SOUTHERN HOSPITALITY

I've just returned from a wonderful meeting - the Carolinas Regional Symposium in Charlotte, North Carolina. Following a lovely reception on Friday evening with a magician doing card tricks at each table [amazing] the Saturday all-day session contained some of the best speakers I've heard in a long time. From PET scanning to plastic surgery to an infectious disease update including H1N1 flu, RAC audits, and the evolving profession of medical transcription by our own Brenda Hurley.

The Southern hospitality was in abundance everywhere your turned from some of the most dedicated medical documentation professionals anywhere. I would highly recommend attendance at this meeting next year if at all possible. I assure you, you won't be disappointed.

ONE TEAM – ONE VOICE

You are constantly hearing the statement, “We are all in this together,” “We all play for the same team,” or some similar phrase when discussing the need for all MTs to stick together and speak with one voice. Recently Barb Marques and I had an experience that allowed us to see this concept in action in the animal world.

I was visiting Barb at her lovely home in Oregon recently and we decided to walk down to her neighbor’s home who raises alpacas. Just as we arrived we quickly noticed one of the girls was about to give birth. We stood quietly and watched as she made an interesting noise following which every other female in the pen gathered around her, apparently to provide encouragement or support or both. The babies all gathered by the fence and watched carefully as if they knew something big was happening and they needed to watch and learn. As soon as the new baby was born all of the females proceeded to leave the mother and tend to the newbie in their midst. They cooed at it, they nudged it, and they made sure it remained safe until it could get up on its feet at which point the mother, now sufficiently rested, got up and proceeded to take over her baby’s care.

This was an amazing experience for both of us and right away we started thinking of a way to share this story with members.

Just like all of the others in that alpaca pen, those of us with experience need to step up to the plate and mentor our own newbies. It is not only an amazing experience but we believe it is our responsibility to “pay it forward” as it were. AHDI has been very important in our lives and whether one steps up to run for local office, state office, national office, spearhead one of AHDI’s initiatives, start a Power of 10 fundraising drive, mentor a student or two, or three, sponsor someone who cannot afford AHDI membership, share your room at Advocacy or ACE with a newbie who might otherwise not be able to attend, etc., etc., etc. There are so many things each of us can do to support and encourage others that we just have one question: “What will you do to join the One Team One Voice effort?”

PAYING IT FORWARD

If anyone reading this blog has not yet seen the movie Pay It Forward, starring Kevin Spacey and Helen Hunt, I highly recommend it. The premise is as follows: The teacher [Spacey] suggests that his students choose a good deed to perform for someone, even a complete stranger, in the hope that this person will "pay it forward" by doing a good deed for someone else. The rest of the movie revolves around Helen Hunt's son, who is amazed to see how this "paying it forward" works as are the movie watchers.

Why recommend a movie here on the AHDI past-president's blog? Well, I also believe in "paying it forward" in our industry by sharing our expertise as medical documentation professionals by mentoring new MTs, teaching at a local community college or vocational school, assisting them to become an ACCP-approved school, and even training new graduates from approved schools.

I am very proud to say that the company I work for, Expert Medical Transcription, has stepped up to the plate and, as their Director of Training, I now have 5 recent grads from approved schools who are experiencing on-the-job training with real dictation and lots of feedback from me. The trainees are started on less difficult work and advanced through acute care work. As soon as I wean the most experienced trainee, I will be taking another.

I have been an AHDI e-mentor and taught for a total of 15 years. This is by far the best job I have ever had and I highly recommend it to anyone with the experience necessary. How about all of those AHDI past presidents out there -- what a wonderful use of your talents!

Just a thought. . . .

NATURE COAST CHAPTER SUPPORTS POWER OF 10

I just have to brag a bit about my new home chapter, the Nature Coast Chapter of AHDI, who contributed $100 to the Power of 10 Campaign at their meeting yesterday. Nature Coast is a relatively new chapter, planning only their second symposium for this fall, and they have already stepped up to develop a CMT study group and now have shown their support for AHDIs advocacy efforts by making this contribution. I fully expect those who did not have $10 cash or their checkbooks with them on Saturday to contribute as well since I sent everyone home with a Power of 10 Campaign flyer and an envelope.

