News

Tell the US Senate It Is Time To Repeal The Ban On A Unique Patient Identifier

In June, the US House of Representatives adopted an amendment striking language in the House FY20 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education (Labor-HHS) Appropriations bill that prohibits the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from using federal funds to promulgate or adopt a unique patient identifier. Striking this language will give HHS the ability to evaluate a range of patient identification solutions that protect patient privacy and are cost-effective, scalable, and secure.

Now that a budget deal in Congress has materialized, we expect the US Senate to move quickly to consider the Senate FY20 Labor-HHS appropriations bill this fall. Before Congress returns in September, we ask that you contact your US Senators via AHIMA’s Advocacy Action Center to encourage them to remove this archaic ban.

PEHIMA – August Monthly Meeting

Saturday, August 17, 2019
2:00pm – 4:00pm

Location

Pizza Ranch
Back Room
3007 N Belt Highway
St. Joseph, MO

PEHIMA Presents: Coding Round Tables

We will having coding tables for:

  • Inpatient Coding
  • Outpatient Coding
  • Emergency Room Coding
  • Clinic Coding
  • Specialty Clinic Coding
  • Home Health/Hospice Coding
  • E&M Level Coding

Information about the Round Table:

  • We have tried to cover most of the coding areas of our members.
  • Come in pick the table as you will be working through actual coding scenarios.
  • Bring any coding tools that you have available i.e.: laptop, iPhone, tablet, Coding Manuals, etc.   If you have any extra Coding manuals please bring them.  Even if they are 2018, please bring them.
  • If you don’t have any Coding tools your iPhone will be your tool as there are many apps that you can use.
  • Inpatient Coders – you may have surgical procedures also, so you may need access to ICD-10-PCS assistance.
  • There will be Auditors available to help during the working time with any questions.
  • The Auditors will be going over each scenario at the end of the Round Table and sharing the “key” to the scenario.

Information about Pizza Ranch

We have been graciously allowed to use the large private banquet room which is a perfect place for PEHIMA to hold functions such as this.  The room is directly behind the drink station.

Please come early perhaps 1:30 or 1:45 and join us for Pizza Ranch’s delicious buffet.  This can be our way of showing our Thanks for allowing us to use their banquet room at no cost! (And the chicken is DELISH)
By coming early to dine, we can begin promptly at 2 pm for the Coding Round Tables

There will be CEU’s for the meeting.

Please encourage your fellow coders to attend.  This should be a fun-filled day and great camaraderie.
Come join us for the afternoon.

Hope to see you there!

Melody L. Brown, RHIA
PEHIMA President

Announcing Election Results

KCHIMA is pleased to announce the 2019 ballot results:

  • President Elect – Kaitlyn Brown
  • Treasurer – Allie Lohman
  • Secretary – Pang Her
  • Communications Coordinator – Jill Judkins
  • Kay Folck will continue a 2nd term as President
  • Patricia Elliott will continue a 2nd term as Past-President

The ballot measure to permit non-credentialed professionals who work in and with the HIM field to become members of KCHIMA also passed by a wide margin.

KCHIMA also takes this opportunity to express our deepest gratitude to the retiring officers for their stellar service to the association. Thank you ladies!

  • Grace Hoyer – Treasurer
  • Audrey Johnson – Secretary and Communications Coordinator
  • Karen Reynolds – President-elect / President / Past-President

KCHIMA June Meeting

Topic

Risk Adjustment and HCC Coding

Speaker

Sandra Soerries, CPC, COC

Date

June 11, 2019

Time

5:30 pm – 6:30 pm

Location

North Kansas City Hospital (Sky View Room)
2800 Clay Edwards Dr
Kansas City, MO 64116 United States
Map

eMHIMA Save the Dates

Please join us in 2019 and 2020 for our meetings!

