Holiday Wishes

Happy New Year! I sure hope this has been a good holiday season for you. This past year has not been a great year economically for many of us, but it will certainly be one that we will all remember. We have an opportunity with each new year to commit ourselves fully to making each New Year better than the one before. It is up to each of us to seize the opportunity for change and take action to bring about that change. No one can make us get exercise, go on a diet, finish that degree, or get involved in a worthy cause except ourselves. The life we lead is the one we live and the degree to which it is fulfilling is in our own hands to either accept it or choose to improve some part of it (unless of course you are fortunate enough to be living the perfect life - LOL).

So as 2009 begins with our New Year's resolutions and commitments for a better year, I will start with a few commitments of my own:

1. To lead my association, profession and coworkers with the highest standard of ethics, integrity and values that ensure that our actions and work is the finest it can be.
2. To take active steps that advance our profession bringing visibility to the important work we do in relationship to quality of documentation, quality patient care and safety, and quality of life.
3. To seek to continually listen and learn so that the foundation of wisdom (knowledge) is at the basis of all decision-making.
4. To do all within my power to educate and develop awareness with those I meet about the fragileness of our planet and to instill a desire in others to do more to help ensure a vibrant earth for many generations to come.

So what if we were all to take a really good long look at our profession? Where is it going if we keep doing what we have always done? Then what if we took a look at the future of healthcare documentation? How/where do we fit in? Finally, what we can do to make our own personal future brighter and filled with the maximum potential? If you were to do this and you decided that we could make a difference by being present, by taking personal action to ensure our own success, then I can't WAIT to work with you to make it happen in 2009! Together we can do this! Yes we can!

Making History - Making it Count

Well, we did it! We elected the nation's first African-American President and so many experts thought this day would come, but not for many years yet. As a people, we can be a surprising lot. How we approach a challenge doesn't fit every model and our ability to rise to an occasion is truly second to none.

The point here is not about politics as that is a topic that can get heated (ya think?) as we all have our fundamental beliefs in which is right - left or right, but based on the voters, we are going to be putting our faith and trust towards the left. However, somewhere in the middle, at the end of the day, we are all one country and now Barack Obama is entrusted with getting us out of a number of big problems, the magnitude of which haven't faced our country since the 30s.

You may be asking, ok Susan, so what is the point? The point is that people have different ways of viewing and reacting to the challenges that face us as individuals. Some people take action and choose to make a difference by stepping up to lead a committee or a group or join with like-minded folks for various causes. Some like to find the person (or group) who is responsible and blame them, and some take a realistic view and say what can I do - what is my role in all of this and how can I make my situation better?

Make no mistake, the economy is the real deal - times are tough and money is tight. We will likely be asked to participate in our nation's recovery to a certain degree and we may have to make choices and sacrifices. Healthcare is still not optimal and it will take years for it to evolve to the next stage, but we must be actively involved in that if we want to ensure our success in future roles.

On a personal note though, we really all do own our own success. No one can make us happy or rich or successful. It is up to us. When you consider your position now, your lot in life and you compare it to where you really want to go, what will you do to help yourself get there? How will you make your plan work to get you to your goal? Will you be a leader, a blamer or an action-taker?

Election Time is Here

November 4th is approaching and it will be time for all of us to cast our ballots. I wouldn't be at all surprised if we see record turnout at the polls and for good reason. This is extremely important with the serious issues facing our nation. The economy, healthcare, the environment and so many others. These are critical issues and we need strong leadership to help us navigate the complexities of making sound decisions to get us back on firmer ground.

Some of the issues important to us nationally are important to us as healthcare documentation professionals. They hit very close to home. I don't know anyone who hasn't had to re-evaluate some of their expenditures in view of the economy. Many folks are trying to make better decisions when it comes to the environment. There are more recycling efforts and people are trying to have less impact on the planet than ever before. Healthcare is in a big mess and we cannot sustain the rate of of increased costs and premiums, so it is time to put a good solution in place.

Since the focus of our work is healthcare documentation, it is incredibly important that we follow the legislation that will shape healthcare in these next few years. Be sure to keep informed as new developments take place. A good way to do that is through the AHDI legislative issues group listserv. Contact me and I will be sure to connect you with the right folks so you can stay informed.

Still the questions to consider are what healthcare solutions do you think will work the best? What do you think the risks and benefits are? How will these decisions affect us as healthcare documentation professionals?

