the HIM 685 Module 4 instructions ask for

The fourth HIM 685 module asks for a discussion of the roles health information leaders play in strategy and change. A post of roughly one page with a few APA 7 sources is typical, with replies to follow. Start from a real or case project and identify the roles HIM actually holds, including those not written into any plan. Describe each role concretely: what decisions it involves and what goes wrong if no one fills it. Use leadership or change research to argue which role matters most and why. Show that you understand the people affected as well as the technical tasks. Close by naming a step you would take to make an unassigned role explicit, and invite peers to look for hidden roles in their own projects.

How this HIM 685 Module 4 discussion example is built

Longleaf Regional Medical Center's 140-task exchange plan mentions HIM four times, always as a data source. The post names five roles the department has inherited: identity steward, document quality owner, disclosure decision maker, translator between IT and clinicians and leader of a seven-person release team whose mailing and copying work will shift to managing feeds and exceptions. Kotter's account of failed transformations, Weiner's definition of readiness as commitment plus efficacy and Vest and Gamm's organizational barriers support ranking the people role first. The HIM 685 post ends with the director asking for the release team's transition as a named workstream and invites peers to find unassigned roles in their own plans.

Where the HIM 685 Module 4 rubric puts the points

HIM 685 leadership discussions are generally graded on a concrete account of HIM roles, explanation of the decisions and risks each involves, use of leadership or change research to prioritize, attention to staff affected by change and a practical step the writer would take. Posts that rise above the rest find roles that are real but unassigned and argue persuasively which matters most. Graders appreciate links between research and specific actions rather than general praise of leadership. Correct APA 7 citations and a professional voice are expected. Replies are valued when they add a role a classmate missed or question whether a proposed step would actually change the plan.

HIM 685 Module 4 help: the mistakes that cost points

Leadership posts in this course lose credit by listing generic leadership traits, describing roles only as tasks, ignoring the staff affected or citing change theory without applying it. Some also assume IT will handle anything technical. If your module asks about a different change, such as an EHR conversion, outsourcing, remote work or a coding technology rollout, send the prompt and the setting and the post will identify the roles that change creates. A copy of the project plan or charter, if you have one, helps reveal what is missing. Our HIM 685 posts name the hidden roles, rank them with research and end with a step that puts one on paper.

Get HIM 685 Module 4 written to your instructions

Send the HIM 685 Module 4 prompt and a short description of the project or change in your case. The post will identify the roles HIM really holds, explain what each involves, use research to argue which matters most and propose a step to make hidden roles explicit, written within one to two days, free for a first order. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Southern New Hampshire University document.

Request this module free All HIM 685 modules

More HIM 685 papers and related MS Health Information Management samples

HIM 685 Module 4 questions, answered

Where can I find a free HIM 685 Module 4 Discussion sample?

This page carries the full HIM 685 Module 4 post, naming five roles an exchange project hands to HIM leaders and arguing that leading the affected team matters most.

What roles do HIM leaders play in health information exchange?

Common roles include stewarding patient identity, owning document quality, deciding what is disclosed, translating between IT and clinicians and leading staff whose work changes.

Why do change efforts fail?

Kotter argued that many fail because leaders underestimate the work of bringing people along, skipping urgency, coalition building and sustained communication.

What is organizational readiness for change?

In Weiner's account, a group is ready when its members both want the change and trust that together they can pull it off.

How can an HIM leader make an unassigned role explicit?

By asking for it to be written into the project plan as a workstream with a named owner, tasks and dates.