2019

  • Spring Fling
    Date: Saturday, April 27, 2019
    Location: Mercy Conference Center
  • Summer Meeting
    Date: Wednesday, June 12, 2019
    Location: TBD
  • Coding Round Table
    Date: Saturday, September 14, 2019
    Location: Mercy Conference Center
  •  Annual Meeting
    Date: Thursday, November 7, 2019
    Location: TBD

2020

  • Spring Fling
    Date: Saturday, April 25, 2020
    Location: Mercy Conference Center
  • Summer Meeting
    Date: Wednesday, Jun 10, 2020
    Location: TBD
  • Coding Round Table
    Date: Saturday, September 12, 2020
    Location: Mercy Conference Center
  • Annual Meeting
    Date: Thursday, November 5, 2020
    Location: TBD

*Dates Subject to Change. We will have more information available as the dates get closer. 

We look forward to seeing you!

eMHIMA Board of Directors

2019 eMHIMA Membership Application is Open With a Limited-time Discount!

Attention everyone…the 2019 eMHIMA Membership Application is open with a limited-time discount!

Sign-up as a new member or renew your current membership between now and December 31, 2018 to receive your $5.00 discount! Join or renew today for only $20. By attending our Spring Fling, Summer meeting, Coding Round Table and/or the Annual meeting you have opportunities to network and earn the CEU’s you need.

Thank you for taking care of this important detail now!

Lian Collins, RHIA, HCISPP, eMHIMA President, 2019 & the eMHIMA Board

eMHIMA Membership

Congratulations to KCHIMA President, Kay Folck on being a 2018 AHIMA Triumph Award Recipient

We would like to congratulate KCHIMA President, Kay Folck on being a 2018 AHIMA Triumph Award Recipient!

Kay was nominated by her peers in recognition of her extraordinary leadership, volunteerism, and talent. The awards were presented in September at the 2018 AHIMA Annual Convention and Exhibit in Miami. Congratulations Kay!!

Mentor Award:
Kealia (Kay) A. Folck, MHA, RHIA, CPEHR, CPHIT

KCHIMA Fall Symposium

Saturday, September 8, 2018
8:00 am – 1:00 pm

The University of Kansas Medical Center – Health Education Building
2146 W 39th Avenue
Kansas City, KS 66103

Registration is now open!

Register for the KCHIMA Fall Symposium

Two tracks will be offered at this year’s Fall Symposium. Register for your track now!
8:00 – 8:30 Registration & Breakfast
8:30 – 9:30 General Session: Dana DeMasters, MN, RN, CHPS –Liberty Hospital

Track 1 Coding:
9:30 – 10:20 Dr. William Reed, Jr., MD – Orthopedic
10:30 – 11:20 Dr. Dwayne Jones, MD- Pain Mgmt

Track 2 IT:
9:30-10:20 Melanie Edwards MMIS, RHIA – KU
10:30- 11:20 Sara Warnock, RHIT – KAMMCO

11:30 – 12:00 Networking & lunch
12:00 – 1:00 General Session: Norma Knipp, MBA, RHIA – NKCH

Register

2018 Advocacy Summit – Inspiring Leadership, Influencing Change

Advocacy is all about relationships.  MoHIMA’s President Elect, Brenda Fuller, and Delegates Jane DeSpiegelaere and Kay Piper built those relationships during AHIMA’s Advocacy Summit, Washington, DC, March 19-20, 2018 by meeting with Congressional members or their staffs on issues important to HIM:  patient matching and modernizing privacy laws to combat the opioid epidemic.

Patient Matching

Finding all of a patient’s health information without including someone else’s is a patient safety issue.  HIM professionals search by name, birthday, address, and other identifiers but these are prone to errors.  MoHIMA requested that legislators remove the 1999 language from a fiscal year 2019 appropriations legislation that doesn’t let US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) discuss creating a strategy to uniquely identify each patient.  By removing the language prohibiting discussions, HHS could work with the healthcare industry on a nationwide way to match patients to their health information while respecting privacy laws.  Imagine the improved healthcare that would result if all of one’s health records across the nation no matter where care is sought could be located using one identifying method, such as a unique patient number, the patient’s fingerprint image, face scan.

