I believe that we are all finding ourselves in the midst of the dog days of summer! Many of us may be feeling the heat outside as well as at home and in the office as we juggle the many demands that are placed on us on a daily basis. Just know that you are not alone!

The MdHIMA Board and every member of our association can help each other through the dog days that we all face. A wealth of knowledge and talent is available from each and every one of us – we just need to be willing to share it with others. This can happen through email communications to your peers, participation on a committee or task force, submitting information to be posted on the website, speaking at an MdHIMA educational session or mentoring a new HIM professional. You will find that your role changes – sometimes you are the giver and at other times you are the recipient.

So please don’t face the heat alone! Utilize all of the resources available to you, including our talented membership. Get in the habit of checking out the website on a routine basis for updates to our Calendar of Events, What’s New and Legislative sections. And in the very near future we will be posting our MdHIMA Membership Roster, with monthly updates to contact information, to the Members Only section – this will be a tremendous help as you reach out to your peers for assistance. I think you will find all of these resources to be a cooling comfort to you!

Enjoy the rest of the summer!

Lori

Attendees: President: Lori Brown, RHIA; President Elect: Dauna Mays, RHIA; Delegates: Janice Greenberg, RHIT, CCS-P, Virginia Bell, RHIA, and Brian Bennighoff, RHIA, CTR

The MdHIMA delegation was in attendance for the Summer Team Talks which was held July 20th in Chicago, IL. Bryan Pickard, current AHIMA President, welcomed everyone and gave the election results for the 2008 Board of Directors.

President-elect is Vera Rulon; Directors are Mark Dietz, Mary Reeves, and Renae Spohn; RHIA Educator is Angela Kennedy; RHIT Educator is Michelle Green; RHIT Professional is Teresa (Terri) Hall; RHIA Educator is Jody Smith

The 2007 FORE Triumph Award Winners were also announced:

Distinguished Member – Leslie Ann Fox; Champion Award – Gloryanne Bryant; e-him Award - Deborah Kohn; Educator award - Sara Grostick; Legacy Award - Anne B.Castro; Mentor Award - Stacie Buck; Research Award - Shannon Houser; Rising Star Award - Amanda S. King

Linda Kloss gave an Industry update; topics included building a network of networks; the goal is to securely connect consumers, providers, and other who have, or use health – related data and services, while protecting confidentiality. Continuing AHIMA Leadership roles in coding and classification; working with WHO, SNOMED, ICD Maintenance Coordination parties, Coding clinic and CPT Editorial Board participation. Having Leadership roles in Privacy and Security on the AHIC work group on Confidentiality, Privacy, and Security, AHRQ/ONC Research project at state levels, and the National Governor’s Association Health Information Protection Taskforce. House passage of the work force legislation was a result of AHIMA’s advocacy, and lastly to continuing building the Body of Knowledge through research.

Wendy Mangin reviewed the AHIMA 2008 Strategy and Planning Cycle and encouraged Component State Associations (CSAs) to follow their framework. AHIMA’s key strategic priorities are e-HIM, Leadership Engagement/Impact, Building Value and Grow & Strengthen AHIMA.

All participants took part in a Focus Group on the Market Research Results of an AHIMA survey from June 2007, lead by the Plexus Consulting Group. The survey was to systematically assess the views of AHIMA members regarding various strategic issues of the organization. One key finding reported overall, the 1,094 respondents were pleased with AHIMA and see it as a leader of organizations tailoring to the HIM Industry.

Sandra Fuller, the COO of AHIMA, discussed the forming of ACE (Action Community for e-Health Excellence) for HIM professionals. ACE members would be leaders in areas such as mentoring, writing, interviewing, speaking, giving testimonials, and volunteer appointments. Another AHIMA initiative is branding. Since everyone is familiar with Coke, McDonald’s, etc, brand logo on their products and in advertisements, AHIMA is investigating branding of their name as well.

