New Exam Preparation Product from AHDI!

AHDI Flash Cards are designed to provide the student, new graduate, and/or seasoned MT with quick, high-impact study tools for skill building and exam preparation. Take this handy convenient pack of easy-to-use flash cards with you when you travel, have a long wait in a doctor’s office or kids’ soccer practice, or simply with making the most of that 10 minutes between appointments or on a break. Each set of flashcards covers a content area on the AHDI exam blueprint and is designed to put that core knowledge right at your fingertips.

This set of medicolegal flash cards will test your knowledge and understanding of a broad range of medicolegal concepts and terms associated with the healthcare delivery and the documentation sector, including such topics as HIPAA, document types, document formats, the legal record, malpractice, DNRs, and much more.

Order your Flash Cards today!

Professional Programs Coordinator—Job Opening

Due to a personal reasons, Sue Krajewski, CMT, AHDI-F, will be leaving AHDI’s Professional Programs Department at the end of this month. AHDI would like to acknowledge and thank Sue for her outstanding contributions to the association as a staff member and looks forward to continuing to partner with Sue as a volunteer on association initiatives. To that end, AHDI is looking for a qualified candidate to fill the position of Professional Programs Coordinator. Qualified, credentialed candidates can download the Professional Programs Coordinator Job Description and forward resume and qualifications to Lea Sims, CMT, AHDI-F (lsims@ahdionline.org).

Make an Investment in Your Future: Attend the 2010 Advocacy Summit

AHDI and MTIA are excited to announce the dates for the 2010 Advocacy Summit. From March 23 to 25, AHDI and MTIA members will converge on Washington, DC, to educate their Representatives and Senators on how the medical transcription sector can help ensure the federal government’s multi-billion dollar investment in electronic health records is a fruitful one for both physicians and patients by ensuring the completeness, accuracy, and consistency of patient records, producing information-rich patient narratives that physicians rely on for clinical decisions, and offering physicians a proven, effective, and cost-efficient method of capturing healthcare encounters. Given the technological, regulatory, and economic challenges currently facing the sector, it is vital for the future of the profession and industry that legislators hear this message. So mark your calendars now and plan to attend this important event. More information is available at both the AHDI website and MTIA website. If you have any questions, please contact Greg Doggett at gdoggett@ahdionline.org or 859-512-3284.

Buy a "Willie Getwell" CD and get an "I Love My Career" Mug FREE!

The Willie Getwell educational CD is a proofreading and editing product designed to enhance your skills in the area of editing and error recognition. You will find 40 transcribed and speech-recognized drafts to orient you to the unique editing and proofing process associated with both domains. This CD is pre-approved for 15 CECs in the MT Tools recredentialing core category. Purchase this CD at the member rate of $25 and get a complimentary "I Love My Career" coffee mug (valued at $15). This mug features the "I Love my Career" Next Gen logo. The AHDI website address is printed in white at the bottom of the picture. The mug holds 12 ounces of your favorite tasty beverage and promotes your love for your chosen career.

The CD and mug make for excellent holiday gifts for yourself, coworkers, or your staff.

Purchase your CD with complimentary mug today!

Fee: $25 member/nonmember

AHDI and MTIA Co-sponsors in Best Practices in Electronic Health Records Event

Join us February 3-5, 2010, in Boston, MA, for a gathering of healthcare professionals, providers, hospitals, healthcare systems, and state and federal health departments. This strategic business forum will highlight strategies for EMR Adopting and Use within Healthcare Organizations. This conference will show attendees how to overcome the challenges of implementing an EMR system, offer best practices in integration, streamline clinical processes, establish training guidelines for staff and personnel, and how to benchmark your success of the EMR system. To learn more or to register for this event, visit Active Communications International.

AHDI and MTIA Score an Advocacy Success

Last week, AHDI and MTIA members proved yet again that grassroots membership involvement is key to the success of our advocacy efforts. Members’ calls, emails, and faxes to their Representatives helped defeat an amendment that would have eliminated from the Small Business Financing and Investment Act of 2009 (H.R. 3854) loans for which our members would be eligible and could use to purchase health information technologies. The amendment was withdrawn, and the bill passed in the House of Representatives and now moves to the Senate. This success demonstrated not only the value of membership participation in advocacy, but also the value of working with the Dewey Square Group (DSG). DSG alerted us to the amendment, helped us craft our official statement to legislators, and coordinated delivery of that statement to every member of the House of Representatives. Thank you for your continued support of our associations’ advocacy efforts and stay tuned for future developments concerning the bill.

Medical Transcription Industry Celebrates Health IT Week

Washington, DC, November 3, 2009 – As health information managers and professionals across the country celebrate the health information & technology industry this week, the Association for Health Care Documentation Integrity (AHDI) and the Medical Transcription Industry Association (MTIA) announced their support for a healthcare reform package that improves electronic health records (EHRs) as well as patient safety. Read the full press release on the AHDI and MTIA websites.

HOD End-of-the-Year Educational Session is Open to all Members

AHDI's final HOD educational session for the year is November 19th at 3:30 p.m. PST/6:30 p.m. EST. We will discuss the new Universal Bylaws and Model Policy and Procedures being distributed to all components, which will go into effect on January 1, 2010. This will be an informative session on how to implement the new bylaws/procedures to provide you with resources to assist you as you make the change.

We will also be discussing the Bylaws Amendment that has been submitted to the HOD to ratify. This amendment will change the terms of our board members from a calendar year to an ACE-to-ACE term. Register now for this meeting.