Opioid Epidemic

42 CFR Part 2 is a 40 year old privacy statute governing the confidentiality and sharing of substance use disorder treatment records.  It requires the patient’s written consent to give out any information that would indicate that the patient received treatment for a substance abuse disorder. This includes written consent before a physician prescribing pain medication could get information that substance abuse disorder existed.  This doesn’t align with HIPAA, as written consent is still needed even though HIPAA lets covered entities use and disclose protected health information if it’s being used for treatment, payment, or healthcare operations.  MoHIMA asked lawmakers to support and co-sponsor H.R. 3545, the Overdose Prevention and Patient Safety Act (OPPS Act)/S. 1850, the Protecting Jessie Grubb’s Legacy Act. H.R. 3545/S. 1850.

President’s Message

MoHIMA Membership:

As your incoming President for the 2017-2018 term, I want you to know what an honor and privilege it is to serve and represent you in our profession.

I want to take this opportunity to thank Teresa Treon for her steady leadership and expert guidance over the last couple of years and I look forward to working with her in her Past President role this term. We are sad to see Seth Katz step off the board this year, however, we know we can count on his continued support and leadership in all things HIM and IG.  Brenda Fuller will be serving her first year on the board this year as President-Elect and I am thrilled to be working and learning from her over the next couple of years.

As our component state association (CSA) leadership is transitioning, so is our national leadership.  With the recent change at our national association level, we will want to provide support and guidance to our interim and new leadership going forward. As your president, I will do my best to keep members informed of how these changes may affect you as a member and an HIM professional.

We held our Board transition meeting on June 29th in Springfield, Missouri.  We have a great 2017-2018 Board line-up:

  • Jane DeSpiegelaere-Wegner, MBA, RHIA, CCS, FAHIMA, RHCBS – 1st Year Delegate
  • Kay Piper, RHIA, CDIP, CCS – 2nd Year Delegate
  • Lian Collins – Director of Professional Development
  • Steven Wilson – Director of Public Relations
  • Clark Chaffin, MBA, RHIA, CCS – 1st Year Director of Education
  • Beverly Marquez – RHIA, 2nd Year Director of Education

And…we are busy planning our annual meeting April 11-13th, 2017 in St. Charles, Missouri;  partnering with our ILHIMA friends for this event!  Davin Foster, RHIT, our Annual Meeting Chairperson and Susan Foster, MBA, RHIA, CHPS, COC, CPCO, our Annual Meeting Co-Chair, are working with their committee to make this a fantastic meeting.

As always, we want to hear from you on how you think we can best represent you as an HIM professional.  Please feel free to email any of your MoHIMA Board Members.

Enjoy the rest of your summer!

Regards,

Julie A. Dooling, MSHI, RHIA, CHDA, FAHIMA
MoHIMA President 2017-2018

KCHIMA Celebrates TMC Innovation Award

Congratulations to Truman Medical Center’s Health Information Management Department on their 2017 Innovation Award!

Sarah Shaver Laird, RHIA
CCS, Elizabeth A. Whitmer, RHIT, AHDI-F

As we all know, HIM professionals are problem solvers. So as referrals to Truman Medical Center rose, efficiency and effectiveness plummeted, causing service delays and frustration for patients, providers and staff. Well-versed in Cerner technology, the HIM Staff stepped up to tackle the problem. They revised policies and procedures; determined how to optimize use of the technology and undertook an extensive staff training initiative. As a result, referral scheduling improved by 98.4% but more importantly patient satisfaction and continuity of care have benefitted exponentially. Congratulations TMC HIM…way to go!

KCHIMA Celebrates AHIMA’s Rising Star Award

KCHIMA is celebrating our very own Past President, Karen Reynolds on her AHIMA Rising Star Award!

Karen Reynolds is only a 5-year veteran of the HIM profession and in that short period of time she has not only advanced professionally by rising to the role of Clinical Informatics Manager at Truman Medical Center but she has also dove head first into professional involvement at the local, state, and national level. Karen has just completed the term of President of the Kansas City HIM Association; served on several MoHIMA Committees and been a featured speaker at the AHIMA National Convention. Karen is a “rising star” in every sense of the title… a true inspiration to us all. Congratulations, Karen!

Congratulations to Karen Reynolds, MBA, RHIA, 2017 AHIMA’s Rising Star!

