AHDI Conference 2015 a First-Timer S Perspective Marli Etnoyer

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President’s Message

In August I had the honor to attend the AHDI Healthcare Documentation Integrity Conference in Alexandria, Virginia, with a great group of people from our Northeast Mid-Atlantic region. If you haven’t had the chance to attend a national conference before, it’s a valuable experience! This year was especially memorable for several reasons: 1) it was held in OUR region, 2) AHDI partnered with AHIMA’s CDI Summit, 3) we participated in a walking Public Service Announcement, and 4) it was so close to Washington, DC, and all that our nation’s capital holds. Between the highest quality educational presentations, informative vendors, networking with colleagues from all our AHDI regions, and sightseeing trips, I was definitely on sensory overload by the time I got home. I’m still sorting through my notes and following up on things!

During the HDIC, we held an event we called “AHDI-NEMA Connection” and it was so well attended we had to get extra tables and chairs! We got to meet and talk with some of our National Leadership Board members and our CEO Linda Brady.

With our focus on membership and working together, I created my Teamwork Tree. You can see there are a good number of leaves. An excellent beginning, and I thank everyone who added a leaf to the tree so far. We have a new leaf for education and newsletter as well as membership, student advocate, mentors, and advisors.

There is great opportunity for you to add a leaf to our tree. Remember – and this is important – you don’t have to BE the tree!

We have a strong foundation (trunk) that supports our region. Your leaves help make our tree strong and beautiful.

I encourage you to think about your leaf, what you can offer: finding a speaker for a meeting or webinar, inviting a new member, assisting with a study group or a webinar, writing an article for the newsletter, helping with a fund raising activity. Whatever your inclination and talent, our regional association will welcome your help. Contact any of our board members, committee chairpersons, or me, and we’ll be pleased to add your leaf to the tree.

Our walking Public Service Announcement was so much fun! We went out on the town while wearing our t-shirts and continued the message of National Medical Transcription Week and our Thunder Clap in May.

We took pictures of ourselves (‘selfies’) while we were sightseeing, and happily we find that one of our very own NEMA group selfies is now on the home page of AHDI’s new website!

As we promote our patient care documentation message, let’s also promote ourselves. I want to congratulate all of you who are Registered Healthcare Documentation Specialists (RHDSs) and Certified Healthcare Documentation Specialists (CHDSs). These credentials prove your high level skills and knowledge and qualifications related to healthcare documentation. And this confirmation is a very important step to show your value as we work toward roles in the changing healthcare documentation field. Some are training for coding or clinical documentation improvement roles, and some of us maybe haven’t discovered our new roles yet. Regardless, I challenge you to take that step to become credentialed.

Be sure to check out our website for all the upcoming events, AHDI-NEMA.org We have exciting things planned, and we hope to hear from you!

Lee Ann Wilmot, CMT, AHDI-F, CHTS-CP

AHDI-NEMA President, 2015-2016

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FROM DIANE’S DESK………..

As I write this message we are now heading into fall, one of the most beautiful times of the year and my favorite. I hope each of you enjoy the various fall activities in your own local area. Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year’s Day will be here before we know it as well. Where does the time go?

I enjoyed seeing our District 4 attendees at the Healthcare Documentation Integrity Conference/CDI Summit in Alexandria this past August. We had a full house for our AHDI-NEMA Connection and I appreciate everyone’s attendance. For those going on the Sightseeing #Selfie: A Walking PSA, we had a great time wearing our Advocacy T-shirts and taking selfies using the selfie sticks we received from the M*Modal reception. Lots of fun with time to get to know each other better on a personal level!

NEXT YEAR….AHDI is holding the Healthcare Documentation Integrity Conference in Wilwaukee, Wisconsin, August 4-6. We’re excited because we’ve never been to that part of the country for our HDIC. Many are planning to make this a family vacation to explore this area of the USA. It will be held in a downtown location within walking distance to a lot of restaurants, shopping, and sites! We'll be at the top of the Hyatt Regency hotel on Thursday night for our opening reception with 360 degree views of Milwaukee. Mark your calendar and make plans to attend!

Since nothing speaks more powerfully than telling your personal story, AHDI is looking for short video submissions in support of the importance of a credentialed workforce and the value you bring to documentation, accuracy and patient safety. Learn everything you need to know about creating your own HDS story at Video GuidelinesVIDEO GUIDELINES.

Whether you are a healthcare documentation specialist, speech recognition editor, educator or manager, why not tell your story digitally and share insight into the value that you bring to the table. Not into making videos? How about a testimonial in writing? Submit a photo with signage? Thanks for helping us complete this project for the Communications Team’s Work Plan item. Send all entries to Kristin Wall at . I hope we have some brave souls who will help!

AHDI INTEGRITY AWARD WINNERS FOR 2015…….

