2018 – 2019 Incoming President’s Message

It is a special honor and a privilege to begin my term as president of the Maryland Health Information Management Association (MdHIMA) for 2018-2019 term. Our outgoing president, Linda Metro, RHIA, deserves an enormous thank you from all of us for guiding the association and keeping us engaged with all the new developments in the Health Information Management (HIM) arena. It has truly been a pleasure working with Linda to move our association forward. With support of the Executive Board, Committee Chairs and all MdHIMA members, we all will strive in our unique way to continue to accomplish the goals and objectives of MdHIMA while pursuing opportunities that increases our membership knowledge in critical areas of HIM.

With the many changes in the healthcare industry, we are confronted daily with decisions and challenges that impact health information management. As leaders in health information management, we must stay ahead of these changes in informatics and data analytics by educating our members to foster change in not only the way health information is managed and delivered, but also to embrace technological advancements and changes and stay connected locally, regionally, and nationally with new developments in healthcare. As leader in HIM, we need to embrace this new technology in order to meet future demands of healthcare and develop standards and policies that will enable efficiency and access to health information.

In preparation for my presidency, the past year has included my participation in many of our association’s committee meetings and events. This has provided me with a chance to learn first-hand about many of the important activities in which AHIMA/MdHIMA is currently involved in including the Modernization of Privacy Laws to Combat Opioid Epidemic, Patient Matching and Offshoring of HIM jobs. Thanks to the work of all of our committees, under the guidance of the Executive Board, Committee Chairs and outstanding volunteers, MdHIMA continues to provide our members and future members with valuable information to enrich their knowledge in healthcare.

One of my top goals is to create more avenues for mentoring and volunteering opportunities. Students and new professionals are the future leaders of our association and HIM industry and it is essential to ensure that those taking their first steps down the HIM career path are given the right support and guidance to be successful. My second priority is to ensure that members take advantage of the many benefits and activities available to you as MdHIMA member. Some of these benefits and activities include, MdHIMA Annual Meeting, Quarterly Business Meetings (QBM), Coding Roundtable, Virtual Education Sessions (Webinars) and access to various HIM Resources for HIM and Coding professionals to stay update to date with the industry while maintaining your credentials. I would love to hear from any member who would like to sponsor a student or new professional. Thank you in advance for your support, and please don’t hesitate to let me know what you think will make us even better. Being elected president is thus a special honor for me, and I will do my best to serve you, our members, during my term.

 

Sincerely,

Godwin I. Okafor, MSHI, RHIA, FAC-P/PM, FAC-COR
2018-2019 MdHIMA President