HOOSIER STATE WELCOMES MILITARY SPOUSES

Although the attendance was not what we had hoped for, the IN/KY Regional members came out in force for a military spouse informational in Columbus, Indiana followed by a couple of creditworthy presentations and a KB demonstration.

I arrived on Thursday and was picked up at the airport by Patty Brown, IPP of IN/KY and taken to LuAnn Guilfoyle's [new delegate] beautiful home for a fabulous dinner, then back to the Holiday Inn Express. The next morning we all got busy setting up the room for the MSI and then went to the outlet mall -- it doesn't get any better than that, does it?

I was most impressed by the MTIA member company participation with three schools represented: Andrews & Holbrook, Tranz-Med, and TRSi. In addition, several other MTIA member companies, including Expert Medical Transcription [EMT], sent brochures which were placed with the hand-outs for attendees. Let's not forget Tania Mercurio of Operation Life Transformed [OLT] who had an opportunity to talk to the spouses and the members present.

A special thanks goes out to Sheryl Williams [LIG chair], who provided me with those wonderful "Thank-You" cards that we handed out at Advocacy Summit. Those were a huge hit with the spouses and everyone else too, especially the thank-you for military families. Tania took a bunch of those with her to hand out to those military families she meets during her work on their behalf.

Thanks also to Sherry Doggett, the IN/KY Board Partner who attended and assisted in a big way. Sherry lives not too far away and plans on participating in more IN/KY functions in the future including a career fair at Camp Atterbury in October.

This was a wonderful weekend for me in a beautiful state and my appreciation goes out to LuAnn Guilfoyle, Patty Brown, and the rest of the IN/KY membership for supporting this very important AHDI initiative and for making me feel so welcome.

BEAUTIFUL BARBADOS

I can't believe I'm actually in the business center of this lovely hotel about to leave Barbados in about four hours writing on my blog but it's true! This was an incredible experience for me and my husband. We came to Barbados for three reasons, Kathy Rockel's wedding to Henderson Nicholls [June 13th], for a second honeymoon for us [42 years married on June 10th], and to visit with the teachers, current class, and production center of TRSI Barbados.

The wedding was just beautiful. It was held outside and was quite warm for those of us way too used to air conditioning but a great time was had by all. Kathy Rockel is now Kathy Nicholls. The bride wore a lovely white gown trimmed in red and the bridesmaids wore purple gowns. The groom wore white and red as well and looked quite handsome. Following the ceremony dinner was served followed by dancing until the morning hours, I'm told.

The following morning the bride and groom hosted us, Jacque Taylor, Chad Sines, Karen Young, and Kathy's family on a glass bottom boat cruise. We ended up swimming with turtles [amazing] followed by swimming with tons of fish. When I say tons, I'm obviously exaggerating, but more fish than I have ever seen in one place. Everyone on the boat throws bread to feed the fish and they boil up on the surface like pirhanna [seriously]. We had snorkles and masks allowing us to see under the surface where a huge tarpon was swimming leisurly by [likely looking at a meal with all those fish around]. This guy was estimated by the boat owner to be 5 to 6 foot long and about 200 pounds. I, of course, assumed he could consider me lunch as easily as those fish and I wanted out of the water in the worst way at that point. My dear husband, however, was furiously tossing bread at the fish and they were bumping into my legs, arms, head, etc. I know I screamed more than once and likely had a few choice words for my husband too but managed to get safely back on the boat.

All in all we had a marvelous time in beautiful Barbados. No wonder Kathy, Jacque, Ann, Glenda, Deb, and every other administrator, educator, trainer, mentor, and visitor loves it here. I can't wait to visit Barbados again. Luckily, I'll get that opportunity in July for TRSI Barbados' graduation. I am honored to be keynote speaker for that wonderful occasion.

NOTE TO READERS: If you ever get a chance to visit Barbados -- DO IT!

ADVOCACY IN ACTION

I just returned from the AHDI/MTIA fourth Advocacy Summit and I can tell you without reservation that this one was the best yet! We had 83 participants including MTs, educators, and business owners. I don't know the total number of visits to Capitol Hill we made but it I'll bet it was over 150 and 44 states were represented. Next year, please be sure your state is represented [at least with letters] so we can drive the point home that without the intelligent worker [MTs] editing speech recognized medical records, errors will be the norm. I believe we made our point and were very well-received by our legislators.

We will be having follow-up meetings throughout the year, both in Washington, DC and at the State level when our representatives return to their districts on hiatus.

We are still awaiting an appointment with our new First Lady to discuss the Military Spouse Initiative but will take that meeting whenever it occurs.

