Meet the Candidates: AHDI National Leadership Board (Post 4)
Today's candidate question drills down on personal passion and platform issues:
Every director or speaker comes to their new role with a particular passion for something – whether it’s components, credentialing, advocacy, education, etc. This typically will become a platform issue for that leader and helps to define what their unique contributions will be during their tenure in that role. What would you identify as your primary platform issue? What will be the indelible mark you hope to leave on the association when you’re term is over?
Lea M. Sims, CMT, AHDI-F
Director of Professional Programs, AHDI
Every director or speaker comes to their new role with a particular passion for something – whether it’s components, credentialing, advocacy, education, etc. This typically will become a platform issue for that leader and helps to define what their unique contributions will be during their tenure in that role. What would you identify as your primary platform issue? What will be the indelible mark you hope to leave on the association when you’re term is over?
Lea M. Sims, CMT, AHDI-F
Director of Professional Programs, AHDI
My passion lies in credentialing and education. In my mind, the two areas have always dovetailed. I have held the belief for a long time that a credentialed workforce is a necessary goal due to the changing nature of the healthcare documentation industry. Ensuring the accuracy and security of healthcare documentation has always been important, yet this seems to be getting even more important. I read an article yesterday that HHS has proposed a new rule to disclose, upon request, the name of anyone who has accessed a patient's EMR. Changes of this nature lead me to believe that credentialing in our industry is going to become a requirement at some point in the future. If this new disclosure rule should come to fruition, I believe that employers will be looking for a solution, other than creating an internal education program, to have documentation that their employees are knowledgeable proper handling of patient information. The RMT and CMT credential exam blueprints cover the knowledge area of HIPAA and protecting PHI. During recertification, these areas are covered again for reinforcement. Since a credential is evidence of an individual's knowledge and competence in a field, having a fully credentialed workforce will be a tangible benefit to an the employer.
Because of my passion for credentialing, and my belief that credentialing is going to be a requirement in the future, the mark I would like to leave on our association is strong credentialing program. Not just a strong, validated credential exam, but a strong support system to guide credential candidates through their studies so they can achieve their credential goal.
Tammy Moore, CMT, AHDI-F
NLB Candidate District 6
This is such a great question. On my first term on the board, I wanted to focus on transcripiton's two most important deliverables - turnaround time and quality. With the collaboration of associations and a gathering of colleagues we delivered on both. A turnaround time white paper and the new QA Best Practices manual that had 44 contributors. Based on the CQI principal of always improving, the published QABP is a real milestone or to put it differently an "indelible mark" in terms of contributions.
So what should I do now? For me, I think the important areas in which I work for the association are concentrated in 2 areas. The evolution of job roles, and being closely connected with HIM, I am in a unique place to keep a watchful eye on changes and look for those opportunities where we can insert ourselves and be the solution.
Briefly, I recently met with an MD, CIO here in Denver where they were doing a lot of intensive abstracting of data, looking for inconsistencies in the record [the purpose was to find new treatment options for critically ill patients]. They are paying RNs to do this now, and after a couple of conversations, he does agree that MTs could do this work. He mused that MTs are very comfortable with technology and have a trained eye to look for discrepancies... There will be more stories like this one to come.
And then the other area is Health Story Project. The technology to keep dictation/transcription/editing in EHRs is here - it's an approved HL7 language and is gaining momentum as the harmonization of the work types already completed moves forward. Meaningful Use stage 2 & 3 allows for transcribed or scanned documents in the EHR - so we are very well-positioned to keep this process in place. What we cannot do is think for a minute that our work is done.
With ongoing efforts in these 2 areas, the "indelible mark" will be that new opportunities are created for today's MTs. Now that is exciting and well worth the effort!
I think I'd like to focus on working closely with our components - whether it be a regular chapter or a focus group, helping to make us a cohesive group. I plan on visiting as many chapter events as I can. I'd like to also concentrate on the Canadian MTs. How can we help them feel like an important part of District 4 that they are? I understand that there are some governmental regulations in Canada that make chapter formation more difficult. But, how about a focus group? Not sure if that's a problem or not. I don't see why the government would need to be involved with individuals getting together to talk, recruit members, education, credentialing, etc. It's something I'd have to explore further.
Another area I'm interested in is communication - keeping those lines open and dialogue going both ways, from me to the members of District 4 and vice versa.
Growing membership in District 4 is also an important issue. And, bridging that gap between graduating from school and finding a job. That transition is so important when you're talking about recruiting MTs into the field, and it's a big problem from what I'm hearing. This isn't limited to our field, of course. I know that new coding professionals have the same problem.
