For Health Information Managers ·
What you'll accomplish
By the end of this guide, you'll use Claude to transform your monthly HIM metrics into clear, compelling executive summaries and board-level communications — in plain language that CFOs, CMOs, and board members can actually understand. What used to take 2 hours of writing will take 20 minutes of reviewing.
What you'll need
Before starting, pull together this month's numbers in a simple list format. You don't need a formatted spreadsheet — just the key metrics and whether they went up or down from last month.
Example preparation:
This month:
- Coding accuracy: 94.2% (last month: 92.8%)
- Denial rate: 6.8% (last month: 5.1%)
- CC/MCC capture rate: 48% (last month: 46%)
- Case mix index: 1.87 (last month: 1.84)
- CDI query response rate: 71% (last month: 73%)
- Aged incomplete records >30 days: 12 (last month: 9)
Go to claude.ai and click New Chat. Start with a brief description of your audience and their knowledge level.
What to type:
I need help writing executive communications for a hospital HIM department. My audience is the CFO, CMO, and Revenue Cycle leadership team. They have financial and clinical backgrounds but are not expert in HIM coding or compliance specifics. I want communications that are:
- Plain language (no coding jargon without explanation)
- Action-oriented (end with clear recommendations)
- Appropriately brief (1 page or less for monthly summaries)
- Honest about problems while framing them constructively
I'll provide monthly metrics and you'll help me draft communications.
What you should see: Claude confirms it understands the audience and is ready.
Paste your metrics list and ask for the summary.
What to type:
Here are this month's HIM metrics vs. last month:
[paste your metrics]
Please write a 1-page executive summary for our CFO and Revenue Cycle VP. Include:
1. Overall performance headline (one sentence)
2. Two positive trends with brief explanation of why they matter
3. One area of concern (denial rate increase) with likely root cause and proposed action
4. Two specific recommendations for leadership discussion
Keep it to 3-4 short paragraphs. No bullet points — narrative format.
What you should see: A 3–4 paragraph executive summary that translates the numbers into plain-language business narrative.
Read the draft. Claude will get the trend analysis right, but you need to add:
What to type to refine: "The denial rate spike is specifically driven by [payer] changing their prior auth criteria for [service line]. Revise the concern section to accurately reflect this cause and recommend a specific meeting with the payer's provider relations team."
For board presentations, the communication needs to be even more condensed and non-technical.
What to type:
Condense this into a 3-bullet board-level summary suitable for a 5-minute board quality committee update. Each bullet should: state the metric, compare to target, and note one action underway. Avoid all clinical coding terminology.
What you should see: 3 crisp bullet points that any board member can understand.
Monthly executive summary:
Write a 1-page executive summary of our HIM department performance for [month]. Metrics: [list]. Key issue: [describe]. Recommendation: [your recommendation]. Audience: CFO, CMO. Narrative format, no jargon.
Denial trend briefing:
Write a 1-page briefing for revenue cycle leadership explaining a [X]% increase in claim denials. Root cause: [cause]. Expected duration: [timeline]. Mitigation plan: [steps]. Financial impact estimate: [amount]. Tone: transparent and action-oriented.
Board quality committee update:
Write 3 bullet points for a board quality committee update on HIM department metrics. Metrics: [list]. Target vs. actual. One action underway for each metric that is below target. Audience: board members with no healthcare operations background.