Power of 10 Campaign

Attendees at ACE 2009 were the first to hear about AHDI’s new Power of 10, a year-long campaign to raise $10 from 10,000 MTs by 2010. Why? To support the association’s advocacy efforts in Washington, DC, where AHDI and MTIA are working hard to make sure all healthcare documentation professionals have a role in the future of the EHR. Our lobbying firm, along with our government relations staff, is making sure our sector is well represented in important meetings and discussions being held by our nation’s legislators and policymakers on healthcare reform, criteria and standards for EHR systems, and workforce development in allied health. All Power of 10 funds go directly to this effort. Thank you to all in attendance who stepped up to be the first to contribute to this important initiative—helping us raise nearly $2000 toward this goal. If you did not get a chance to contribute, you can donate to the Power of 10 campaign online or by mail. Make sure your funds are clearly marked for this campaign, and as a reminder, donations to this campaign are not tax deductable as charitable contributions.

ACE 2009—Nashville, Tennessee

If you weren’t able to attend AHDI’s 31st Annual Convention and Exposition in Nashville last week, you missed out on a powerful event packed with relevant educational sessions, dynamic keynote speakers, and valuable networking events. This year the dialogue and exchange around EHR adoption, "meaningful use," the Health Story Project, the need to preserve physician narrative in the future of health data capture, and the importance of promoting the role of the knowledge worker in quality assurance—all provided attendees and exhibitors with a critical opportunity to stay in the stream of important information. Here is just a peek at some of the key messages and events you missed:

• Event: Launch of the Power of 10 Campaign
• Message: Medical Transcription is a proven accelerator for EHR adoption and is a "shovel ready" solution to healthcare providers having trouble purchasing expensive EHR systems
• Message: The Dictation/Transcription process is a preferred method for physicians documenting the healthcare encounter
• Message: Medical transcription is a "green" job and this technology-enabled knowledge workforce is capable of assisting with the migration to greater EHR adoption
• Event: Dr. Jonathan Perlin, Chair of the HIT Standards Committee, in a meeting with members of the AHDI and MTIA Board of Directors, declaring value in the AHDI and MTIA promoting uniformly structured and coded narrative reports to better describe the healthcare encounter (Health Story Project)
• Event: AHDI leaders sharing successful best practices in promoting credentialing, education approval, alliance building, career fairs, and membership development.
• Message: AHDI’s work with the Dewey Square Group (DSG), a lobbying firm based in Washington, DC, has improved AHDI’s access to key government decision-makers and made the organization’s advocacy efforts more impactful. Since beginning its work with DSG, AHDI has been able to secure a meeting with the Senior Advisor to the National Coordinator for Health IT. In addition, the important Health IT Policy Committee recently cited dictation-transcription as a specific function that could be included in EHR certification criteria.
• Message: CCHIT, the approval body for EHR systems, does not require narrative dictation as an option for data entry. Discussion around this reality lead to agreement around promoting The Health Story Project as well as other specific actions to take through our advocacy efforts.

AHDI Honors High-Integrity Industry Contributors

AHDI held its first annual Integrity Awards last week at the 31st Annual Convention & Expo (ACE) in Nashville, Tennessee. The association revamped its awards program in 2009, choosing to focus on contributions made by individuals and corporations that better align with the association’s focus on integrity. Winners of this year’s awards were honored at a red carpet awards show event on Saturday night, and each truly represents the kind of innovative thinking and best practices the association hopes to showcase for the sector. Congratulations to all of the following Integrity Awards winners:

• Excellence in Credentialing Award—Tammy Moore, CMT, AHDI-F
• Advocate of the Year—Laura Bryan, CMT, AHDI-F
• Rising Star (Student Essay Contest) Award—Kim Boyce
• Innovation Through Technology Award—Scott Faulkner, InterFix
• Membership Impact Award—Pennsylvania Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity
• Employer of the Year—Amphion Medical Solutions
• Member of the Year—Dianna Hall, CMT, AHDI-F
• Lifetime Achievement Award—Bob Harvey, TRS/TRS Institute
• Distinguished Service Award—Scott Edelstein, JD, Squire, Sanders & Dempsey

Mentors Needed for ACE First Timers

If you’re an ACE veteran willing to mentor a first-time attendee, we could use your expertise and insight. Mentoring involves getting connected to your first-timer prior to the convention, answering any questions about event preparation and logistics, and meeting up with your first-timer on site to help him/her plug in to the convention and to association life. Please email Lea Sims (lsims@ahdionline.org) if you are willing to serve in this capacity for ACE’09 in Nashville.