Our AHDI president, Susan Lucci and our CEO, Peter Preziosi had a very informative meeting with the Department of Defense so be on the lookout for that update soon.

I encourage anyone reading this blog to start saving your money now for the 2010 Advocacy Summit. It is important that we keep going back year after year to visit our legislators because they absolutely remember who we are and what we bring to table.

Remember, if you're not at the table, you're on the menu!!!

EDUCATION SUNSHINE STATE STYLE

I've just returned from the 27th Annual AHDI-FL Symposium in Kissimmee, Florida. We were honored to have both Susan Lucci, 209 AHDI President and Barb Marques, 2009 AHDI President-Elect in attendance. The onsite coordinator for this meeting was Vallie Piloian, past AHDI BOD President and Debbie Wolfe, AHDI-FL President, did a marvelous job overseeing the meeting for all 107 attendees. The speakers were outstanding and the vendor area was packed with a nice cross-section of vendors. We managed to sell several items at the AHDI booth and had an opportunity to demonstrate the Knowledge Base [KB] to many, many people over the three-day conference. I venture to say a few folks will be ordering their KB license very soon.

For me, it was also an opportunity to reconnect with friends I had not seen in over a year due to my busy schedule as AHDI President last year. We had lots of laughs and even a few tears. Hopefully, we can do more of the same at ACE in Nashville this summer. Networking with colleagues, continuing one's education, and sharing experiences still rates as important reasons to attend as many conferences as possible.

Congratulations AHDI-FL on an outstanding meeting!

MTIA CONFERENCE REVIEW

I've only attended four MTIA conferences in my lifetime but this last one was, in a word, AMAZING! The speakers were on point with regard to where our two associations need to be going forward and what we need to know to manage or work for successful businesses, regardless of their size. In fact, the thought I constantly had running through my head was, "Why aren't ALL MT business owners here -- regardless of their size?" If business owners, I dare say especially small ones, are not up-to-date on all of the new HIPAA regulations alone, I fear they could be in deep trouble beginning in January of 2010. Gear-up should be in progress by August 2009, according to Scott Edelstein, Esq., the speaker for this presentation.

The SRT Summit was an open discussion of how everyone, documentation professionals included, need to prepare for increased use of speech recognition technology and the Q/A Summit began an in depth discussion for defining quality. The ultimate goal of this cross section of professionals will be to produce a Q/A document suitable for all users, MTSO, HIM directors, and documentation professionals regardless of whether "traditional" transcription is used or back-end SRT editing is utilized. Stay tuned for updates from both of these groups.

More news next week. . . .

OFF TO MTIA CONFERENCE

I leave tomorrow morning for my fourth MTIA Conference -- this year in Louisville, Kentucky. By all accounts it looks like another wonderful educational opportunity for business owners, both large and small.

I'm especially looking forward to the Q/A Summit as I know how much work has gone into this presentation and how important it is to our 2009 AHDI president, Susan Lucci. I just know it will be innovative and will break new ground in this important deliverable for all healthcare documentation businesses.

Quality Assurance is a very important "value add" and starts with the MT taking pride in her/his work and ends with the Q/A specialist providing educational feedback in a timely manner so that a learning experience takes place. The number one reason most MTs love their careers is the ongoing education. Medicine is changing every day and continuing education is an absolute must for all documentation professionals. Once the learning stops, the boredom begins.

I recommend that all of us make the commitment to continue our education and constantly upgrade our skill set for our entire career in order to keep our minds sharp and to provide the very best quality assurance we can. This is truly our edge in light of speech recognition technology.

DON'T SIT ON THE SIDELINES. . .

It was reported in the Health IT Strategist that the Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs will be working together to create a Joint Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record which will streamline the transfer of active-duty military and veterans' health records between the two departments.

Many things have changed for all of us since the days when ones medical record and the information contained therein was the property of the health care facility or health care provider. I recall trying repeatedly to obtain the records of my children, born at a military hospital, so I could take them with me, when my husband was discharged, should that information be needed for my premature twins. Unfortunately, I was not permitted to have those records and was told they are the property of the United States Government and the Military. I was, however, quite determined and eventually succeeded in obtaining those records but it wasn't easy.

I'm excited by the access possibilities contained within an electronic health record and the believe, as does President Obama, that it will reduce duplication, reduce medical errors, and provide all Americans with total access so they can be advocates in their own "Health Story Project."

Working with AHDI to ensure a place for the intelligent worker [MTs] in the electronic health record arena is also exciting. Participating in the AHDI Advocacy Summit is one of the best ways to do just that so I urge you to consider adding the Advocacy Summit to your calendar.

Don't sit on the sidelines. Follow me to the AHDI Advocacy Summit!