In This Issue:
 President's Message
How Do You Clean Dirty Data?
Register for "The Coding Connection" Seminar Now
E-Discovery...A New Challenge for HIM
Legal Resource Manual Updated
Jennifer Laughlin - ACE Member
WHIMA Executive Director Recognition
"After Five"
President's Message
Jennifer Laughlin, MBA, RHIA
|  | Jennifer Laughlin
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The 2008, AHIMA National Convention, was held in Philadelphia, PA, October 6, 2007- October 11, 2007. We were so happy to see many WHIMA members in attendance! The conference had a lot to offer attendees from coding workshops, national speakers on eHIM, technology, documentation workflow and more! We even managed to sneak in a Packer Party Sunday night, thanks to IOD! (too bad the Pack couldn’t beat da Bears)
Whew! The House of Delegates (HOD) agenda was jam-packed with five issue forums to participate in and three resolutions to discuss. The five issues forums were: 1) House of Delegates Structure and Operations; 2) Vision 2016: A Blueprint for Quality Education in HIM; 3) Accreditations and Certification Governance; 4) Certification Program Development; and, 5) HIM Global Trends. A summary of each issue and forum follows:
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| | 2007 WHIMA Delegates to AHIMA (L-R) Vicky Wolf, Debbie Case, Jennifer Laughlin, Barb Savagian, and Elaine Krause
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Issue Forum #1: House of Delegates Structure and Operations
• The purpose of this forum was to discuss the current HOD structure (1 delegate/100 members up to a max of 5 delegates. WHIMA is represented by 5 delegates) and compare it to the options on the table for a future HOD structure. (i.e. reapportionment of the HOD)
• A new structure model for the HOD would potentially better reflect needed functions. Six teams were proposed and would be the initial reviewers of the topic information and would present the information and recommendations to the full HOD.
o HOD Operations Team
o HIM Higher Education and Workforce Team
o Environmental Scan HOD Team
o Credentialing/Professional Development HOD Team
o Volunteer and Leadership Development HOD Team
o Best Practices/Standards HOD Team
• Outcome:
o There was general agreement on the proposed HOD Team Structure
o We will determine role and performance measures for a successful HOD
o We suggested implementing the new HOD Team Structure before approaching delegate apportionment.
Read on for more information on Issues 2-5 and the outcomes of the discussion...
Dirty Data -- A Plague for the Electronic Health Record
Sally Hensel, RHIT
Data definitions, cleaning legacy data, loading into tables, these are not the sexiest part of any EHR project, but are amongst the most critical tasks to undertake to get meaningful information from the transition.
Aphorisms abound regarding data, “garbage in, garbage out”, “To err is human, but to really foul things up requires a computer” and “The trouble with doing something right the first time is that nobody appreciates how difficult it was”, stated Kathy Callan to introduce her topic “Dirty Data – A Plague for the Electronic Health Record” at the 2007 WHIMA Fall Conference in the Dells.
Callan presented her model for EHR documentation improvement and the role of HIM. She discussed the best practices in achieving data quality, reminded us not to recreate the wheel and stressed the importance of using common standards. To read more about the common standards and the 11 common data sets critical in achieving data quality click here Dirty Data: A Plague for the Electronic Health Record for an abridged version of her PowerPoint presentation because “if you don't have time to do it right you must have time to do it over” and it is doubtful that applies to any of us!
E-Discovery Beyond the Audit Trail
Register by October 23rd for the Early Bird Discount
What is E-Discovery you ask? Electronic discovery is about the data behind the data in your electronic health record.
As electronic health record (EHR) technology advances, sophisticated litigators are gaining a better understanding of the information they can obtain from e-mail messges, databases, software applications, computer logs, and metadata. Adopting sound information management to emerging electronic practice is a big challenge. HIM and IT professionals are being called upon to ensure a systemized approach to electronic record management that conforms to state and federal legal requirements. HIM and IT departments must understand how to more efficiently locate, preserve, and review information in order to support in-house and external counsel. Learn about the changes to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the impact on release and access of health information. How should you prepare your department and organization for E-Discovery? Where do you begin? Come to the November 8, 2007 Leadership Conference on "E-Discovery Beyond the Audit Trail". For a brochure and registration click here E-Discovery 2007 Leadership Conference
New Release of the Legal Resource Manual Coming Soon
Michelle Magedanz, RHIT
For 2007 the Legal Resource Manual will see at least one major change that will be quite helpful to everyone. Instead of having a separate HIPAA tab in the binder, the Legal Resource Manual Team is working on incorporating HIPAA into all of the other sections of the binder. This will allow for quick accessibility to the HIPAA laws in each section, instead of having to flip between different sections.
