Let’s talk about change for a minute, shall we? Change is something that happens in every aspect of our lives – we get older (dang it!), our kids do, we move and relocate, we get new cars, we utilize better technologies, we have way more than 3 or 4 channels on TV, we don’t have to wash dishes by hand, we have energy efficient appliances that do more, cost less to use and in general improve our efficiency.
All change is not bad – but change is a fact of life. Let’s face it, many of us used to transcribe on typewriters with carbon paper or at the very least white out. We have seen various renditions of voice capture hardware. Long distance used to cost hundreds and hundreds of dollars on even modest plans. Now most everyone gets unlimited long distance for about $25 or perhaps even VOIP for a flat rate.
This industry has witnessed many changes and evolutions. We must embrace change – many of us should be change-agents by now because of the many changes we have witnessed, been through or otherwise led changes.
Most of you know what kind of crisis healthcare is in. And you also know that we have a President who vows to fix healthcare so everyone can have access. The debate is long and volatile about how to exactly get it done the best way, however, we know that the “status quo is not an option on the table,” as stated by Barack Obama. We have already been impacted in many ways by healthcare reform.
The drive to push costs down is being driven by a huge number of reasons. MS-DRG changes, ICD-10 upcoming, RAC audits nation-wide, POA (present on admission) to name a few and with 54% of the nation’s hospitals operating in the red and 80% of those with 500+ beds in the red, our healthcare system must change and is changing - now. That means we must evolve with this change.
I know many people like their present routines and don’t want to change, but the EHR is shrinking our market share. That’s simply the truth. Those with the best skills, the most differentiators and the willingness to change and evolve as our sector does will never worry about a job.
Did you know that people who are optimistic about change, even life-altering change live longer than those who are not? These people have the secret recipe of not only making lemonade with the lemons that come their way, they are also constantly seeking out enough lemons to make lemon meringue pie! Be creative and keep a smile close at hand.
We are not witnessing an end-game strategy, it is an evolving shift - and as Darwin said, “it’s not the strongest or the largest of the species that survives, but the one most adaptable to change.” So please everyone know what’s going on in our profession, be the best you can be – make yourselves indispensible to your employer! Be flexible and know what the drivers are in what’s taking place here and let’s move forward together and succeed!
Happy Memorial Day Weekend!
Monday, May 25, 2009
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
MT Relevance in Healthcare's Future
There is a lively discussion taking place here not just on the topic of mandatory credentialing but also the facts around MT relevance and our place in healthcare documentation's future. There are a number of great issues being presented and the burning questions seem to be larger than life.
Read this and more below:
For the purposes of history, very few professions willingly seek regulation and credentialing. AAMT/AHDI has always known we would have our work cut out for us by going down this road. But history has also shown that professions that are unwilling to self-regulate will either be (a) forced into regulation by the government or (b) forced out of relevance by technology and automation. Any unregulated, noncredentialed profession that can’t demonstrate a significant value-add is bound for marginalization. And unless you’re completely isolated from what’s going on in our industry right now, that is exactly what’s happening to our profession
Here is a final excerpt from that final post made by Lea Sims regarding what our choices are when faced with the reality of what is happening and why we need to engage this entire sector. We must face the facts of the transformation that is taking place - thought provoking:
...So…it’s really up to every MT, not to AHDI. How long can you count on your behind-the-scenes, no-credential, no-accountability, low-visibility role to sustain you in healthcare? Most experts say that within the next 5 to 10 years, a great deal of what you are doing will be automated (if you don’t believe that, you should be attending HIMSS) and all healthcare might need an MT for is to capture some complex narrative at the acute care level. All “normals” will give way to automation. All “templates” will give way to automation.
What value will you demonstrate to healthcare of the future? What cost-saving solution can you demonstrate? What ability to protect the patient can you market? What assistance with clinical decision-making can you offer? Instead of arguing with me here about what you are NOT, how much time are you spending thinking about what you ARE? You can say “no” to “risk management” as a value-add role, but what are you willing to say “yes” to? That’s all healthcare is going to listen to, folks.