The afternoon concluded with an Open Discussion on two proposed resolutions: one on Diversity and the other on HIM Adoption of the Personal Health Record. These proposals can be viewed on the AHIMA State Leader & HOD COP – under Community Resources – select See All Resources. Additionally, Tennessee Health Information Management Association presented a draft Resolution for HIM Professional Standards. The MdHIMA delegates need your feedback on these proposed resolutions.

The last item to note was the schedule for Winter Team talks. There will be two locations in 2008: the East Coast location will be Washington DC – combined with Hill Day and the West Coast location will be in Las Vegas. Also planned are CSA Town Hall Meetings with Board Liaisons.

Attendees: President: Lori Brown, RHIA; President Elect: Dauna Mays, RHIA; Chairman-MyPHR & Fundraising: Anne Marani, RHIT

AHIMA sponsored a robust 2 day program for this year’s leadership conference attendees. The conference was held in conjunction with Summer Team Talks.

On Saturday, July 21, consultant William Ryan, MPA, from Hauser Center presented a workshop on “Governance as Leadership”. He shared useful information on how boards can more effectively manage their responsibilities. He also gave enlightening concepts and ideas on how to get a board to think and act in a more strategic direction instead of getting bogged down in the details.

Throughout the conference, breakout sessions were held on the following topics:

1. Managing Association Finances

2. Volunteers: Mentoring & Succession Planning

3. Public Relations

4. CSA/FORE Network

5. Designing & Delivering Successful Meetings

6. E-Communications

7. CSA Business Partnerships

8. HIE Activity

9. AHIMA & CSA Strategy

10. CSA Advocacy

11. Supporting Education Programs

12. CSA Alliance Building

On Sunday morning, AHIMA presented awards to a number of CSAs for their numerous “core service” achievements and best practices.

AHIMA has two resolutions posted for review and comment. One is with regard to HIM adoption of the Personal Health Record. This resolution "charges professionals with the responsibility of creation and maintaining their own personal health record." The draft is available for review and comment.

The other proposed resolution that is available for review and comment is regarding diversity. The intent is "to advance AHIMA's commitment to a culture that respects diversity throughout its organization, the federation and the HIM profession at large."

A third resolution regarding HIM Professional Standards for EHR is to be submitted by the Tennessee state association. Please look for the draft on the COP in the near future.

Please contact any of your MdHIMA Delegates to share your thoughts, concerns and comments on the above proposed resolutions. Your Delegates want to hear from you before casting their vote!

As Maryland’s Community Education Coordinator, Anne Marani had the opportunity to attend the AHIMA’s CEC Workshop for Personal Health Records (PHR) on July 19, 2007 in Chicago. The theme of the meeting was “Where Are We Going: My PHR.com Plans".

This coming year the communication for the PHR campaign will be focused primarily toward four groups: maturing adults, those with chronic conditions, those raising children, and the caregiver population. There will be two primary aspects to the updated communication plan: 1) increased advocacy through a national news media campaign that seeks to increase consumer awareness and understanding of the importance of personal health records and 2) continued support of the national campaign with a more tailored educational approach designed to personally inform communities at the grassroots (state) level.

Whether through the national media or our own local grassroots campaign, the message will be the same: “It’s HI Time” that Americans become actively involved in the organization and management of their personal Health Information.

Visit www.myPHR.com to learn more about developing your own PHR or contact Anne Marani, Maryland’s Community Education Coordinator, at anne.m.marani@medstar.net to learn more about Maryland’s role in this national initiative.

The Joint Commission launched a Standards Improvement Initiative (SII). Angela Niparko, RHIA, lead a task force of eleven MdHIMA members via a telephone conference to respond to the Joint Commission's survey on the “Management of Information: (IM) Chapter. The proposed changes can be located on the Joint Commission's website. A summary of the proposed changes are below:

1. All requirements related to medical records (IM 6.10 to end of chapter) were moved to the Provision of Care (PC) chapter to be combined with other medical record requirements. This consolidation will result in a new chapter or subchapter specifically for medical record requirements.

