New Webinar Available: Today's Healthcare Technician: Staying Relevant in an EMR World - Register Now

Date: March 11, 2010
Presenter: Elisa Comer, CPHIT, CPEHR, CQA, MLTS
Time: 10 AM PST / 11 AM MST / 12 PM CST / 1 PM EST
Duration: 1 Hour
Registration Close: March 5, 2010
Cost: $20 – Members / $30 Non-members
CE Given: 1 TW

"Challenging" doesn't begin to describe what lies ahead for today's health data technician. Learn how to stay relative regarding the EMR in a rapidly changing HIT environment. In this session, we will explore topics such as where to get updated information and which EMR skills will be necessary for success.

Elisa Comer, CPHIT, CPEHR, CQA, MLTS, is a known quality advocate and EMR consultant from Johnson City, TN. After many years as a successful transcription service owner, she became certified in health information technology and the electronic health record. She led her company through a change to EMR implementation specialists with an emphasis on quality and obtained certification as a quality auditor. Elisa met EMR vendors head-on to stand up for quality and demand a place for narrative charting at the table of the national EMR agenda. Physicians call on her expertise for assistance in moving to electronic medical records, and she is a trusted member of the patient care team for many physician groups and IPOs, thus kicking off a successful EMR consulting career.

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Free Webinar: AHDI-MTIA Manual on Ethical Best Practices - Registration Ends Today!

A Program Your Company Cannot Afford to Be Without.

Date: February 11, 2010
Presenter: Gregory Doggett, JD
Time: 1:00 PM PST / 4:00 PM EST
Duration: 1 Hour
Registration Close: February 8, 2010
Cost: FREE
CE Given: N/A

During this webinar, AHDI-MTIA staff member Greg Doggett, JD will provide an overview of the associations’ new Manual of Ethical Best Practices for the Healthcare Documentation Sector. Heightened privacy and security concerns, increased calls for transparency of operations, and a growing home-based workforce have prompted AHDI and MTIA to create the manual. The manual will help medical transcription businesses and professionals to adopt policies and procedures for complying with HIPAA privacy and security laws and operating in a manner consistent with ethical best practices related to transcription billing, compensation, and outsourcing. The manual is part of the associations’ ongoing commitment to safeguarding protected health information and upholding the integrity of the profession and industry.

Greg Doggett, JD oversees government and board affairs for MTIA and AHDI. In addition, he serves as staff project manager for the compliance advisory council which was convened to provide input regarding areas that could benefit from the creation of ethical best practices and to assist in content development for the manual. Greg received his law degree, with a concentration in health law, from Case Western Reserve University School of Law.

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Obama 2011 Budget Request: Department of Health and Human Services

Last year President Obama used his budget to lay the groundwork for comprehensive health-care reform, proposing a 10-year, $634 billion reserve fund as a "down payment" on universal coverage.

This year’s blueprint does not include that money, though administration sources said the overall federal budget assumes a bill will be enacted and result in deficit reduction of $150 billion over the next decade.

The budget for the Department of Health and Human Services envisions a few minor changes: a $1 billion increase for the National Institutes of Health, $1.6 billion more for child care and an additional $290 million for community health centers. Read more at the Washington Post.

AHDI Webinar - Advocacy 101: What You Need to Know about AHDI/MTIA Advocacy - Registration ends 2/5/10!!

Date: February 10, 2010
Presenter: Gregory Doggett, JD
Time: 10:00 AM PST / 1:00 PM EST
Duration: 1 Hour
Registration Close: February 5, 2010
Cost: FREE
CE Given: N/A

Are you new to AHDI or MTIA and looking for ways to become more involved? Are you looking for opportunities to advocate for the profession and industry? Are you curious about the AHDI-MTIA Advocacy Summit? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then this is the perfect webinar for you. You will learn about the 2010 Advocacy Summit which runs from March 23 to 25 in Washington, DC. Find out about additional opportunities to become involved in advocacy. Learn about the associations' recent advocacy efforts and plans for the future. If you have any questions before the webinar, please contact AHDI/MTIA staff member Greg Doggett at gdoggett@ahdionline.org or 859-512-3284.

Sheryl Williams is the Chair of the Legislative Issues Group and is an active member of Wisconsin-Minnesota AHDI. Greg Doggett oversees government and board affairs for AHDI and MTIA. Greg received his law degree, with a concentration in health law, from Case Western Reserve University School of Law.

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MT Package—A Discount for MTs to Attend MTIA 2010 in Daytona Beach, FL

The MT Package is a special discount allowing transcription practitioners to attend a portion of the 21st annual MTIA conference at an outstanding price! MT Package Option 1 allows access to the Saturday morning compliance program featuring extremely critical, credit-worthy sessions on legal compliance and HIPAA laws. MT Package Option 2 grants access to all of the Friday afternoon and evening activities in addition to the aforementioned Saturday morning compliance program. For details on registration fees, specific sessions included, CEC values, and more, click the link below.

MT Package Details: MTIA 2010.

Need CECs? AHDI Webinar - Position Yourself for Success in Today's Marketplace - Registration Closes 2/3/10!!

Date: February 10, 2010
Presenter: Karen L.T. Bates, CMT, AHDI-F
Time: 3:00 PM PST / 6:00 PM EST
Duration: 1 Hour
Registration Close: February 3, 2010
Cost: $20 Members /$30 Non-Members
CEC Given: 1 PD

In these tough economic times the competition in the job market is heavy. How do you stand out in a sea of applications? How can you make yourself more employable, and ultimately more retainable? Increasing productivity and accuracy, building on your foundation of knowledge, becoming credentialed, stretching outside of your professional comfort zone, and other techniques will be discussed at this presentation.

Karen Bates has been an MT for 31 years and the last 19 as a CMT. She has been a member of AAMT/AHDI since 1981. She has spent 10 years in middle management positions with 3 years involved in teaching transcription and managing a transcription production center. She has been instrumental in the development and testing of the software platform currently utilized by DTS America MTs as part of their job development process.

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AHDI Tool Kits—Impacting Professional Practices & Preparing for Future Roles

With the rapid evolution of emerging technologies reshaping how healthcare documentation is captured, secured, and repurposed, the need for transitional resources and practical guidelines that assist practitioners in preparing for and managing those changes has become important to both healthcare documentation professionals and the client providers for whom our industry provides its services. To that end, AHDI has developed several tool kit resources that address these evolving trends and the guidelines necessary to be "technology ready" in this sector. We encourage you to visit our AHDI Tool Kits section of the website to view all three tool kits available at your convenience. Check out these important resources below:

Dictation Best Practices (DBP)—Designed to help providers to improve dictation practices that impact "SRT readiness" and ongoing quality data capture. (Tool kit under revision; update coming soon.)

Personal Health Record Facilitator (PHR)—Designed to help MTs to transition to contributory roles assisting the general public with PHR creation and maintenance.

Electronic Health Record (EHR) —Designed to help MTs understand and prepare for emerging roles in the EHR.