When it comes to the art of this profession, at the end of the day, is our role to simply document what is dictated or is there an element of critical thinking involved? I have to say that some of the many MTs I know make sound decisions and corrections every day, many times a day - because they have the skill to do so. There is compelling information here that we all need to consider as those who would suggest that our role is clerical and therefore potentially just an expense that systems and technology can replace or do we choose to validate our skills and evolve them to the next wave in healthcare reform?
The issues around AHDI and what we do in support of MTs is substantial. That too, has evolved. Yes it is true that AAMT was different in earlier years, but as all things must, we had to change our mission and direction because frankly our members needed more. In order to provide membership with relevant and meaningful offerings, we too had to evolve with healthcare. Membership in AHDI is substantive and provides value in many forms. Through the Knowledge Base (KB), advocacy, credentialing, continuing education, leadership development, standards of practice, networking and more.
Will end this here but would ask that our members start speaking up and share what you think. And don't just tell us - tell those who are hearing misinformation. What is AHDI doing that we need to do more of? What aren't we doing that we should? And what do you think about some of the comments that have been made on this post? Do you agree or disagree? What further points need to made. We are listening - and your thoughts matter.
Read this and more below:
For the purposes of history, very few professions willingly seek regulation and credentialing. AAMT/AHDI has always known we would have our work cut out for us by going down this road. But history has also shown that professions that are unwilling to self-regulate will either be (a) forced into regulation by the government or (b) forced out of relevance by technology and automation. Any unregulated, noncredentialed profession that can’t demonstrate a significant value-add is bound for marginalization. And unless you’re completely isolated from what’s going on in our industry right now, that is exactly what’s happening to our profession
Here is a final excerpt from that final post made by Lea Sims regarding what our choices are when faced with the reality of what is happening and why we need to engage this entire sector. We must face the facts of the transformation that is taking place - thought provoking:
...So…it’s really up to every MT, not to AHDI. How long can you count on your behind-the-scenes, no-credential, no-accountability, low-visibility role to sustain you in healthcare? Most experts say that within the next 5 to 10 years, a great deal of what you are doing will be automated (if you don’t believe that, you should be attending HIMSS) and all healthcare might need an MT for is to capture some complex narrative at the acute care level. All “normals” will give way to automation. All “templates” will give way to automation.
What value will you demonstrate to healthcare of the future? What cost-saving solution can you demonstrate? What ability to protect the patient can you market? What assistance with clinical decision-making can you offer? Instead of arguing with me here about what you are NOT, how much time are you spending thinking about what you ARE? You can say “no” to “risk management” as a value-add role, but what are you willing to say “yes” to? That’s all healthcare is going to listen to, folks.
When it comes to the art of this profession, at the end of the day, is our role to simply document what is dictated or is there an element of critical thinking involved? I have to say that some of the many MTs I know make sound decisions and corrections every day, many times a day - because they have the skill to do so. There is compelling information here that we all need to consider as those who would suggest that our role is clerical and therefore potentially just an expense that systems and technology can replace or do we choose to validate our skills and evolve them to the next wave in healthcare reform?
The issues around AHDI and what we do in support of MTs is substantial. That too, has evolved. Yes it is true that AAMT was different in earlier years, but as all things must, we had to change our mission and direction because frankly our members needed more. In order to provide membership with relevant and meaningful offerings, we too had to evolve with healthcare. Membership in AHDI is substantive and provides value in many forms. Through the Knowledge Base (KB), advocacy, credentialing, continuing education, leadership development, standards of practice, networking and more.
Will end this here but would ask that our members start speaking up and share what you think. And don't just tell us - tell those who are hearing misinformation. What is AHDI doing that we need to do more of? What aren't we doing that we should? And what do you think about some of the comments that have been made on this post? Do you agree or disagree? What further points need to made. We are listening - and your thoughts matter.