I look forward to working closely with the other board members, district directors and our new CEO. We can certainly learn a lot from each other and help the whole organization move forward. I think we've come a long way over the years, and we still have a lot of work to do. I'm sure we'll evolve and change as the times dictate, and I hope I will be allowed to be a part of that effort!
First, there are several areas of focus that are deserving of our attention and dedication, which is why it is a privilege to work with so many other dedicated and diverse individuals.
My answer is along the line of Susan's. As a Medical Records Manager who is also RHIT certified, I am dealing with all aspects of HIM daily, and I know for certain that healthcare documentation specialists are an integral part of that team.
My main focus is helping them to realize that current trends in the industry are helping to showcase their knowledge base and expertise in producing a useful record for our patients.
I'm involved in the transition to ICD-10 - and have, for the last two days, been attending a HIMSS conference where every session that discussed ICD-10 STRESSED THE IMPORTANCE OF CLINICAL DOCUMENTATION! There are companies out there right now who are hiring clinical documentation specialists because of the mandated push to ICD-10 by October 2013. There are nurses and doctors applying for those positions!
We absolutely have to position ourselves to be a part of this implementation. Providers everywhere are now scrambling because they went ahead and went to an EHR (which does not work for useful documentation) and now realize they've got to find solutions to the increased level of documentation..we're already here, waiting to help, but we have to be vocal about it.
The specificity of coding is going to increase sharply, and everyone involved in that process knows that, even though the date of transition is October 2013, we should already be preparing for transition by the end of this year to be ready to start testing.
In Canada, when they switched to ICD-10, they did not have the documentation aspect figured out yet - so they basically couldn't submit claims for six months! And their productivity dropped on average from 10% to 50% across the spectrum. That is because they were not prepared to produce a record that would be as detailed as the codes had to be - imagine the loss of income while they scrambled to correct that problem.
We have to become more visible, continue or collaboratioin with CDIA, and start cooperating with AHIMA, HIMSS, and other industry-related organizations. We have to have leaders who will go into those meetings and say, "We can help you with this." We really can use the current industry trends to position our workforce for premium HIM roles - roles that will change from straight transcribing or even editing to documentation specialist roles that showcase our knowledge and talents.
As an HIM leader, as is Susan Lucci, I feel we can help bring documentation to the forefront and bring solutions where everyone else is shaking their heads at the problems. To paraphrase Jack Nicholson - they want us on that wall...they need us on that wall. And we have to stand up, speak up, and let them know we are ready to offer our expertise to help make an industry-wide transition go much more smoothly with our input.
We have to be ready to transition our roles a bit, but that is NOT a bad thing - we transition to experts in a much-needed field, which is how we increase our visibility, recognition, and compensation.
Cynthia C. Alder, RHIT, CMT, AHDI-F
NLB Candidate, Distrist 5
I really have two passions, one being credentialing and the other being helping new graduates gain employment in the field and be successful.
Much as been spoken to credentialing, so I will not spend a lot of time on this, but I think as a profession we need to show that we are serious about what we do and what better way than through the achievement of a credential.
As a recent graduate I know how much is involved in gaining a certificate of graduation. I held down a full time job while completing my studies, and I will say it was hard work, but I knew that I wanted to finish out my career in this field, and so it was worth the hard work. I was fortunate in gaining employment, and presently work for a wonderful company. I also had, in my opinion, the best trainer. However, getting to where I am has required a lot of hard work and effort on my part along with the encouragement of so many other. I understand that a lot of companies have not had good success with hiring new graduates because of the time and expense involved in getting someone “up to speed” as they say. I would like to engage with employers and find out what can be done to help the “newbies” gain employment and enjoy the success that I have been able to enjoy. I would also like to become a part of the mentoring program and work in that area because of the encouragement of two MTs who have helped me along the way. I would like to give back what has been given to me.
Martha Songer, RMT
District 3 NLB candidate
My passion is membership and promoting AHDI. I would like to create a healthy District 5, facilitating communication and working together. I would like to promote AHDI to companies that the MTs in District 5 touch.
Tamara Dicks, CMT
District 5
Without question my primary goal is finding new and innovative ways to connect with current members, former members, and individuals who have never been a part of AHDI. The success of all our strategic initiatives hinges on our ability to engage the very practitioners we claim to represent. I would consider my tenure a rousing success if by the time it was completed, belonging to AHDI was considered "cool"!
I do not think I have one particular passion as it relates to issues, but one overall passion; that passion is to solve problems and get things done! I am not the individual that like to go over and over and over an issue with no resolution. That is very frustrating and as I think most people feel, when I give my time and energy to a project, I like to see results, and I like for things to move forward. In doing that, for any given project or goal, if it is not as successful as we would have liked, we can say that we gave it our best try. I tend to approach things in a manner that says, "What do we need to do to get it done", rather than dwell on ways it cannot be done. Then devise a plan and work really hard at carrying out that plan to meet the goal.