So many wonderful ideas have sprung up about the Power of 10 Campaign on Facebook with many challenges to choose from. I encourage you to check them out. AHDI-West will also be offering webinars with proceeds going to the Power of 10 Campaign.

What are YOU doing in your component to help AHDI reach the goals of this important endeavor? Remember, it's $10 from 10,000 MTs [members and non-members] through 2010 with all monies going toward advocacy to ensure a place for the intelligent worker [that's us, folks] in the electronic health record environment. Let me know by commenting on this blog so I can share your ideas with other readers.

ACE 2009 -- SIMPLY AMAZING!!!

ACE 2009 in Music City, USA [Nashville, TN] was beyond amazing. The speakers were outstanding, the vendors were better than ever, and the networking opportunities abounded. Look, I'll be honest with you, I've only missed one ACE in 30 years and each one is better than the one before it but this year we were glued to our seats with speaker presentations by Wendy Mangin, MS, RHIA, 2008 AHIMA President, Scott Edelstein, JD, MPA, Donna Hartley, survivor of a plane crash and more, Bruce Mast, "Navigating Your Career Through the White Water of Healthcare," Jonathan Perlin, MD, PhD, MSHA, FACP on "What to Expect During a Decade of Healthcare Reform" and many, many others too numerous to mention here. If you missed ACE this year -- make sure you don't miss 2010 in Austin, Texas!

In addition, the red carpet Integrity Awards Show was just like being at the Oscars or CMA Awards with interviews and paparazzi on the red carpet and excitement abounding in the auditorium. This was a major departure from last year and much better in my opinion. The recipients were surprised when their names were called; many brought to tears.

The Power of 10 Campaign was launched at ACE 2009 with a goal of $10 from 10,000 MTs [healthcare documentation professionals] through 2010! To read more about this exciting campaign keep reading.

Donate to the Power of 10 Campaign

What is the Power of 10 Campaign?
AHDI is launching a year‐long campaign to raise $10 from 10,000 MTs by 2010. Why? To support the association’s advocacy efforts in Washington, DC, where AHDI and MTIA are working hard to make sure YOU have a role in the future of the EHR. Our lobbying firm, along with our government relations staff, are making sure our sector is well represented in important
meetings and discussions being held by our nation’s legislators and policymakers on healthcare reform, criteria and standards for EHR systems, and workforce development in allied health. All Power of 10 funds go directly to this effort.

Why should I donate to the Power of 10?
First and foremost, it takes considerable resources to lobby effectively on behalf of an industry, so all donations help to get us to our goal. Beyond that, AHDI wants to make sure every MT feels connected to and part of this effort, since it is going to take more than just contributions and sponsorships from big businesses to secure our future role in healthcare. It will take every one of
the “silent” ten thousand contributing their “voice” through support and participation.

How do I contribute?
You can make your donation to the Power of 10 campaign by turning in a donation envelope with your contribution or mailing it to the AHDI office (4230 Kiernan Avenue, Suite 130, Modesto CA 95356). Please be advised that contributions to the Power of 10 campaign are not tax deductible.

I challenge everyone reading this blog to GET BUSY -- tell every MT you know -- AHDI member or not -- to read this Power of 10 information and participate in this effort which is greater than any one person. Everyone who tells you they can't afford $135 for AHDI professional membership -- ask them if they can spare $10 [a couple of trips to Starbucks} and send it with your own donation to the AHDI office in Modesto, California at the address listed above.

See you at ACE 2010!

BACK TO BEAUTIFUL BARBADOS

I am honored to be leaving tomorrow [07/18/09] for Barbados as keynote speaker for the TRSI Barbados graduation next week. I am very excited to return to this beautiful island and highly suggest it as a vacation destination for everyone. The people are friendly, the weather is perfect, the waters are so clear you can see at least 35 feet down, the food is wonderful, and the opportunity to spend time with medical transcription students once more is the icing on the cake for me. I know how excited they all are to be graduating and entering the workforce and I can't wait to share the excitement with them.

I no sooner get back from Barbados than I fly to Nashville for ACE. This 31st Annual Meeting promises to be filled with amazing educational opportunities, first class speakers, networking, renewing old friendships, and making new ones. I hope to see many of you there and if I do, please let me know you are reading this blog -- I sometimes wonder just how many people actually read it!

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.