Monday, April 20, 2009
The Perfect Day
Everyone has a vision of the perfect day. Sunshine blue skies at the beach. Fresh powder on the slopes for spring skiing. A quiet afternoon with a favorite book. A day at the spa for pampering and indulgence. The list goes on and everyone has their own vision of what that day might look like. For me, the perfect day would be the one where the following takes place:
Morning: Healthcare documentation professionals everywhere have joined forces and now more than 200,000 have found common ground and been heard clearly above the noise and chatter of healthcare reform. They have united and have secured their future as professionals who have for years contributed tremendous value to patient care. This profession was long thought of as adding cost, but it has come to light that this documentation sector adds exceptional value to accuracy and completeness in a patient's medical reports. It is what we do, and yet so few people know it or appreciate our knowledge. They say "we type what is dictated." Anyone who has ever done this job knows it is so much more than that. Until we as a profession can put aside the pointing fingers at problems, placing blame, quit focusing exclusively on pay first, measure our contributions and begin to demonstrate the value add, we cannot experience that perfect day. Are you ready for that perfect day? I say it is long overdue. No matter how tough we think we have it, we don't have to look very far to see those in much worse circumstances. We have time to recast our future, but we cannot do it alone. Let's work together towards that perfect day.
Afternoon: The next part of my perfect day would be the evening news stating that scientists around the world have confirmed that we have finally slowed and turned back the clock on global warming. The news report would go on saying....Evidence now shows that so many people continue to do little things to make a big difference and there is now solid proof that the polar ice is once again gaining mass and polar bears are making a strong recovery. Fewer species are facing extinction and our timeline for climate change has dramatically improved. And with alternative energy sources and creative technologies, there is an excellent chance we can turn this around completely. Now that would be a perfect end to a most excellent day!
This week, we will celebrate Earth Day on 4/22 and National Arbor Day on 4/24. As we think about the things we can do to improve our world, let us also think about how we sustain our professional world and move it forward for a better career and one that brings not only job satisfaction at the end of each day but the promise for even better days ahead where we embrace new technologies and put our expertise to work. Now wouldn't that really be a perfect day? Be part of the solution - take action - talk to your employer today about the tremendous value you provide every day!
Morning: Healthcare documentation professionals everywhere have joined forces and now more than 200,000 have found common ground and been heard clearly above the noise and chatter of healthcare reform. They have united and have secured their future as professionals who have for years contributed tremendous value to patient care. This profession was long thought of as adding cost, but it has come to light that this documentation sector adds exceptional value to accuracy and completeness in a patient's medical reports. It is what we do, and yet so few people know it or appreciate our knowledge. They say "we type what is dictated." Anyone who has ever done this job knows it is so much more than that. Until we as a profession can put aside the pointing fingers at problems, placing blame, quit focusing exclusively on pay first, measure our contributions and begin to demonstrate the value add, we cannot experience that perfect day. Are you ready for that perfect day? I say it is long overdue. No matter how tough we think we have it, we don't have to look very far to see those in much worse circumstances. We have time to recast our future, but we cannot do it alone. Let's work together towards that perfect day.
Afternoon: The next part of my perfect day would be the evening news stating that scientists around the world have confirmed that we have finally slowed and turned back the clock on global warming. The news report would go on saying....Evidence now shows that so many people continue to do little things to make a big difference and there is now solid proof that the polar ice is once again gaining mass and polar bears are making a strong recovery. Fewer species are facing extinction and our timeline for climate change has dramatically improved. And with alternative energy sources and creative technologies, there is an excellent chance we can turn this around completely. Now that would be a perfect end to a most excellent day!
This week, we will celebrate Earth Day on 4/22 and National Arbor Day on 4/24. As we think about the things we can do to improve our world, let us also think about how we sustain our professional world and move it forward for a better career and one that brings not only job satisfaction at the end of each day but the promise for even better days ahead where we embrace new technologies and put our expertise to work. Now wouldn't that really be a perfect day? Be part of the solution - take action - talk to your employer today about the tremendous value you provide every day!
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
What Tomorrow Holds
We talk about an evolving profession and evolving our careers in healthcare documentation's future. One that works within EHRs and can utilize our expertise and critical thinking skills combined with our command of the language of medicine in a relevant and contributing way. Trying to look into the future and see what these jobs might look like is not an easy task but it is one that we must begin to contemplate to help us with this evolution and to identify the matching of a very extensive skillset with demands of a system that many of us have not yet seen.
