My husband and I will be taking our son to college this week. It is something I have looked forward to for many years and also is something I have dreaded. I will miss him tremendously, but I will send him with a “copy” of his personal health record (PHR) that I have kept for him these last 4 years. I hope that he will never have to use it, but if he does I hope he remembers what I taught him. It makes me think of how important a PHR is to healthcare and how, as HIM professionals, we need to embrace this concept by creating our own PHR and encouraging others to do the same. We all play an integral part, so grab those opportunities that come your way and run with them.

Enjoy the rest of your summer,

Sincerely,

Julie Wolter, MA, RHIA

President, MHIMA

* KCHIMA Meeting - September 19th

* Mid-Missouri Meeting - October 5th

* AHIMA Annual Convention - October 8-10th

* MHIMA Reception at the AHIMA Annual Convention - October 8th

* Health Information and Technology Week - November 4th-10th

* MHIMA Board of Directors Board Meeting - March meeting is a conference call from 9-10:30 am (not a face to face)

* Hill Day - Washington DC - April 7th

* Winter Team Talks, Washington DC - April 8th

* MHIMA Annual Meeting - April 30 - May 2, 2008

* Long Term Care (LTC) 2008 Spring Meeting - May 1-2, 2008

OPINIONS NEEDED...please review the following information and contact one of your House of Delegate representatives with your thoughts/comments.

Upcoming votes for House of Delegates Resolutions:

There are currently two resolutions being considered by the AHIMA House of Delegates. These resolutions are the “Proposed Resolution on Diversity” and the “Proposed Resolution on HIM Adoption of the Personal Health Record.”

The diversity resolution is intended to advance AHIMA's commitment to a culture that respects diversity throughout its organization, the federation, and the HIM profession at large. To achieve this end, this resolution calls upon AHIMA and its affiliates to:

Adopt meaningful, actionable, and durable diversity practices to expand the real opportunities available to all HIM professionals, including opportunities to fully participate in AHIMA

Engage the AHIMA community in advancing the goals of enhanced professional opportunities for all and improved value of the membership experience

Respect the individual sensibilities, personal beliefs, differences, and privacy and other rights of all HIM professionals and AHIMA members

Monitor the impact of these practices to improve and strengthen them over time

The PHR resolution charges HIM professionals with the responsibility of creating and maintaining their own personal health record. HIM professionals are ideally suited through their education and professional capabilities to inform consumers and healthcare providers about the benefits of the PHR.

Submitted by: Julie Wolter, MA, RHIA

MO attendees: Julie Wolter, Janice Noller, Michelle Kornfeld, Jeff McGraw, Teresa Knox

Triumph Award winners were announced.

AHIMA’s strategy and milestones were discussed.

ACE program was introduced. See website for more details.

AHIMA is in the process of branding the logo and materials available. More information will follow as the year progresses.

There was much discussion on the 2 resolutions. A straw vote was conducted to determine if the vote should be virtual or at the HOD in Philadelphia. Both are in the discussion phase and will be voted on in September.

Submitted by: Janice Noller, RHIA, CCS, CPHQ

“Larger, Louder, Faster” – These were the buzz words for this year’s Leadership Conference held in Chicago. In order to accomplish AHIMA and CSA goals, a new way of thinking about and operating our association.

To get us started, William Ryan, MPA, of the Hauser Center talked about ‘Governance as Leadership’. His guidelines acted as a catalyst for changing how leaders can act as ‘change agents’ for their organization. You will see and experience some revisions in how MHIMA will be handling business in the future.

Later, we broke into concurrent sessions on many topics related to CSA activities and Board member responsibilities, which ranged from managing association finances to public relations to newsletter, website and CoP.

At the end of Day 1, AHIMA provided a tour of the national offices. Having never had the opportunity, I took this one. We walked the almost one mile from the hotel to the office building. With the beautiful weather and the cool breeze off Lake Michigan, it was a very pleasant stroll! The offices are very spacious with a lot of technology for meetings. Everyone has a cubicle, even Linda Kloss, but they are very roomy. They are also on the top floor of the office building and have wonderful views of the Lake and other Chicago Landmarks, which provide the names of various meeting rooms throughout the office suite. If you get the opportunity, please take it – it was great to see where “it all happens”!

Day 2 first thing were the CSA Core Achievement Awards. These are to celebrate CSA Best Practices that others can learn from and use.

Winners:

Continuing Education programs relating to HIM practice: Connecticut

They had a Roundtable on the EHR

Continuing education programs relating to coding: Utah

They had a 200% increase in attendance at their programs. They held 10 in one year and had 200 people in attendance at one meeting.

Member communications: Michigan

They used a balanced scorecard concept to communicate accomplishments and goals that have been met to members.

Recruitment and retention activities for members: Ohio

They published topics that they needed volunteers for, and also sent employers letters explaining the advantages of having their employees involved in the regional or state association. The resulted in getting 50 new volunteers!

Recruitment and retention activities for students: Indiana

They attended several High School Career Days activities and advertised on billboards, resulting in an increase in students in their state HIM and HIT programs growing from 20 to 100 students.

Support for local accredited HIM education programs: Massachusetts

Legislative and regulatory advocacy: Wisconsin Have members on the Board for their governor’s Health Information Exchange (HIE) plan. This plan has 4 Work Groups and the CSA has 25 members involved.