What Really Matters

News headlines are generally painting a picture of bad news on many fronts. The economy, the war, the price of gas, the price of food, energy and the housing market overall. These are very serious matters and by now, many of us are looking for ways to stretch our earnings to compensate for these more expensive times.

Taking it into perspective, we are a very resourceful group of professionals and we will work our way through this. Although working in healthcare is a relatively recession-proof vocation, it is not entirely that way, and this is no time to be complacent. It is also not a time when we can just count on our line of work to always be here - it is changing rapidly and some have already felt the shift to electronic documentation at their place of work.

In the future, the healthcare documentation professionals with credentials, experience with the most challenging work types and dictators, educational backgrounds, those who embrace new technologies to assist them in becoming more productive are going to be the ones in high demand as time and the EHR moves forward. This is a fact that you can hang your hat on.

There will be new jobs emerge and those who make it their goal to seek these out, find their niche and raise their hand to say, "I can do this and here's how it will help," will be the ones to move into the electronic documentation future.

So what really matters? Getting involved, being part of the solution and always remembering that your knowledge, your expertise, your future depends totally on YOU. The actions you begin to take today will map your future success. Take charge of your career, ensure your success and participate in leading the evolution of healthcare documentation. No one can do this for you and the more voices there are saying that our expertise makes for a better healthcare outcome, the more likely we are to be heard. AHDI is the channel for your voice to be heard. Check us out and get involved today. www.ahdionline.org

Advocacy in DC

Just back from DC and what an experience we had! This is our association's 3rd National Advocacy event and my 2nd. The excitement in the air was undeniable and as we heard one success story after another, it was clear that we are continuing to make incredible progress in getting our message out there to our law-makers.

Synopsis in brief. I met with both Senators' aides from Colorado along with my congressman's aide. In addition, I personally delivered letters for Colorado and for New Mexico. I also had the good fortune to accompany 2 other staff members from TRS on appointments with another Congresswoman in Colorado and Senator Max Baucus of Montana. We actually met just outside the Senate floor in the Senate Reception room (see photo in blog).

Carrie Boatman, CMT, RPhT, Past President of AHDI visited with her legislators and showed them real-life examples of errors that she encounters daily. Our current President, Betty Honkonen, CMT, AHDI-F received a commitment from Congresswoman Ginny Brown-Waite to write legislation related to military spouse access to funding for educational purposes.

It just doesn't get any better than that and I really have to hand it to Betty for getting our message across so vividly that it prompted action to write legislation! What's also very amazing is that people who were there for the first time, made appointments, spoke to their Senators about issues and pending legislation like pros, and went above and beyond to ensure the future of our profession!

On this, the beginning of National MT Week, I can't think of a better way to kick it off than to be getting ready to write thank you notes to those with whom I met, and to continue to keep this relationship ongoing. Advocacy doesn't end here, it continues and I would absolutely encourage you to consider this worthy action next time you hear the call.

I am reminded today of the following...."Go placidly amid the noise & haste & remember what peace there may be in silence...speak your truth quietly & clearly...keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time..." Interesting that Desiderata dates back to 1692 and yet is just as true today. If everyone in this profession did 1 thing - just 1 this year to help secure our place in the EHR health system of tomorrow, it would become self-evident that the contributions to quality healthcare documentation are best achieved with a highly-skilled and professional work force!

Happy National MT Week Everyone!

Update: April 2008

As I write this, our CEO Peter Preziosi, our board member and treasurer, Sherry Doggett and MTIA board member, George Catuogno are presenting at the annual HCCA conference in New Orleans, LA. With nearly 1000 in attendance, this is a huge conference with 8 or more educational tracks each day in the area of Healthcare Compliance.

Next week, many of us will meet in Long Beach, CA for the annual MTIA conference. This 3-day event marks the second where MTIA and AHDI have been partners working together on initiatives that make our two organizations stronger because of our singular focus on healthcare documentation making it the best it can be.

In Mid-May, nearly every state in the US is expected to be represented in Washington, DC as we visit with senators and legislators to remind them (yes we've been there before) what we do and how our knowledge makes a difference in the quality content of healthcare documentation.

These are the things that your fellow members and leaders are working on. We are opening new doors to those people in healthcare who are dedicated to topics like compliance, reduced risk, patient safety and better patient outcomes. These are the things that matter most in healthcare delivery and as MTs, we are on the frontlines of ensuring patient safety every single day with every report we transcribe.