One of the most important things for us to do is to stay involved. Stay connected, continue to network and stay informed on the technology that will form the basis of electronic healthcare delivery. Again, I am convinced that there is a great future ahead for all of us with the knowledge that we have as point and click will not adequately capture the entire patient's story. But what else might we do? Speech recognition is a great tool and can help create tools to use for those who don't want to transcribe in the traditional manner.
The evolution as I see it is one based on getting far more closer to real-time documentation. This is something that I wrote about in a futuristic article in Plexus, July 2008, called Headlines: 2018. The future gets closer everyday and when we try to imagine what that future might look like, we can begin to imagine how we are a big part of the solution to help our colleagues in HIM pull all the parts together. Quality of the entire EHR - dictated reports, clinician entered reports, we can ensure quality and content completeness in all parts of the record. Let's think of chart completion or as we called it in the old days, chart analysis or chart deficiencies done remotely? How about chart auditing done remotely? What if those facilities who use scribes utilized a technology like Blue Tooth and enabled this process to be done just as fast, but remotely?
The challenge is on - let's find those new future jobs and let's step up to fill them. What are your thoughts about how we can help bridge the gap to the allied health professions worker shortage?
One of the most important things for us to do is to stay involved. Stay connected, continue to network and stay informed on the technology that will form the basis of electronic healthcare delivery. Again, I am convinced that there is a great future ahead for all of us with the knowledge that we have as point and click will not adequately capture the entire patient's story. But what else might we do? Speech recognition is a great tool and can help create tools to use for those who don't want to transcribe in the traditional manner.
The evolution as I see it is one based on getting far more closer to real-time documentation. This is something that I wrote about in a futuristic article in Plexus, July 2008, called Headlines: 2018. The future gets closer everyday and when we try to imagine what that future might look like, we can begin to imagine how we are a big part of the solution to help our colleagues in HIM pull all the parts together. Quality of the entire EHR - dictated reports, clinician entered reports, we can ensure quality and content completeness in all parts of the record. Let's think of chart completion or as we called it in the old days, chart analysis or chart deficiencies done remotely? How about chart auditing done remotely? What if those facilities who use scribes utilized a technology like Blue Tooth and enabled this process to be done just as fast, but remotely?
The challenge is on - let's find those new future jobs and let's step up to fill them. What are your thoughts about how we can help bridge the gap to the allied health professions worker shortage?
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Happy St. Patrick's Day
Hope your day for the "wearin' of the green" has been enjoyable from the top of the mornin' to the wee hours of the night. As this day is coming to a close, I wanted to get a quick update out here before I leave for Sacramento, CA to attend the AHDI-West inaugural meeting.
This is truly an exciting time for this new regional that combines the states of Oregon, California, Utah, Idaho, Arizona, Hawaii and Alaska. It's a great concept that originated from the members and holds the promise to create synergies and combine these areas and considerable resources to create a greater strength and sense of purpose. You can check out their new website here .
Another bit of news is that the MTIA conference is right around the corner, April 22-25 and don't forget the Quality Summit will take place on April 25. Check out this link to get the scoop from the press release on this important summit.
Last week, I attended an industry advisory meeting in Atlanta and was really inspired by the content and ideas that were exchanged during this meeting. The attendees were HIM professionals, IT experts, leaders in the healthcare documentation industry with open collaboration on what challenges lie ahead. It becomes clearer to me with every passing day that we have tremendous opportunities to do more and provide more support and solutions for the healthcare documentation sector. I encourage everyone to consider what else we might do, how else might we contribute to help solve the growing demand for timely, quality, complete information for patient care. In the rush to solve the challenge of healthcare reform, we must not hastily forget the skills and expertise the knowledge worker can bring as part of the solution to this growing problem. Technology alone will never be the answer. Technology in the hands of well-trained experts is what can really make the difference.
Share your ideas - How can medical transcriptionists bring more in terms of solutions for healthcare docuementation? What else might we do with the advent of the EHR?