Call for OAHIMA Board Nominations

OAHIMA is currently taking nominations for board members for the 2017-2018 term. We are seeking nominations for the following positions:
  • President-Elect (3 year term, serving as President-Elect, President and Past President)
  • Office Coordinator (1 year term)
  • Director of Public Imaging (2 year term)

Eligibility: In order to be eligible to serve on the OAHIMA board, nominee must be an active member of OAHIMA and a credentialed member of AHIMA.

We will be accepting nominations up to and at our Summer Quarterly Meeting on June 16, at which time all nominations will be presented and voted upon.

Please contact a current OAHIMA Board Member to nominate yourself or someone for the 2017-2018 OAHIMA Board.

Congratulations to the Newly Elected MoHIMA Board Members

Congratulation to the newly elected MoHIMA Board Members and thank you to all who voted in the election.

 

President Elect: Brenda Fuller, MSL, RHIA, CHC

Delegate: Jane Despieglaere, MBA, RHIA, CCS, FAHIMA

Director of Education: Clark Chaffin, MBA, RHIA, CCS

Director of Professional Development: Lian Collins, RHIA

Director of Public Relations: Steven Wilson, RHIT

Critical Care Coding: Challenges and Importance Webinar

May 24, 2017
12:00 – 1:00 PM CT

Speaker

Lauren Kelly, RHIT

Lauren has been in the coding field for 10 years with her focus being on ED coding. You could say she has a passion for emergencies!

She has always loved the diversity that working in the ED coding area brings daily. She started off coding ER accounts, worked her way up to ED coding lead and now is the ED Coding Team Leader at SSM Health for the past 2 years. She has been with SSM Health for a total of 5 years. She codes for all 7 hospitals with the SSM Health STL network and her team consists of 16 ED coders and billing coordinators. The coding staff applies all the facility side charges, including EM, infusions/injections and CPTs.

Pricing

Members: $15
Non-Members: $25

Register Today!

Food Drive Success

Kudos to the Student Advisory Counsel for working with Harvesters and arranging a food drive at the February KCHIMA General Meeting. KCHIMA members collected 249 pounds of food which will provide 208 meals for families in the community! Thank you everyone for your donation!

AHIMA Membership is Evolving, Your Choices Are Expanding

AHIMA is rolling out a new membership model. Learn more about the various membership types AHIMA offers and the costs and benefits associated with them. Instead of a one-size-fits-all approach to membership, each member will be empowered to select the AHIMA content, services, and products they most value.

Click here for more information.

Now Available – Updated MoHIMA Legal Manual

The MoHIMA Legal Manual has recently been updated and is now in a portal format. This new delivery method allows for easier access, quicker indexing and searching of elements and allows MoHIMA to make annual updates in a smoother process. Access is now driven by user so that each person can individually access the legal manual when and where they need it online. This valuable online resource provides information regarding state and federal legislation, regulations, and professional best practices for legal aspects of managing, maintaining, and the release of health information.

The Missouri Health Information Management Association acknowledges its appreciation to the law firm of Forbes Law Group, LLC for this update to the Health Information Management Legal Manual: Missouri. A special thanks is extended to Richelle Marting, JD, MHSA, RHIA, CPC, CEMC, CPMA, CPC-I; Quentin Templeton, JD; K.J. Wall, JD; and Melissa Ebling for their efforts with this manual.

Purchase online access today by clicking here.

President’s Message

Thomas

It’s been a great last year under Seth Katz leadership; MoHIMA accomplished a lot of objectives and really got the ball rolling in the area of social media. My plans are to continue on with what Seth had started and add a few new goals and objectives to this year’s plans. I feel honored to be the President of a great association and looking forward to working with the new and remaining board members to provide our MoHIMA members with the resources they need to do their jobs and keep them up to date on new issues that surround the healthcare world today.

Sincerely,

Teresa Thomas, BBA, RHIT, CPC
MoHIMA President 2016-2017

MHA Needs Your Assistance to Share Your Stories

MHA’s newly redesigned Missouri Health Careers website features career video spotlights. We would like to ask for your assistance in helping to identify individuals who might be willing to share their stories in these videos. If you know of staff at your hospital who would like to share why they like their jobs and encourage others to pursue opportunities in the health care field, please contact Renee Struemph at 573/893-3700, ext. 1347.

We appreciate your help!

View a sample video