2. IM 4.10 was deleted to prevent duplication of requirements in PI and LD.

3. Topics covered in IM5.10 were identified as a subset of decision support. This standard was removed and the content will be re-evaluated as part of new standards development relating to health information technology, information management planning, decision support, and the transfer and use of information.

4. IM 3.10 EP2 was removed; the text can still be found in the NPSG chapter.

The purpose of the Standards Improvement Initiative is to clarify current requirements. Recommendations for new requirements will be considered for future standards development.

Sydney Neblett, CCS, Data Quality Specialist at Greater Baltimore Medical Center was the winner of the random drawing for completing the on-line evaluation of the MdHIMA Annual Meeting. Sydney will receive a full registration to the 2008 MdHIMA Annual Meeting. Congratulations, Sydney!

Members who attend the next three QBMs will be entered into a drawing for a free registration for the 2008 MdHIMA Annual Meeting. The dates are:

September 18, 2007

December 7, 2007

March 7, 2008

Mark your calendars and good luck!

A CCS Prep Course is scheduled for September 29, from 8:00 am – 4:30 p.m. at Harbor Hospital. Jennifer Garvin, Ph.D., RHIA, CPHQ, CCS, CTR, FAHIMA will be the presenter.

Be sure to check the What’s New Legislative Update page at www.MdHIMA.org as it will be updated with links to the MedChi webpage “Current Medical Record Copying Fees” site as well as the HSCRC’s Final Staff Recommendations on The Ambulatory Surgery Guaranteed Revenue System, and the HSCRC Official POA Guidelines.

This will become law effective January 1, 2008. This law addresses the destruction of personal information by Maryland businesses and their contracted third parties. The law requires:

* businesses, when destroying a customer’s records that contain certain personal information of the customer to take certain steps to protect against unauthorized access to or use of the personal information under certain circumstances. Personal information is defined as SS#, Driver’s license #, Financial Account # (including credit card #), Individual Taxpayer ID#;

* Certain businesses that own or license certain personal information of an individual residing in the state to implement and maintain certain security procedures and practices under certain circumstances;

* Certain businesses that own, license, or maintain computerized data that includes certain personal information or an individual residing in the state to conduct a certain investigation and notify of breach of the security system under certain circumstances.

The Health Information Privacy and Security Act of 2007 is a bill that was introduced by Senators Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) relating to HIPAA. Its purpose is an attempt to eliminate some of the confusion surrounding the HIPAA Privacy Regulation and to increase privacy. Among other things, the bill proposes to create an HHS Office of Health Information Privacy to increase enforcement of the regulation and proposes to allow patients to opt out of electronic health systems that store and transmit the PHI.

The Action Community for e-HIM Excellence, or ACE, is a program that mobilizes AHIMA’s network of HIM experts and change agents. This program identifies, prepares, engages, mentors, and recognizes those working to transform HIM practice and connects them with volunteer and career-building opportunities. Activities of current ACE members include participation in regional health information exchange initiatives, leading organizational data quality improvement efforts, speaking at state and national HIM conferences, mentoring new students and professionals and testifying on HIM issues before government agencies. Individuals can join the ACE Challenge via recommendation or self-nomination.

To learn more about this program you may visit ahima.org/ace. Here you will find the nomination form as well as the self-assessment that will help gauge the expertise and experience of nominees. A directory of ACE members is also available on the site. CSA leaders can access a directory of available presenters by contacting Pam Garcia in AHIMA’s Volunteer Services Department at 313-233-1162 or pamela.garcia@ahima.org

Aiming to recruit more students to HIM academic programs, AHIMA has compiled extensive information for prospective HIM students on topics such as academic paths, potential careers and financial assistance. It has a sharp layout and clean organization to make it easy for counselors, students, parents and others to use.

Please keep your AHIMA profile updated so that our email information is always current and we can continue to keep in touch with our members.

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