This is truly an exciting time for this new regional that combines the states of Oregon, California, Utah, Idaho, Arizona, Hawaii and Alaska. It's a great concept that originated from the members and holds the promise to create synergies and combine these areas and considerable resources to create a greater strength and sense of purpose. You can check out their new website here .
Another bit of news is that the MTIA conference is right around the corner, April 22-25 and don't forget the Quality Summit will take place on April 25. Check out this link to get the scoop from the press release on this important summit.
Last week, I attended an industry advisory meeting in Atlanta and was really inspired by the content and ideas that were exchanged during this meeting. The attendees were HIM professionals, IT experts, leaders in the healthcare documentation industry with open collaboration on what challenges lie ahead. It becomes clearer to me with every passing day that we have tremendous opportunities to do more and provide more support and solutions for the healthcare documentation sector. I encourage everyone to consider what else we might do, how else might we contribute to help solve the growing demand for timely, quality, complete information for patient care. In the rush to solve the challenge of healthcare reform, we must not hastily forget the skills and expertise the knowledge worker can bring as part of the solution to this growing problem. Technology alone will never be the answer. Technology in the hands of well-trained experts is what can really make the difference.
Share your ideas - How can medical transcriptionists bring more in terms of solutions for healthcare docuementation? What else might we do with the advent of the EHR?
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
The Health Story Project
Have you heard of the Health Story Project? Have you heard about CDA4CDT? Perhaps you have heard about the +20 billion dollars (and likely more) set aside for health IT as part of the stimulus package for economic recovery and healthcare reform? Maybe you have heard that the EHR is targeted for nationwide implementation by a goal date of 2014? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then every MT will want to learn more about the Health Story Project. Here's why.
One of the objections to narrative text in the EHR is that it is not searchable or minable for data research. Because currently, it is in free-form without an established standards and formats it does not lend itself well to easy tagging for search processes (more). A shift to templated systems or point and click technology alone cannot capture the relevant details and unique circumstances of each patient admission. Something that we can all agree on is that the potential to improve patient care, reduce costs, eliminate redundancy in testing and to gain efficiencies via e-prescribing absolutely exists by migrating to electronic records. The best way to do that and keep the details present, to ensure that DRGs continue to be optimized and to ensure that patient safety comes first, Health Story provides that process.
The Health Story Project by way of CDA4CDT (clinical documentation architecture for common document types) is a process that allows narrative text to be translated in the EHR as searchable, retrievable text. Since more than 80% of physicians prefer dictation and transcription as the method of choice for documenting patient encounters, this process is the way to ensure that the continuation of dictation and transcription will be able to deliver the structured text research outcomes while providing a level of granularity and detail that can only be captured through the dictation medium.
What you can do? Urge your MTSO employer to join the Health Story Project and the many MTSOs who are using this process to enable full functionality of hospital EHR systems while still allowing physicians to record patient encounters in the method that is their preference and the one that allows them more patient care time. Don't work for an MTSO? No problem, talk about it at your hospital - and if your hospital outsources any of their work, ask them to include a request for CDA4CDT in their RFPs.
The time has come for us to take an active role in our future and beginning to have conversations about relevant strategies to help ensure your success and career are here today. Click here to learn more from a physician's perspective.
One of the objections to narrative text in the EHR is that it is not searchable or minable for data research. Because currently, it is in free-form without an established standards and formats it does not lend itself well to easy tagging for search processes (more). A shift to templated systems or point and click technology alone cannot capture the relevant details and unique circumstances of each patient admission. Something that we can all agree on is that the potential to improve patient care, reduce costs, eliminate redundancy in testing and to gain efficiencies via e-prescribing absolutely exists by migrating to electronic records. The best way to do that and keep the details present, to ensure that DRGs continue to be optimized and to ensure that patient safety comes first, Health Story provides that process.
The Health Story Project by way of CDA4CDT (clinical documentation architecture for common document types) is a process that allows narrative text to be translated in the EHR as searchable, retrievable text. Since more than 80% of physicians prefer dictation and transcription as the method of choice for documenting patient encounters, this process is the way to ensure that the continuation of dictation and transcription will be able to deliver the structured text research outcomes while providing a level of granularity and detail that can only be captured through the dictation medium.
