eNews from MdHIMA
 
Issue 20 - April 2010
Inside this Issue:

President’s Message
AHIMA Winter Team Talks
AHIMA Hill Day
Welcome New MdHIMA Members!
Dates to Remember 
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Is Your AHIMA Profile Current?

President’s Message

I hope everyone is doing well since the last e-newsletter.  I am glad the weather is getting warmer especially after all that snow we received in February.  Since our last newsletter came out, we have had our latest Quarterly Business Meeting on March 5th.  Your delegates were preparing to attend Winter Team Talks in DC along with participating in Hill Day.  Take a look at the Delegate write-up to see what was discussed.

During our March QBM I had discussed that we would be looking for input from the membership in helping us to answer the Component State Association Environmental Scan questions that AHIMA requires all CSA’s to answer each year.  The deadline is June 30th to submit our responses.  Your Board is investigating how best we can communicate this information to you and will discuss during our next Board Meeting scheduled April  20th.  So be on the look out for upcoming e-blasts on this very important topic. 

Don’t forget there is still time for you to help us Celebrate  our 80th Annual Meeting on April 29 – 30th, 2010.  The deadline for Early Bird registration closes on April 1 and normal registration closes on April 20th.  Please remember that we are going green this year and that all who register will be provided a link to the speakers presentations for you to download and print prior to coming to the Convention Center.  Moving forward all meetings will follow this format of going green.

I hope to see you all at the Annual Meeting.  

Brian R. Bennighoff, RHIA, CTR
President, MdHIMA
AHIMA Winter Team Talks

The MdHIMA delegates who attended the Winter Team Talks on March 22, 2010 were Albert Key, Sallie Tyner, and Dina Smoker.  Alan F. Dowling, the new AHIMA CEO, was introduced to the group and recognition was given to the 2010 election winners of AHIMA and CAHIIM.  The new vision statement for AHIMA was introduced which will now be:

     “Leading the advancement and ethical use of quality health information to promote health and wellness worldwide.” 

The mission statement of AHIMA was reviewed to see if any changes needed to be incorporated.  Groups were formed to discuss and provide feedback for potential changes to the language of the statement. AHIMA will use the feedback that was given to modify the mission statement should the need arise.  For reference, the current AHIMA mission statement is:

    “To be the professional community that improves healthcare by advancing best practices and standards for health information management and the trusted source for education, research, and professional credentialing.” 

The AHIMA Board of Directors is developing a “Core Model” of the HIM functions to describe the robust set of functions and opportunities open to current and future health information managers.  Within each of the four areas below are multiple components that drill down to capture what AHIMA’s expanded position and focus is within health information. The HIM Draft Core Model includes the following:
  • Health data capture and maintenance
  • Health information analysis and output
  • Health information resource management and innovation
  • Information stewardship and governance
Sandra Fuller presented the 2010 Key Initiatives to the group.  Some of the key initiatives this calendar year are:
  • The current AHIMA membership has grown to over 56,000 members, which is a 5.5% growth from the previous year.  To further improve the efficiency of servicing the membership, AHIMA is looking towards an electronic approach to the renewal cycles with electronic membership cards and certificates thru myAHIMA. 
  • The new AHIMA CoP was launched on March 2, 2010
  • A new AHIMA website is scheduled for go-live on May 17, 2010 at www.ahima.org
  • There are many professional resources that are available on the AHIMA website including an ICD-10 preparation checklist with model training plans.
  • The global initiatives in 2010 are to increase the HIM presence in standards development, improve HIM education, and develop and extend best practices in HIM.
  • The 2010 initiatives for CAHIIM are to launch graduate program accreditation processes in the Master’s of Health Information Management and in the Master’s of Health Informatics.  Additionally, CAHIIM will be demonstrating a fully online, web-based accreditation process.
  • There will be 8 sessions in 2010 for the AHIMA Academy for ICD-10.
Reports were given from the six House of Delegate teams which included:
  1. House Operations- The house apportionment and composition was discussed. There is a motion for delegate apportionment to be based on a percent of membership. This is the same motion that was sent back to the House Operations team in October from the annual conference. There would be a minimum of 2 delegates per CSA and a maximum of 6.  In this scenario, Maryland would lose 2 delegates.  There is also a contingent motion to reduce the AHIMA board of directors participating in voting from 12 to 9.  However, if the 1st motion doesn’t pass there will be no contingent motion.  The official notice for the delegate apportionment will be sent on April 12th and the voting for the CSA delegates will be from June 7th thru June 18th.  If needed, the contingent motion will be voted on from July 6 thru July 19th.  If passed, the house apportionment would become effective July 1st, 2011.
     
  2. HIM Higher Education and Workforce-There has been a lot of work placed into the PPE guides for clinical practice sites this past year.  There is also new interpretation of related CAHIIM standards and policy on CEU’s for clinical practice sites.
     
  3. Environmental Scan- This team has focused on creating the 2010 CSA Environmental Scan which is ready for completion. 
     
  4. Professional Development and Recognition-This group has worked on continuing education and training offerings this past year and trying to promote the HIM profession and credentials.  The future focus will be on ICD-10 training initiatives.
     