Recently, I had an opportunity to visit and view an electronic health record system that is fully operational. It was amazing and in the HIM Department I visited, there were NO paper charts. Not a single one, and believe me, I was scouring the department in search of paper. Finally, I found some paper and ran over to see what it was. Somewhat disappointed, I must tell you it was an email printed out - nothing to do with patient care. Then I thought to myself, "Wow, they've really done it - a completely paperless HIM department." And the reality of that change hit me like a freight train.

So as I visited further, as I learned about what this meant to the hospital in terms of improvements, I also learned that there were things that weren't all positive. Workflow issues are magnified. While there is an electronic system, the master patient index (MPI) issues of duplicate patient records still exist and are even more difficult to identify. There are issues of physicians entering their own progress notes and reports - many of which have been identified with quality issues or reports that lack complete required content, according to medical staff bylaws. Coders are finding many of the CPOE errors and are bringing them forward for clarification and correction.

Where gains have been made in reducing dictation, most of these gains have been made at the clinic level, and there are still challenges of content there. There is inconsistency in documentation practices from clinic to clinic and although guidelines have been established, it is not easily enforced.

The takeaways are many. The EHR is becoming more prevalent and this will continue. The EHR doesn't eliminate the need for dictation, and in fact at this hospital, the same number of MT employees are there that were there before the installation. What is no longer in place is outsourcing as most of what the outsource company did was the clinic work, which is mostly completed by the physicians now. In fact, there is a potential need to grow the inhouse MT staff at this hospital and to implement a QA process. It might be a good idea to extend the random QA review to include all records to help ensure that the quality of all documentation meets the QA standard established. This may open a few more doors and opportunities if someone were to ask me !?!?!

All of this said to point out that AHDI is working on many fronts to bring into clear focus what your professional association is doing to bring recognition to the value proposition that experienced MTs bring to healthcare documentation. Also to let you know that figuratively speaking, I have actually been to the EHR Mountain for a first glance and I have seen its potential! I have learned a bit about the value it brings and better, how MTs absolutely fit into the future picture. I will return to the "mountain" soon and gather even more information and share more insights here on my blog. So stay tuned.

So for now, please remember that the expertise you have as a trained, experienced and with more credentialed MTs entering the workforce, we have a huge potential to bring better patient outcomes because of our knowledge. It is the quality grounding we have that will help us to remain important and required team players in the future! Being involved with your professional association is the way to stay informed, keep your saw sharpened and evolve with the technology that we employ! Let me know what you think? Would love to get your perspectives!

2008 We're on Our Way!

Can you believe February is here? This is a leap year, an election year, and a milestone year for me as president-elect of AHDI. So many exciting things are happening in our industry and profession.

Betty has kicked off the year and is an energized dynamo for the military spouse initiative. She has already presented in a number of locations and the number of military spouses enrolled in approved schools is on the rise. The numbers are approaching or above 400 now and we all are excited to see the pace at which this is catching on. It's really the perfect fit for someone faced with the fact that it's not if they will need to move, it's when. What a great career for people on the move. With the ease and portability of our profession, it's a perfect fit.

Next month, I will be attending and participating in the NWCP Leadership Conference on the Ides of March (3/15) in Vancouver, Washington. This is a full-day workshop packed with leadership presentations from 9 AM until 5 PM. Mark your calendars and attend this great event. http://www.oamt.org/2008_nwcp_leadership_conference_info.htm

Next, in April is the CAMT Annual Meeting April 4-6 in Ontario, CA. www.calaamt.org. Each year, California puts on a fantastic annual meeting filled with information and dual tracks customized for each attendee's preferences. Don't miss this great opportunity for education, networking and keeping up-to-the minute with the latest developments and trends in our profession.

Also in April is the MTIA conference April 23-26. Go to www.mtia.com and click on annual conference to get more information on this exciting 4-day event in beautiful Long Beach, CA. This 19th annual meeting will include 3 educational tracks and opening keynote by Nate Booth and closing keynote, Jeff Goldsmith, PhD.

Our Advocacy Day, in partnership with MTIA and AHDI, is coming up May 15-17, 2008 and it's going to be a 3-day event this year in Washington DC rather than just 2 days as previously.
http://www.ahdionline.org/scriptcontent/lig.cfm There are a number of excellent speakers lined up so please get involved and be an advocate for our profession and for the legislation that impacts what we do.

That's the spring line up for me, so far. It's an exciting year so far and I look forward to all the opportunities to meet and talk with so many members as well as to work on strategic initiatives that help promote our profession and position us as the knowledge experts that are essential to quality healthcare documentation in the evolving future. Please share your ideas, your comments and help contribute to our success in the year ahead. My personal best to each of you.