What you can do? Urge your MTSO employer to join the Health Story Project and the many MTSOs who are using this process to enable full functionality of hospital EHR systems while still allowing physicians to record patient encounters in the method that is their preference and the one that allows them more patient care time. Don't work for an MTSO? No problem, talk about it at your hospital - and if your hospital outsources any of their work, ask them to include a request for CDA4CDT in their RFPs.
The time has come for us to take an active role in our future and beginning to have conversations about relevant strategies to help ensure your success and career are here today. Click here to learn more from a physician's perspective.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Going Green/The Economy/Evolving Together
People everywhere are doing it. They are finding ways to conserve and move our world back to better health. It all ties in with good stewardship and sustainability. We know that we want to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. Steps are being taken to develop alternative energy sources and if each of us recycles, makes fewer trips in the car, and reduces waste, we all save money and resources in the long run. Make sure you absolutely have to have a paper copy before you hit "print." Plant a tree and bring more oxygen to offset the CO2 impact. click here to see how you can participate. Little things can make a big difference and the things we do in our home CAN help change the world. For more info click here
Betty Honkonen wrote an awesome article for Advance that is available for your reading pleasure by following this link. click here In this article Betty points out how important it is to stay connected in economical downturns. The other compelling point that is critical to success in times like these where changes in healthcare are happening rapidly, is to remember the most important investment you make when times are tight is the investment you make in yourself. Keep yourself at the top of your profession. Staying connected in a networking mode to those who are leading the evolution of these changes can make a difference, particularly if you find yourself in an organization that is downsizing or eliminating certain technologies all together.
Layoffs are happening everywhere read more and no business sector is exempt. The investment in your credential, and in your association should be a priority for you most especially at this time. When employers are selective about who gets hired, make sure that you set yourself apart with a credential that tells the employer that continuing education is important to you. We have a community of solutions and no one should have to face these challenging times alone AHDI. The community of MTs has far more in common in today's evolving healthcare than ever before.
Fortunately the economic stimulus bill has finally passed and although this is a first step to financial recovery, jobs creations, and housing market stabilization, it will certainly take some time to get through it. As healthcare documentation continues to evolve, the actions we take collectively to create and establish careers that support this next evolution, will be much more impactful if everyone in this sector can find a way to work together toward that common goal. When we can as a unified profession emphasize the strengths and contributions we make to healthcare to those who who are making decisions, demonstrate how the knowledge worker's inclusion in healthcare's future is necessary, we then will have an opportunity to play a significant role in the EHR that is absolutely on the way.
Betty Honkonen wrote an awesome article for Advance that is available for your reading pleasure by following this link. click here In this article Betty points out how important it is to stay connected in economical downturns. The other compelling point that is critical to success in times like these where changes in healthcare are happening rapidly, is to remember the most important investment you make when times are tight is the investment you make in yourself. Keep yourself at the top of your profession. Staying connected in a networking mode to those who are leading the evolution of these changes can make a difference, particularly if you find yourself in an organization that is downsizing or eliminating certain technologies all together.
Layoffs are happening everywhere read more and no business sector is exempt. The investment in your credential, and in your association should be a priority for you most especially at this time. When employers are selective about who gets hired, make sure that you set yourself apart with a credential that tells the employer that continuing education is important to you. We have a community of solutions and no one should have to face these challenging times alone AHDI. The community of MTs has far more in common in today's evolving healthcare than ever before.
Fortunately the economic stimulus bill has finally passed and although this is a first step to financial recovery, jobs creations, and housing market stabilization, it will certainly take some time to get through it. As healthcare documentation continues to evolve, the actions we take collectively to create and establish careers that support this next evolution, will be much more impactful if everyone in this sector can find a way to work together toward that common goal. When we can as a unified profession emphasize the strengths and contributions we make to healthcare to those who who are making decisions, demonstrate how the knowledge worker's inclusion in healthcare's future is necessary, we then will have an opportunity to play a significant role in the EHR that is absolutely on the way.
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