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In This Issue:  New E-mail Addresses for WHIMA From the WHIMA President CHDA Certification ICD-10 Health Information & Technology Week Legal Resource Manual Update New Grad Focus Coming in 2009 Release of Information Workshop Attention Students! Jenifer Laughlin Named as a CCHIT Comissioner Save the Date for the 2009 Convention Fall Conference Attendees Hypnotized?!?President's Message
AHIMA celebrated their 80th anniversary October 11-16, 2008, in Seattle, Washington, at the Annual Convention and Exhibit. The coffee was stout, the hills were steep, and the scenery was stunning! It is hard for me to believe that it has come & gone so quickly. Highlights of the week included: House of Delegates: Orientation to the House of Delegates was held Saturday, October 11. The number of delegates each state is allowed to send is based on the size of the membership within the state. Wisconsin can send 5 delegates, which is the maximum. Your delegates include the President (Barb Savagian), President-elect (Sandy Stevens-Berens), and the 3-second year Directors (Debbie Case, Sue Casperson, and Karen Holzwarth).
-Certification Proposals -HIM Practice Issues -Educational Initiatives -AHIMA and Future Forces -ICD-10 -Multinational Forum Each group provided a summary of feedback, which was reported to the House later in the day. The feedback will provide the AHIMA Board of Directors and members with direction on positions and priorities for future action. The comments will be available online in the State Leaders/House of Delegates CoP. The three resolutions the House voted on included: -Proposed Credential in Health Data Analytics -Proposed Bylaws Amendments on Certification Governance/3rd Party Accreditation -Proposed Privacy and Security Resolution At the Wisconsin Fall Meeting, where the three resolutions were reviewed and discussed, concern was raised by our membership regarding the educational requirements included in the Proposed Credential in Health Data Analytics. In a nutshell, someone can sit for the certification exam if they are an RHIA with one year of healthcare experience, or have a bachelor’s degree and 5 years of healthcare data experience. Our membership felt that an RHIT with 3 years of healthcare data experience should also be allowed to sit for the exam. With that in mind, Wisconsin delegates attended the forum to discuss it with other states. Others shared the concern, and the Wisconsin delegation proposed an amendment that moved that a proviso be added to the resolution that an RHIT with 3 years of healthcare data experience shall be eligible for initial certification within the first 2 years of the implementation of the credential. The motion was seconded by the state of Arizona, and went to a vote. It failed by a vote of 84 to 135. Even though it did not pass, it was made clear that there was significant concern within the states; your voice was heard!! At the end of the day, all 3 resolutions were presented, voted on, and passed. It was a productive House! Read on for information about the dues increase for 2009 and more happenings at the 2009 AHIMA Annual Convention... New Credential Creates a Stir Among Members... The summer edition of the Link introduced a new Health Data Analyst credential being developed. On October 12th, the House of Delegates (HOD) voted on the proposal for this new certification at the AHIMA national convention. The cover story in the October 2008 edition of Journal of AHIMA is “HIM Jobs of Tomorrow”. Health Data Analyst is included as one of the eleven new jobs indicative of changing trends in HIM. There is a lively discussion thread on the State Leaders and HOD COP entitled “Proposed Credential in "Health Data Analytics" - CoC Feedback” which covers many of the arguments for and against the new credential. The proposed requirements for the Credential in Health Data Analytics (CHDA) are an RHIA with one year’s experience or a baccalaureate degree with five years HIM experience. Lisa Horman, RHIT, a Clinical Data Specialist at Gunderson-Lutheran spoke at the WHIMA fall conference on the requirement for a bachelor’s degree. Her argument is that she is doing exactly the job defined in the credential, has worked in the role for seven years, has mentored and developed other data specialists and yet would be unable to sit for the exam because she does not hold a baccalaureate degree. She maintains that there should be technical vocations within the HIM arena, separate from management track positions. Additionally there are no longer any schools in Wisconsin that offer an RHIA degree. Lisa feels that the credential is geared towards the wrong population and as currently defined, does not allow those who have been practicing in the field to pursue the credential without attaining a bachelor’s degree, regardless of the relevance to the position. Read on for more comments from members and an employer on the requirements for the Health Data Analytics credential... Exams for the Certified in Health Data Analytics (CHDA) designation will be available in December 2008. For more information about the new certication, click here Certification Program ICD-10 is Coming! Will You Be Ready? In August 2008, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) proposed to use new code sets to report diagnoses and procedures on health care transactions. Under the proposal, ICD-10 code sets would replace the ICD-9-CM code sets in all healthcare settings. This is tentatively set for October 1, 2011. ICD-9 is outdated, lacks the precision needed, lacks specificity and detail and will eventually run out of space. By adopting ICD-10, we will be able to accurately define services and provide specific diagnosis and treatment information and support comprehensive reporting of quality data. ICD-10 will help us improve disease management and be in line with the rest of the world that currently uses ICD-10. The structure of ICD-10-CM and ICD-10-PCS will be longer than that of ICD-9-CM. With ICD-10-CM and ICD-10-PCS, there will be up seven characters and it will be alphanumeric. ICD-10-CM will offer approximately 68,000 codes, while ICD-10-PCS will offer approximately 87,000 codes. The implementation of ICD-10 will affect all healthcare settings and payer plans. Many systems will be impacted by this change. It is imperative that HIM professionals stay abreast of all of the updates concerning the implementation of ICD-10. AHIMA has offered two complimentary webcasts in August and September that are available on their website at www.ahima.org to help us prepare for this implementation. CMS is also offering conference calls regarding ICD-10. They will provide an overview of ICD-10 and the major impacts providers should consider when planning to update systems. A PowerPoint handout of the presentation will be available on their website:ICD-10. As the proposed implementation date gets closer, HIM professionals need to be at the forefront of this change and embrace it in its entirety. We are very fortunate to have many resources available to lower our anxiety and increase our excitement about this huge undertaking. Make sure to check out the available resources often to stay on top of the proposed implementation of ICD-10-CM and ICD-10-PCS. New Grad Focus: Angelia "Angie" Thull Welcome to another edition of the “New Graduate Focus”. I am
