It’s time for your annual health information rewind!
From the biggest overhaul on RADV audits we’ve ever seen to mounting pressures on HIM teams, 2025 was not short on excitement. Through this year’s ups and downs, HealthMark was here to add context, break down complicated regulatory updates and serve as your guide through all things HIM this year.
Join us as we count down the three most popular health information management blogs of 2025!
Blog #3: Choosing the Best Record Release Strategy: Outsourced vs. In-House
2025 saw overworked, understaffed healthcare teams struggling to meet increasing demands. Medical record request volumes continued to increase across the board, leaving many teams wondering how to best approach release of information—internally or with a partner.
HealthMark’s third most popular blog of 2025 was a timely deep dive that helped readers weigh the pros and cons of managing release of information in-house vs. outsourcing to a specialized partner. This post explores the most common reasons we’ve heard from teams looking to outsource, such as:
- Overburdened, understaffed teams that can’t keep up with demand
- Inefficient and outdated internal processes
- Long turnaround times that increase compliance concerns
This blog breaks down the biggest drivers behind outsourcing, as well as the benefits of both models to give you the full picture. At the end of the day, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to release of information, so we’re not surprised to see a blog that deep dives into different models end up in the top three.
Read the full blog to find out if it’s finally time to expand your medical record operations—before the next wave of requests hit.
Blog #2: 4 Biggest Takeaways from CMS’s RADV Audit Program Updates
CMS has entered the chat!
This announcement from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) signaled the first major update to the RADV program since its creation in 2007. After nearly twenty years, RADV audits are getting a massive overhaul. Everyone had questions, and we weighed in with answers.
In this blog post, our vice president of release of information and 30+ year industry veteran Nick James explored why these changes are happening and what they could mean for you (hint: it means a lot more audits coming your way in the future). He also highlighted the major takeaways from this update, such as:
- CMS requiring larger patient sample sizes
- Audits being requested from as far back as PY 2018
- RADV expanding to all eligible Medicare Advantage organizations
- The stricter documentation requirements
Want to get Nick’s top three tips on how you can prepare? Read the blog and make sure RADV audits are on your 2026 bingo card!
Blog #1: 7 HIPAA Compliance Tips for HIM Staff
Compliance truly stands the test of time as one of the most widely discussed topics each year, but finding practical, everyday guidance to improve compliance and efficiency can be a challenge.
Coming in at number one, 7 HIPAA Compliance Tips for HIM Staff was our most-read blog for all of 2025. In this post, our very own chief operating officer and general counsel Joe Licata shared actionable compliance tips that can be worked into any release of information workflow. Some highlights include:
- The five rules that shape HIPAA compliance (the Privacy Rule, the Security Rule, the Enforcement Rule, the Omnibus Rule and the Breach Notification Rule)
- How to use technology to your advantage when releasing medical records
- Guidance on training and re-training your team
- Key must-haves for your internal processes (hint: detailed documentation is non-negotiable!)
Juggling compliance needs and operational efficiency across teams of all sizes is daunting, and unfortunately there’s not a magic wand you can wave to guarantee perfect HIPAA compliance all the time.
The good news? Even without magic, the seven strategies we share in this blog post can easily be incorporated into any medical record release process to make compliance worries a thing of the past.
2025 Wrap-Up: Final Thoughts
While health information management changes and evolves with the rest of the modern world, one thing will never change: the importance of efficiency, accuracy and compliance in the complex, highly regulated arena of protecting patient health information.
As we dive head-first into 2026 and all the exciting opportunities it will bring, be sure to stay up to date on the latest release of information news by subscribing to the HealthMark blog!