One more update in the 2007 version that will be included will be the copy fees section. Earlier this year, there was a major change regarding the copy fees (HFS 117). The Legal Resource Manual Team will be including the updated information regarding the changes to the copy fees (HFS 117).
The publication date of the Legal Resource Manual has been revised. It is planned to have the update available by the end of 2007.
The Legal Resource Manual will be available in both paper and CD-ROM this year. The prices for this year’s manual have not been decided yet, due to the in-depth updates and revisions that are currently taking place. Look for this year’s Legal Resource Manual on the WHIMA website under the Publications tab.
AHIMA Recognizes Jennifer Laughlin as ACE Member
Vicky Wolf, RHIT
ACE is a new AHIMA initiative. It identifies, prepares, engages, mentors, and recognizes those working to transform e-HIM practices. Laughlin is definitely one of those experts and she is stepping up to lend a helping hand to others through ACE.
The Action Community for e-HIM Excellence (ACE) is a community composed of expert HIM professionals who lead and influence e-HIM and make a difference in the health care environment. This program, launched by AHIMA in July, is designed to help you and I make the transformation to electronic practice.
AHIMA has pulled together a vast group of experts like Jennifer to mentor other HIM professionals, write articles and textbooks, testify before Congress on e-HIM issues, and speak at state and national association meetings.
Jennifer Laughlin, WHIMA President, is volunteering her knowledge and expertise through ACE in hopes to be able to help other facilities and Health Information Professionals take e-HIM to heart. She has worked in HIM for 11 years. Jennifer was the director of medical records and medical staff services for Watertown Healthcare System until late 2005, when she was promoted to her current position as vice president and chief information officer for Watertown Area Health Services.
Since their first EHR system was implemented in 1998, she has helped organize and transition several record systems from paper to electronic form. Their most recent change involved changing from paper physician documentation notes to doctors using electronic templates. Through this system implementation, Jennifer learned not only how to help her own staff adapt to e-HIM, but physicians as well. She says, “Having a plan and setting specific milestones is vital for implementation success”.
This is just one of the tricks of EHR implementation she would love to share with other HIM professionals, as physicians can be the hardest people to win over during an EHR implementation. She said she learned first hand how to convince physicians – it all comes down to emphasizing patient safety and getting their direct buy-in through input.
As an ACE member, Jennifer will try to convince others of the vast benefits of e-HIM and calm any fears in the process. “The e-HIM change is coming whether we like it or not. We need to alleviate the fears and create excitement,” she says. Jennifer believes this program is going to do exactly that. Because as Jennifer says, “through this program colleagues will be able to hook up with somebody who has been there, who can talk them through their fears and help get them started.”
Jennifer wants to be able to tell all of us that we can do it! We need to continuously learn, believe in ourselves, be cheerleaders, and call on our resources. To learn more about ACE or to become an ACE member, visit AHIMA
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The next coding virtual seminar is scheduled for December 6, 2007 from 12:00 to 1:30 p.m. Learn about the 2008 CPT Changes and OPPS updates effective January 1, 2008. For a seminar brochure click here
2007 Mediasite/Coding Seminar To register, call 608-787-0168.
| | Sandy Bissen
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Sandy Bissen was recognized by AHIMA at the national convention in Philadelphia as a “Top Notch” Community of Practice facilitator for all her hard work and the outstanding job she does with the Wisconsin CoP.
WHIMA welcomes our new facilitators in Wisconsin. Cheryl Olson and Karla Danielski from Green Bay, Patti Miller and Mary Gordon from La Crosse and Angela Lee of Waukesha will join Bissen as facilitators for 2007 for the WHIMA Community of Practice (CoP).
Thank you Sandy for making our CoP one of the best!
To join WHIMA's CoP, just go to AHIMA Comunity of Practices enter your AHIMA member number, a password, and then use the "passport" icon to join WHIMA by going to "Geographic: Wisconsin".
WHIMA and the Coulee Region Health Information Management group will hold an "After Five" networking event for members to meet, connect and exchange ideas, problems and concerns. Mark your calendars for November 5, 2007 from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. Nancy Korn-Smith will be the hostess at her home in Shore Acres, LaCrescent, MN. Come for a time of networking, meet new members, and hear about the new campaign to promote personal health record awareness, titled "It's HI Time, America!"
AHIMA in partnership with the Canadian Health Information Management Association (CHIMA) will celebrate HI&T Week November 4 through 10. For suggested activities, visit HIT Week
Check out these quick links.
Job Board
Education
E-Resources
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