Before Angie graduated from the HIT program, she worked at a small rural acute care facility as a clerk for a couple of years. After Angie earned her degree, she became a lead at a large acute care hospital in the same organization where she had one of her clinicals. After about six months of being a lead, Angie was promoted to the site supervisor position at another large acute care hospital in the same organization. After two years, an opportunity arose that Angie could not pass up. She became the third shift supervisor at the acute care hospital where she was previously a lead. She enjoys supervising in the organization that she currently works for, since she had numerous opportunities to gain valuable information and knowledge from the numerous HIM professionals she works with and she has a wonderful support system. Angie knew she wanted to do something in the medical field, but did not want to go into nursing. She liked the healthcare environment and she enjoys helping patients in a different way by being in the health information field. Angie may enroll in a few supervisory/management skills to further enhance her supervisory skills. The information technology field is another area of interest to her that she may pursue in the future. She enjoyed the coding classes in her HIT program. Angie liked that they were challenging and that you had to dig deeper for information. It was not something that came at face value. Angie is interested in the electronic medical record and everything that it can accomplish. She would like to see the WHIE up and running and would like to see more development of the PHR in the future. Angie feels students need to keep an open mind and be able to change with whatever environment you are in. Each healthcare setting is so different and you need to figure out your niche. Students should be willing to work hard and do well in their clinical experience because they are invaluable to your future. The options in the HIM field are limitless. There are many areas a HIM professional can work in and be successful at besides medical records and coding. If a student has the opportunity to either volunteer or work part time in a facility while in school, they will be able to learn the flow of the department and obtain a greater understanding of the different tasks in the department. Thank you Angie! CCHIT Names Eight New Commissioners
The Commission consists of at least two representatives each from the provider, payer and vendor stakeholder groups, as well as representatives from other stakeholder groups. The Commission began accepting applications on October 1st for the first phase of inspections for 2009 HIE certifications. Applications will also re-open for 2008 certification of ambulatory electronic health records at the same time, and will be accepted on a continuous basis through March 31, 2009. Click here to read the entire list of new commissioners and re-appointees...CCHIT This e-mail was sent to you by www.whima.org. WHIMA respects its members' Internet privacy. Update your Membership Profile or E-mail Address. If you prefer not to receive informational e-mails regarding WHIMA and the Link newsletter, send an e-mail with the subject line Remove to Sandy Bissen and include your full name and member ID number (if applicable) in the text. Please allow a few days for processing of your request. |
The WHIMA Executive Office and Executive Director have new e-mail addresses. You can reach the WHIMA Office at whima@whima.org. To contact Sandy Bissen, Executive Director, just send a message to sbissen@whima.org
Mark your calendars for Health Information and Technology Week, November 2 through 8, 2008, sponsored by AHIMA and the Canadian Health Information Management Association (CHIMA). This annual event is a showcase for the thousands of HIM professionals who perform their duties masterfully throughout the year. The theme of this year’s celebration is “The Strength of Technology, the Power of Care,” which is intended to spread the idea that sound principles are maintained as medical information evolves from the paper to the electronic world. We’d like to remind you to participate in this special week, which celebrates our profession and educates people about its importance. AHIMA has prepared a planning kit to help you plan your week. To access the kit online, visit HI&T Week Planning Kit
WHIMA offers merit scholarships to outstanding undergraduate students pursuing degrees in health information administration and health information technology. The "Karen Kohler Scholarship" named in honor of Kohler, a Past President of WHIMA and who worked at St. Mary's Hospital in Green Bay for many years, is available to credentialed health information management (HIM) professionals pursuing graduate degrees in an area related to HIM practice. Pursuing a new credential or seeking to advance your career? Consider applying for the Established Professional scholarship. You can find more information and application forms by going to Scholarships. Mark your calendars to submit your application for one of the WHIMA scholarships by March 15, 2009! Attendees were laughing out loud as HIM’ers sang songs, talked like Martians and did the Macarena while hypnotized. It was hilarious as Robert Ian, author of “How to Identify, Master, and Conquer Change” shared his message of change. He expressed that we need to lighten up, add humor to our life, and look at change in a positive light. We should look at change as new opportunities and a time for a new chapter in our life.
Attendees were able to put the networking session to use immediately following as we gathered under the “Big Top” for appetizers, fun conversation and a group juggle! The next day everyone was back soaking up the knowledge on how to apply excellent customer service to our HIM department, Medicare, POA and MS DRG’s and coding. After absorbing all this knowledge it was time to figure out how we were going to juggle all this new information. Lucky for us Eliz Greene was there to guide us. She expressed it as “Why women Have Balls”. She wanted us to look at everything in our life as a different size ball. It is in our ability to juggle these that affects our health and passions. We need to learn to embrace our heart. “Take a bow” and release stress. Give credit and avoid seeking perfection. Learning when to say “no” and when to say “YES” is the key to how you “juggle for peak performance”. A big “Top Hats off” bow and applause go out to the Fall Conference team for a great performance! Check out these quick links.
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