•Brenda Wynn, CMT, AHDI-F, Advocate of the Year

•Susan Whatley, CHDS, AHDI-F, Educator of the Year

•Phelps County Regional Medical Center, Employer of the Year

•M*Modal, Innovation Through Technology

•Stephanie Kinney, RHIT, CMT, AHDI-F, Member of the Year

•AHDI-West, Membership Impact Award

•Piyush Sharma, Rising Star Award

•Nick Mahurin, Distinguished Service Award

•Bonnie Monico, CHDS, AHDI-F, Lifetime Achievement Award

THE NEW AHDI WEBSITElaunched on 9/7/15. Same address, different look and feel. Plan to visit it and reset your password. You should have received a link to do that. If not, email Linda at for instructions.

As always, AHDI members are encouraged to attend our National Leadership Board meetings which are held the 3rd Monday of each month from 3:00-5:00 p.m. Eastern time. An individual link to our meetings can be obtained by emailing Linda at . You’re always welcome, and we love to see gallery members in attendance! It’s a great way for you to keep in the loop with what’s happening on the national level.

PAGES TO WATCH:

AHDI Healthcare Documentation Integrity Conference: Check back occasionally to see updates about our meeting in 2016.

ZDoggMD: Funny but teachable medical videos by our Keynote speaker in Las Vegas in 2014!

Speech Wreck: Funny or Fatal

FINAL NOTE…..

As your District Director, I am interested in hearing about how things are going in your world.

Please feel free to contact me by email or phone at any time. I hope your autumn is fun and that

you take a break from your busy life as an MT to relax a little and smell the roses! Remember that you

provide a vital service to patients in your quest for accurate documentation!

Diane Warth, CHDS, AHDI-F, RHIT, CPC

National Leadership Board

AHDI District 4 Director

757-620-4518

POSITION OPENING

AHDI-NEMA has the following position open. Is this for you?

TITLE: AHDI-NEMA PRESIDENT-ELECT

Duties and Responsibilities:

* This position is considered ‘president in training’ for AHDI-NEMA presidency, shadowing the current president to prepare for working with the secretary and treasurer and committee chairs, presiding at board meetings, overseeing committees and activities, communicating with members, providing leadership, and recognizing and encouraging potential leaders.

Benefits:

*free continuing education through meetings and webinars

*networking with colleagues from many areas of healthcare documentation industry

*the opportunity to make a difference in your professional organization

*working with a talented, committed, great group of leaders

*growing as a leader yourself

Time Frame: 2015 through the end of 2016

The NEMA Board is considering the possibility of a ‘shared’ president-elect position. This would be a ‘2 heads are better than 1’ approach in that 2 people who already know each other, have similar outlooks, and can work well together would serve as co-presidents-elect and then move forward as co-presidents. This would offer the added benefits of flexibility in scheduling and sharing responsibilities.

Please refer back to the president’s message on page 1 to understand this: Even the President-Elect and President do not have to BE the tree!! We have tremendous support.

If you are interested in this position, or if you would like to nominate someone for this position, please contact Lee Ann Wilmot, AHDI-NEMA President, either by email at or by phone at 724-514-7070.

The IT Magician -- Andrew Clarke

We are introducing a new column in our AHDI-NEMA Newsletter. Andrew Clarke is an IT specialist in platform support and installation as well as interface creation and implementation at NEMT (New England Medical Transcription). Andrew has many blogs related to this topic, and with his permission we will be sharing them with you.

Change Is Good

Most people are creatures of habit. We get up at the same time each day. We take the same route to and from work. We have certain activities that we do on certain days. To put it bluntly we are predicable. From a security standpoint, predictability is a bad thing. It gives the bad guys an edge because, in most cases, they are more aware of your habits than you are.

Today I want to talk to you about predictability as it relates to passwords. They’re those things you use every day to access information both business and personal. The problem is that “they’re so hard to remember.” Sound familiar? Because they are so hard to remember many people use the same password for everything. Are you starting to see the problem? If the bad guy gets your one password it’s like losing your wallet. Actually, it’s worse since there is probably a lot more tied to your password.

At this point, you might be saying that you use multiple passwords so you’re safe. That brings me to predictability trap number two: passwords that are easy to guess. Since you have to remember it (you’re always told not to write your password down) most people pick common things like pets’ names, kids’ names, birthdays, anniversaries, etc. This information can be easily guessed or obtained from your facebook page.

Now you might be wondering what you’re supposed to do. This all sounds like a catch 22. The good news is that there is an easy way to select passwords that would be very difficult to guess but are easy to remember. First, a few rules to make your password more secure:

Your password should not contain any words that appear in the dictionary.