Diversity programs: Pennsylvania

Contacted those not involved in CSA activities but said they were interested in participating.

Julie and I gained a lot of ideas that I know MHIMA can implement with the help of you, our members. We look forward to sharing what we learned and working with you to put those ideas into action!

Lisa Kronsberg, RHIA was selected to receive the Shooting STAR award for August by the MHIMA Board. Congratulations Lisa!

MHIMA Coding Roundtable Coordinator—Maggie Gambill RHIA, CCS-P

July 10, 2007: The first of hopefully many coding roundtable audioconferences was attended by over 30 lines/facilities. Coding scenarios suggested by audioconference participants and obtained from CodeWrite archives were reviewed during the hour-long event. Evaluations were favorable and after reporting to the MHIMA Board on the results, the Board is supportive of conducting more coding roundtable audioconferences in the future.

July 22, 2007: The AHIMA Coding Roundtable Summit was held in Chicago. Coding Roundtable Coordinators (CRC) from around the country gathered to exchange “success stories”, share ideas and develop a strategic plan for 2007-2008. I represented our CSA and reported on the coding roundtable activities of our regional associations during the past year.

July 24, 2007: The Pony Express Health Information Management Association held a coding roundtable at Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph, Missouri. Three topics were prepared for discussion: conflicts between payer policies and official coding guidelines, present on admission reporting, and reason for visit reporting. The POA and Reason for Visits were based on Do-It-Yourself roundtable kits downloaded from the Coding Roundtable Community of Practice. Most of the participants were especially interested in discussing case scenarios for Present on Admission reporting. The group developed their own roundtable kit regarding conflicts between payer policies and coding guidelines and used the roundtable kits for POA and Reason for Visit which they downloaded from the Coding Roundtable CoP and modified for their use. A special thanks to Judy Bielby for submitting this summary.

August 18, 2007: Eastern Missouri Health Information Management Association held a Coding Roundtable at St John’s Mercy Medical Center in St Louis. It was a four hour morning session with more than 40 participants. MS-DRGs, POA and physician queries were among the topics, as well as specific questions posed by attendees. Tony Krawat, Lisa Kronsberg and Janice Noller facilitated the roundtable, providing excellent information for coding professionals. To add variety to the traditional roundtable format, Lisa added a coding puzzle competition. AHIMA resources, such as CodeWrite and the Coding CoP, were also presented.

NOTE: Please visit the MHIMA website www.mohima.org and select “Educational Opportunities” and the Coding Roundtable tab. You will find links to the Coding Roundtable Toolkit and the AHIMA Coding Roundtable Strategic Plan. For those of you who need more information, please contact the MHIMA Project Manager for Coding Roundtables, Maggie Gambill, RHIA, CCS-P, mgambill@chanllc.com

May 1-2, 2008

St. Charles Convention Center

St. Charles, MO

Questions: contact Julie Wolter wolter@slu.edu

The upcoming September meeting will be an exciting and detail oriented presentation. There will be a Coding Round Table with discussion of any issues relating to the October updates, any Final Rule Surprises, and Present on Admission requirements that are forthcoming.

The presenter is Judy Bielby, RHIA. Judy is a consultant with Durst and Associates. Her primary area of expertise is the accurate reporting of diagnosis & procedure codes for hospitals. Judy is an adjunct faculty member at the Missouri Western State University, has an MBA and a BS in Medical Record Administration from KU.

The meeting will be held at North Kansas City Hospital on Wednesday, September 19, from 5:30 – 6:30 pm.

Do you need affordable CEUs . . .

Make plans to attend the bi-annual meeting of the Mid-Missouri HIMA to be held on Friday, October 5th, at the Veteran's Administration Hospital, Columbia, MO. A portion of the meeting will include a presentation of electronic health records including electronic Release of Information and its tie-in with the record and a MyhealtheVet initiative that allows veteran patients to access portions of their records from their home computers.

Please consider supporting FORE. Listed below is their Mission/ Vision and the current project list.

FORE Mission

The Foundation of Research and Education of the American Health Information Management Association provides financial and intellectual resources to sustain and recognize continuous innovation and advances in health information management for the betterment of the profession, healthcare, and the public.

The Foundation achieves this mission by:

• raising funds to support Foundation initiatives • identifying trends that impact health information management • defining new directions for the profession • guiding and encouraging professional development through research • defining and identifying best practice • recognizing excellence in the HIM profession

Through research, education, and public awareness initiatives the Foundation ensures the vitality, visibility and viability of the health information management profession.

FORE Vision

The Foundation of Research and Education (FORE) of the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) is a financially self-sustaining entity that provides resources for national leadership, research and innovation in health information management for the healthcare industry. FORE resources drive the improvement of the discipline of health information management and its impact on the quality and safety of healthcare.

FORE Value Statement:

The values of FORE reflect the history and ongoing development of the profession, and include: • Leadership • Research • Education • Integrity • Quality • Collaboration • Privacy • Professionalism • Diversity

Programs and Projects

Below is a listing of our current FORE programs or sponsored projects. For more information on a FORE program or sponsored project, please click on the title and you will be directed to that section of the FORE website.

• Merit Scholarships and Educational Loans • Practice Solutions and Best Practice Awards • Triumph Awards • Faculty Professional Development Stipends • FORE Library • Grant-in-Aid Research Awards • Dissertation Assistance Awards • Workforce Assessment Study