  5. Volunteer and Leadership Development-This team completed the 2009 AHIMA volunteer diversity analysis and will focusing on CSA volunteer leader competencies and ACE and Fellowship program during this upcoming year.
     
  6. Best Practices/Standards-The focus in 2010 for this team will be to review the ACE program and the group for HIM practice guidance.
It was discussed that starting July 1, 2010 there will be an increase in the CSA access to these house teams that are mentioned above.  Each CSA will have the option to appoint one representative to each team not already covered by a delegate or assign a delegate to multiple teams.  Currently in Maryland, we have 5 delegates but there are 6 teams so we are not represented on one team. 

Last, several HIT initiatives were discussed and how AHIMA and HIM professional will be playing an essential role in each of them. They included:
  • Incentives to meaningful users
  • Regional extension centers
  • State health information exchange
  • Workforce development
  • Privacy and security
  • ICD-10
AHIMA Hill Day

Hill Day took place on March 23rd, 2010 on Capitol Hill.  It was an exciting time to be there supporting our HIM profession and the key initiatives AHIMA asked us to cover.  Several MdHIMA members participated and were in attendance at both Senators Benjamin Cardin’s and Barbara Mikulski’s office meetings with their legislative and health policy fellows.  Our members were also given the opportunity to meet with assistants in their local state representative offices.  The three key issues that AHIMA asked the attendees to discuss with their respective senators and congressmen were:
  1. Update DOL-BLS (Department of Labor- Bureau of Labor Statistics) HIM Definitions- Currently the definitions of the HIM profession are misclassified.  Accurate BLS statistics will assist the policymakers and educators to plan for the demand for HIM.  AHIMA is asking for Congress to direct the DOL- BLS to incorporate appropriate identification of the HIM profession so that our industry has the capability to identify shortages and plan for the recruitment and education of students and educators for the future.
     
  2. Allied Health Education Fund- Title VII- The majority of allied health funding for education has been eliminated except for physicians, nurses, and pharmacists.  Research indicates that there is a lack of core competencies for EHR in most allied health educational programs.  With these allied health making up 60% of healthcare professionals, AHIMA is asking for Congress to add funding to Title VII to cover allied health education including an EHR curriculum. 
     
  3. Administrative Simplification- AHIMA was asking for Congress to update the HIPAA process to allow for periodic and routine updating of standards and to adopt a process for establishing and maintaining operating rules for the HIPAA Transaction Standards.  Based on the recent passing of healthcare reform, this issue is now resolved and the attendees were asked to thank their senators and congressman for their support. 

Welcome New MdHIMA Members!

MdHIMA welcomes the new and transfer members into our state association!  We look forward to seeing you at the upcoming events and welcome your active participation.  Please feel free to contact any of the Board members if you are interested in joining a committee or if you have questions or need information.  Again, welcome!
Regina Barnes-Baylor, RHIT,CCS
Aaron J. Braxton, II
Sharon Bush
Valerie Bushnell
Ehydel Castro, MHA, CPC-A
Tameka M. Chaffin
Juanita F. Dyerwilkins
Daviett A. Elliott-Bowman
Juliette P.  Fuller
Jeremiah Garcia, RHIT
Susan M. Gemmell
Erin Godlove
Tonia Goods, MHA, MBA
Barbara Hoffman, CPC-P
Richard B. Hough
Syreeta Jones
Ok Kyun Lee
Brad J. Meisky
Terri A. Mustafa, CCS-P
Mwikalu Mutia
Aylin T. Newbold
Emma C. Olufemi, RHIT
James S. Paragua
Carolyn S. Peterson, CCS
Letitia Prather
Edna R. Perez
Harold W. Petschke, CDIA
Alissa Pierre-Charles
Amy Richard, CCA
Patricia D. Seitz, RRT,CPFT
Ann Sewell, BSN, RN, CRRN
Edward H. Shortliffe, MD, PhD
Lisa Singleton
Jessica Station
Jennifer A. Sylvia		 Sandra O. Santos
Jennifer Schwartz
Bernadine Shettle
Mari Smith
Susan Sprout
Alexandra Stadler
Susan Stitcher
Marcia K. Summers
Pascal N. Takwe
Raquel P. Tan, CCS
Hope Taylor
LaVerne Taylor
Natalie A.Thompson
Karen Townes
Jacqueline Truesdel
Jerusalem Teklehymanot
Joseph Travagline
Anita Uwadia
Mardelena M. Wade
Towanda D. Wade
Maureen R. Warner
Lucy J. Watkins
Diana Weber
Harijati Wibowo
Tanelle Williams
Sandra C. Worrell
Donna R. Young, CCS
Dates to Remember 

April 29 – April 30, 2009 -  MdHIMA Annual Meeting – Baltimore Convention Center

September 25 -30, 2010  - AHIMA Annual Convention and Exhibit – Orlando, FL

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