Your password should not be all numeric – way too easy to get with a computer.
Your password should be mixed case – both upper and lower case letters.
Your password should be a combination of numbers and letters if possible.
Your password should contain at least one special character (!@#$%) if allowed.
Your password should be change fairly regularly (do what makes sense).
Your password should be different for each account (again what makes sense).

Now here’s the secret: Come up with a sentence that you can easily remember and turn it into a password by using the first letter of each word. For example:

Sentence: My incredibly handsome cat loves to eat his tuna.

Password: Mihclteht or M1hcl2eht (numbers in place of some letters)

This password makes no sense, so a computer would not be able to easily guess it. If you want to use special characters, the “i” can be replaced with “!” and the “2” can be replaced with “@”. Use your imagination, and be more secure.

AHDI Conference 2015 A First-Timer’s Perspective Marli Etnoyer

Preparation

I knew I needed to go to the AHDI conference but I had put off registering for over three months. As a medical transcription student, I knew that I had questions that could not be answered while sitting at my desk studying day after day.

I had started my training years ago when transcription was a growing field…before electronic health records. Frankly, I was worried that I had studied all this time for nothing. One question continually haunted me, “Is medical transcription still a viable field or do I need to start looking for a part-time position teaching math at a local community college?”

I waited until the last week to register. I joined AHDI on the Tuesday before the national conference. Ten minutes after I joined AHDI, I registered for the conference. At 4:00 p.m. the same day, I received my Plexus newsletter via email and began reading. At 5:15 p.m., I finished reading and was shocked that it was so late. I was hooked. I was suddenly really excited about the conference.

Day 1 Friday

The first two seminars were back-to-back and I was wiped out afterwards! I already felt like my brain was full and it was not even lunchtime. I thought I had prepared for the abbreviations I would encounter. I had even made a note in my phone. Still, there were new abbreviations and I was quite overwhelmed.

I remembered what my husband said about attending professional conferences. He advised me to be selective about which meetings to attend and to be purposeful in networking. With this in mind, I decided to take a break, return to my hotel room and create a list of questions I had and people who could answer them.

As I entered the elevator, I encountered a man with several Starbucks drinks.

“Is there a Starbucks around here?” I asked excitedly, overjoyed at seeing something familiar.

“Two blocks away,” he replied, smiling.

“That’s the best news I’ve heard all day,” I said.

“I hope your day gets better,” he said, looking a bit worried.

I felt bad after I exited the elevator. It wasn’t that my day was bad. I just needed a plan. Making a run for the Starbucks, while tempting, was not ultimately going to help me, so I resisted the urge and headed for my hotel room. I spread my conference materials out on the bed and came up with a plan. Like my dad says, “Plan your work and work your plan.”

I looked through the program and chose the seminars that I really wanted and needed to attend. I scheduled time in my itinerary to network during other seminars. I wrote a list of my questions and who could answer them. I also scheduled time to evaluate my answers, creating new lists of questions.

Armed with my list of questions, I started seeking out the people I needed to see, asking questions and writing down the answers. It felt like my freshman journalism class. It was fun! People were excited to answer my questions. With seminars in progress, I had plenty of time to ask my questions, speaking to some people for 30 minutes. It was exactly what I needed.

Lunch was provided and it looked great! Best of all, I would have to sit down in order to eat, so I might as well sit with other people and introduce myself. I found a table with a few ladies who looked friendly. We introduced ourselves and struck up a conversation. They were so excited that I was a student and were very encouraging, giving me advice. I wrote it all down. I even worked up the nerve to ask about a few of the abbreviations from my early morning session.

Two of the ladies that I met over lunch had known each other for years. One had been in the hospital system for 30 years, the other with a major MTSO. She had started as an MT and now had an education role. I loved talking to them. They advised me to keep my eyes open for opportunities to use my education background. They shared with me how the EHR brings a wide variety of possibilities for new job roles and responsibilities. I had viewed the advent of the EHR as a threat and an inconvenience. What a different perspective these ladies had given me. I sat with them for the afternoon sessions and left their table feeling encouraged and empowered.

Day 2 Saturday

Saturday was a powerhouse! My 7:00 a.m. seminar was wonderful with fun presenters who had compelling information to share. They made me glad that I woke up early. In fact, I have already put a few of their suggestions into practice. I met a few colleagues from my district and enjoyed spending the early morning with them.

Still, in the back of my mind a question was forming that I had been afraid to ask. “Where’s my passion for medical transcription?” I had always been passionate as a teacher. I had loved teaching ever since I lined up my stuffed animals for the first time at the age of three. Medical transcription was different. Sure, I loved the formats and rules and the terminology, which seemed like the jigsaw puzzles that I enjoy, but would I ever feel passionate about it? By this point in the conference, I was convinced that medical transcription is a viable field and the body of knowledge opens up many opportunities. None of that mattered if I could not be passionate about my work.