| Course | HI150 Automation of Health Information 1 |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 2 |
| Paper type | Workflow map |
| Length | About 630 words, 5 pages double-spaced |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Purdue University Global |
| Program | BS in Health Information Management |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for HI150 Unit 2
Five Lanes From the Registration Desk to the Permanent File: A Unit 2 Workflow Map of a Composite Inpatient Stay, With Every Handoff Marked and the Three Points Where Errors Usually Enter
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
HI150: Automation of Health Information 1
Unit 2 Workflow Map
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
The hospital, its stay and its error points are composite; the record requirements and the sources cited are real.
Scope
Encounter type: an adult elective admission for a hip replacement, three days. Start: the patient arrives at registration. End: the record is complete, coded, billed and available for release.
The Lanes and Steps
Lane 1, patient access.
1. Search index for existing patient.
2. Decision: match found? If yes, use the existing medical record number. If no, create a new record number.
3. Verify insurance and capture consent for treatment.
4. Create the encounter and print identification bands.
Lane 2, clinicians.
5. Document history and physical, orders, operative report, progress notes and nursing records during the stay.
6. Authenticate entries as they are made.
7. Write the discharge summary and discharge orders.
Lane 3, health information management.
8. Receive the discharged encounter in the analysis queue.
9. Review for required documents and signatures.
10. Decision: deficiencies found? If yes, assign each to the responsible clinician and track. If no, release to coding.
11. Scan any paper received after discharge and index it to the encounter.
Lane 4, coding.
12. Review documentation and assign diagnosis and procedure codes.
13. Decision: documentation unclear? If yes, send a query to the physician and hold the account. If no, finalize codes.
14. Release the account to billing.
Lane 5, release of information.
15. Receive and verify requests after the record is complete.
16. Release, log and file the request.
The search at step 1 takes thirty seconds and decides whether every document that follows lands in the right record.
Walkthrough
Registration creates the two identifiers the rest of the stay depends on: the medical record number for the person and the account number for the encounter. Clinicians then build the record during the stay. Federal hospital rules require the record to contain specific content, including the history and physical, the operative report and the discharge summary, and require entries to be authenticated (42 C.F.R. § 482.24, 2024). After discharge, health information management analyzes the record for completeness, coding turns it into a claim, and release of information serves requests from the completed record.
The Three Error Points
1. Step 2, the registration search. If the clerk misses an existing record, perhaps because a nickname or a transposed date of birth was entered, a duplicate record is created and the patient's history splits in two. Discrepancies in identifying fields are a common cause of matching failures (Just et al., 2016).
2. Step 11, scanning and indexing after discharge. A paper consent or outside record indexed to the wrong encounter or patient may not be noticed until someone requests it.
3. Step 13, the query loop. A query that waits days for a physician answer holds the claim and can produce a code based on incomplete documentation if the account is finalized before the answer arrives.
Handoffs
Each line crossing a lane is a handoff: registration to clinicians, clinicians to health information management at discharge, analysis to coding, coding back to clinicians for queries, and the completed record to release. Each handoff should have a defined trigger and an owner, and the map shows the department where those are missing. The medical staff bylaws and rules, which federal rules require hospitals to adopt, usually set the deadlines for the clinician side of these handoffs, such as how many days after discharge a record must be completed (42 C.F.R. § 482.22, 2024).
References
42 C.F.R. § 482.22 (2024). https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-42/section-482.22
42 C.F.R. § 482.24 (2024). https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-42/section-482.24
Just, B. H., Marc, D., Munns, M., & Sandefer, R. (2016). Why patient matching is a challenge: Research on master patient index (MPI) data discrepancies in key identifying fields. Perspectives in Health Information Management, 13(Spring), 1e.
HI150 Unit 2 instructions, in plain terms
Unit 2 usually asks you to map the workflow of a health record through its life cycle for one encounter type. Define the scope, including where the map starts and ends. Use lanes for each role or department and boxes that name actions, not screens. Mark decision points only where the path truly splits. Write a narrative that walks through the map in time order and explains each handoff. Identify the points where errors most often enter the record and explain why. Many sections accept a table in place of drawn lanes; check your instructions. Keep the map readable on one page, which usually means one box per meaningful action by a role, and cite any requirements that shape the steps.
