President Bids Farewell...

A big "Thank You" to everyone that attended the 2007 Illinois/MHIMA Annual Meeting. We had over 400 attendees and 64 vendors in attendance. Our Pre-conference Mini Sessions were also a success as well. Mark your calendar for the 56th MHIMA Annual Meeting in St. Charles to be held April 30th-May 2nd, 2008. As I pass the gavel on, I know that your new President, Julie Wolter, MA, RHIA has many exciting ideas and will continue moving MHIMA forward.

It has been a pleasure serving as your President this past year and I look forward to continuing to serve in the capacity of Past President during the 2007-2008 year. I want to share with you some of the accomplishments of your MHIMA Board of Directors this past year in office:

* New and Improved Webpage. Please visit www.mohima.org.

* MHIMA was a vendor at the MHA Convention in November 2006. To promote our profession to the C-Level professionals in a variety of Healthcare settings.

* Working with Regional Associations to develop Regional Web pages. (Eastern HIMA, Mid-Missouri and Ozark Area HIMA are complete). Continuing to work with Kansas City and Pony Express HIMA.

* Networked with ARMA/EMHIMA to hold a joint seminar at the St. Louis Zoo in June 2007.

* Serving on Industry Advisory Council for the Missouri Career Education Task Force at the State Level. Involved to get our Profession recognized at the State Level.

* Working on a Library Project at the State Level. This project would allow us to display HIM and what we do at the Libraries across the state.

* Several of the MHIMA Board of Directors are serving on Committees within AHIMA as well. This helps get Missouri recognized at the national level.

* Missouri is also proposing a PHR (Personal Health Record) Resolution.

Our organization is only as strong as the members that support it. Be active, be involved and have your voice be heard. Feel free to contact any of the MHIMA Board of Directors or utilize the Missouri CoP or webpage www.mohima.org. This is your Association and the Board of Directors are here to serve you.

Best regards,

Clark Chaffin, RHIA, CCS

President

The polls will close on June 29 at 11:59 p.m. CT. We ask that you get the message out to your fellow HIM professionals to cast their vote! Members will be able to cast their vote via the AHIMA Web site only. The June Journal of AHIMA (pages 90–93) includes each candidate's brief bio, job description, and photo. The Resources section of the AHIMA CoP (under the AHIMA Election–2007 category) will house a more detailed profile of the candidates and their position statement.

MHIMA is very fortunate to have 2 MHIMA Members on the National Ballot this year. Jody K. Smith, PhD, RHIA, FAHIMA and Keith Olenik, MA, RHIA, CHP are both on the 2007 AHIMA National Ballot. Jody and Keith are both Past Presidents of MHIMA and have supported MHIMA for many years.

Please take the time to vote in the 2007 AHIMA National Elections.

Please feel free to contact any of the Board of Directors if you have questions about either of these items.

Component state associations continue to play a key role in helping us educate members on the Communities of Practice. To increase participation in the geographic CoPs, we want to remind you about the CSA CoP contest currently underway.

* Geographic Community Log in: Have your members log into your Geographic Community between now and July 31, 2007. For the top three CSAs that realize the highest percentage increase in unique member log ins for April 1-July 31, 2007 from the same time period in 2006, AHIMA will contribute one night hotel for the 2007 AHIMA Convention and Exhibit.

Also, we will have a contest for the AHIMA Election.

* Make sure your members vote in the AHIMA Election – 2007, June 11-29. AHIMA will contribute a roundtrip airline ticket for one to the 2007 AHIMA Convention and Exhibit to the top three CSAs that realize the highest percentage increase in voter turnout for 2007 over the 2006 election.

So encourage all your CSA members to go into your Geographic CoP now. And promote this to the CSA members who have not yet joined the Geographic community too. We want as many members as possible participating. Then in June, promote the AHIMA Election to the membership. By logging into the CoP, they will have the voting link pop up on their page first. It will remind them to go in and vote. Voting is a right of every member so be sure you do it and have your members do it too.

The prizes for each contest will be awarded to the CSA. If your CSA is a winner, you may reward your membership by offering the prize of the airline ticket or the one night stay to a member you choose. Some CSAs are doing this and getting great response and activity.

Winners will be announced and prizes will be awarded in August 2007. If you have questions, please contact Carolyn Guyton-Ringbloom at carolyn.guyton-ringbloom@ahima.org

Mark your calendars now! April 30 – May 2, 2008 at the St. Charles Convention Center in St. Charles, MO

By Janice Noller, RHIA,CCS,CPHQ

June 1 was a warm, muggy day in St. Louis – a perfect day for visiting the Zoo! Over 60 people from diverse businesses, including healthcare, gathered to hear advice from two experts, Connie Emery from healthcare and Susan McKinney from other businesses, on HIPAA privacy processes and business plans in case of disasters, including natural disasters such as flooding or tornadoes.

It was not all business, though – after a lunch of BBQ and all the fixings, we were given the opportunity to get “up close and personal” with several animals who visited – a fenec which is a fox-like animal that lives in arid areas of Africa, a bard owl which lives in Missouri and has a tremendously large wingspan, and of course, a woman’s favorite, a chinchilla. After touching the chinchilla fur, I understand why people unfortunately want to make stoles or coats from their fur – it was like touching a cloud!

All three organizations learned from each other and found that they had more in common than just records management. We all look forward to other such joint ventures in the future.

Join us on Friday, August 17, 2007 from 12:00 – 1:00 pm for an audio conference discussing the personal health record. Marsha Dolan and Julie Wolter will discuss what are the current trends in the industry, who is doing what, an update from AHIMA and their efforts with the PHR and how the international community is using a PHR.

This audio conference if free and is limited to 25 phone lines. So, register early.