My passion as far as the industry would then lie in educating members on how to accomplish their goals, whatever those goals are. If it is component related issues, then have them engage themselves in component swap ideas, connect them with components that are doing what they aspire to do, etc. If it is credentialing, share the wealth of information that AHDI has available regarding credentialing, point them in the directions of study groups, and for career building, let's look at the career connection page and see what those resources have available, and so on and so forth. Therefore, if I had to choose an area of focus, it would probably be membership outreach. I appreciate the current outreach efforts that AHDI is conducting to find out what's on the mind of our members. I would like to hear what members goals and challenges are, and come up with ways that we can assist in helping them to meet them.
Reading all the responses from my fellow candidates is inspiring to me. So many ideas, and passions, yet I see lots of opportunity to merge everyone's vision and build an even stronger association.
Tammy Moore, CMT, AHDI-F
NLB Candidate District 6
I have enjoyed reading the responses to this question because they illustrate how each person’s unique experience and passion can contribute to the bigger picture. Coming from a systems and workflow consulting background, my passion and unique contribution to AHDI would be in the areas of collaboration, alliances, and standards development, with the goal always being the integrity of healthcare documentation and protecting the patient.
In the area of internal collaboration, I think AHDI can draw upon the expertise of its members using social media and other technology to ask questions, solicit input, and provide educational opportunities, while also enabling members to share their questions and professional needs with us. Right now, AHDI does a lot of great “push” activities by providing e-mail updates and webinars and blogs and such, but I think we should consider ways to “pull” feedback from members more frequently so that we can gauge whether what we are pushing is truly meeting expectations, and we can also get great ideas for new initiatives related especially to education and recruitment.
I also see a need for external collaboration with other associations, such as our partnership with CDIA and our relationship with AHIMA, so that we can work together for everyone’s benefit as the health care environment evolves due to new regulations and technology. Gone are the days of working in individual job silos. The data connects, the processes connect, and the people need to connect towards better workflow efficiencies and impeccable documentation quality. Building these alliances is critical to our success by making our voices heard and valued, not just within our own ranks, but at all levels of healthcare delivery and administration. This greater assertiveness moves us from “I’m just a medical transcriptionist,” passively letting the health care industry define our contribution, to “I’m a medical transcriptionist, and in my own specialized way, I save lives every day. Let me show you how I make a difference.”
As a seasoned software nerd, I am a huge fan of standards development and really thinking through why and how processes are defined. As new methodologies for document creation and data sharing are launched, we will need to look at the roles in our organizations differently. I believe there will always be medical transcription in a traditional sense, but I am very excited that technology and integration with other parts of HIM are diversifying the career options for someone in the healthcare documentation field. Everyone will be able to find a role that fits their interests, talents, and skill set. I enjoyed being part of the discussion about what “quality” really means in healthcare documentation, and I would love to be part of many more discussions about best practices and standards development as we expand beyond transcription, to speech recognition editing, to quality review and scoring, to physician-originated documentation using templates and front-end speech, to natural language processing, data integration with EHR, and more.
Jill Devrick
District IV Candidate
Hi Everyone- If you're interested in keeping up with what's happening with the national EHR, you might want to visit the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology site (http://healthit.hhs.gov). There is a wealth of information here! They are also offering frequent free webinars covering various topics. Today there is a webinar at 1 pm ET regarding health IT standards and the Policy Committee's quarterly update. Tomorrow, 6/14/11, in conjunction with the National eHealth Collaborative (NeHC) there is one entitled "Spotlight on the Learning Health System (LHS): Ensuring Public Trust from 2-3:30 ET. Go to NeHC's website at http://nationalehealth.org to learn more. Sign up for automatic updates directly into your email! These 2 sites are ultra-important to our sector and it's important that we keep a close eye on what's happening nationally. The websites are full of great information, including the Health IT Workforce Program that I know some MTs are taking advantage of right now.
Diane Warth, CMT, AHDI-F, RHIT, CPC
District 4 Director Candidate
There are many things to do, but as a starter, helping build stronger components by filling in the gaps that are needed, and certainly the current issues are going to be unique to each component. It will be important to hear the voices of the members and be that leader who helps you fulfill your needs and have your voices heard. We can gain a lot of information by exchanging views. Education is a topic that is also important to me, especially making sure that everyone continues to be well informed, (including new graduates) to continue to have that competitive edge with credentialing to help them secure employment. With working directly in this industry, I can keep apprised of all the changes that are so widespread and will keep the lines of communication open across District 5.
Mary Schmidt
District 5 Candidate
mschmidt@amphionmedical.com