Inside the HI150 Unit 2 example
The worksheet opens with its scope: an elective hip replacement admission from arrival to release of information. Sixteen numbered steps follow in five lanes, with three decision points written as questions. A highlighted line stresses the registration search. The walkthrough explains how registration, clinical documentation, analysis, coding and release connect, citing federal record content requirements, with a margin note on its time order. Three numbered error points follow, each explained with its cause, and a margin note explains why those points were chosen. A section on handoffs closes the map, noting that medical staff rules set the clinician deadlines. Every step is written so a new employee could find their own lane and see who hands work to them.
HI150 Unit 2 rubric: what earns full points
Workflow maps in HI 150 are typically graded on accuracy and readability. Points go to correct sequencing, appropriate lanes and boxes that describe actions. Credit rises for decision points placed where the path genuinely splits and for a narrative that explains handoffs. Instructors value identification of error-prone points with reasons, since that is the map's practical use. A defined scope with clear start and end points helps graders follow the work. Neat presentation and accurate references to record requirements complete the rubric. Maps crowded with keystrokes, or narratives that simply repeat the boxes, tend to lose points. A further test is whether the error points follow from the map rather than being added from general knowledge.
HI150 Unit 2 help: mistakes that cost points
A common error is drawing boxes for every click, which hides the workflow. Keep one box per meaningful action. Another is adding decision diamonds where nothing actually branches. Students sometimes omit the lanes after discharge, when most health information work happens. Do not leave error points unexplained; say why they fail. Name boxes with verbs and objects rather than software screens. If your section specifies a different encounter type, such as an emergency visit or outpatient surgery, send the details and we can map it lane by lane with its error points. Finally, keep the narrative in time order so it reads as one stay, not as five separate departments.
Get an HI150 Unit 2 example written to your instructions
Whatever workflow material came with Unit 2, a facility description, a screen sequence or nothing but the prompt, forward it alongside the instructions and rubric. Lanes, boxes and narrative are then drawn from that material, not from a generic hospital, and returned within 24-48h. A first sample costs you nothing. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.
More HI150 papers and BS in Health Information Management samples
- HI150 Unit 1: Discussion Board Post
- HI150 Unit 3: Record Content Checklist
- HI150 Unit 4: Master Patient Index Exercise
- HI150 Unit 5: Deficiency Analysis
- HI150 Unit 6: Scanning and Indexing Review
- HI150 Unit 7: Chart Tracking Report
- HI150 Unit 8: Seminar Reflection
- HI150 Unit 9: User Access Review
- HI150 Unit 10: Department Procedure Manual
- HI135 Unit 2: Authorization Review
HI150 Unit 2 questions, answered
What software should the diagram be drawn in?
Whatever your section accepts; the grading rests on content, not on the tool. The example uses simple lanes, boxes, diamonds and arrows that any drawing program or word processor can produce. Clarity matters more than polish: labels readable at normal size, arrows that do not cross needlessly, and a legend if shading marks the error points.
Should the map include coding and billing?
Coding, yes, because the record is not permanent until coding and abstracting finish and deficiencies clear. Billing usually falls outside the scope, and the example stops at the permanent file to keep the map on the record rather than on the claim. If your prompt defines different endpoints, the map follows the prompt instead.
How many boxes is too many?
When boxes describe keystrokes rather than tasks. The finished map holds roughly one box per meaningful action by a role, which keeps it readable on a single page. A map with dozens of boxes usually splits one task into screen steps, and the error points get lost among them, weakening the analysis the narrative depends on.
Where can I find a free HI150 Unit 2 sample paper?
The full Unit 2 swimlane map for the hip replacement stay, with the walkthrough and error points, is open on this page.
Why does the registration search matter so much in a workflow map?
Because it decides which record every later document joins. A missed match creates a duplicate record that splits the patient's history from the start.