If you are an ACE first-time attendee and would like to be partnered with a mentor, please contact Lea Sims at the email address above. Mentors will not be assigned on site.

HOD Meeting on July 29 in Nashville

The annual face-to-face meeting of the House of Delegates will be held on Wednesday, July 29, in Nashville. The meeting begins at 8 a.m. and ends at 5 p.m. We have a packed agenda of association business items and educational presentations planned throughout the day.

New to this year’s agenda will be over two hours in the afternoon devoted to reveal some of the excellent work that has been done by a few of our component associations to accomplish our national initiatives. Representatives from these component associations will talk about which of the initiatives they chose, why they picked that one, how they did it, and what they gained from it. There will also be an opportunity for questions, as others can learn from the experiences that are shared.

We firmly believe that participation in national initiatives not only serves the national association in accomplishing important established goals, but that when this commitment involves our grassroots members it can unite the component association membership with a greater focus and purpose.

If you’re in Nashville on July 29, or arriving that day, come and join us at the HOD meeting—where you will see volunteers in action!

Are you Video-enabled? We’ll feature you at ACE!

AHDI is looking for webcam enthusiasts to generate welcome messages for our ACE attendees in Nashville. If you can’t attend the conference this year but would like to be featured in our exhibit hall video stream this year – greeting attendees as they enter and exit the vendor area – we’d love to feature you! Simply record your 1- to 2-minute video and upload it to the AHDI FTP folder designated below. Start your session with a greeting to ACE attendees, make sure to tell us your name and where you live, followed by whatever else you would like to say that demonstrates your love for the profession, enthusiasm for the association and the event, and perhaps a word of encouragement for your industry colleagues in attendance. Please use webcam videos only – no other format will be accepted. All videos subject to review for appropriate content. Upload to:

Address: ftp.aamt.org
Username: AHDIVideo
Password: acemovies
Port: 21

Please email Lea Sims (lsims@ahdionline.org) or Andrew Wolf (awolf@ahdionline.org) when you have uploaded your video.

Live Green. Work Green.

Did you know? In support of AHDI’s initiative to "go green" this year at ACE’09, InterFix will be offering attendees a special trade-in discount for new KB subscriptions. ACE’09 attendees can earn $10 off the annual KB subscription price ($199 nonmembers, $174 members) for every MT reference book they drop off in the recycle bin at the InterFix booth in Nashville (up to 5 books for a $50 discount). Don’t miss out on this amazing opportunity to green your workspace by transitioning from print resources to the best online resource toolkit available for the working MT—Benchmark KB!

ACE 2009 Early Bird Registration Deadline Extended!

Due to the exciting events taking place in our Nation's Capitol this week for Advocacy Summit, AHDI is extending its early bird deadline for ACE 2009 to Monday, June 15 to make sure all Summit attendees (and anyone else who has not registered yet!) will have an opportunity to take advantage of the early bird rate. Don't wait too long! Early bird discounts are designed to help you plan the most cost-effective trip to the event and help us with dynamic event planning. Also, make sure to reserve your room as soon as possible to take advantage of the AHDI room block rate before the block is sold out. For more information, visit the ACE 2009 page at the AHDI website.

Hurry to Reserve Your Room for ACE '09 in Nashville!

Just a reminder to make your reservations now for this year's ACE in Nashville. Rooms at the group rate in the AHDI room block are offered on a first-come, first-served basis, and space is limited, so don't delay! The AHDI group rate for sleeping rooms at the Gaylord Opryland are $161 for single and double occupancy rooms, $181 for triple occupancy, and $201 for quadruple occupancy. You may reserve your hotel room online or by phone.

Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center
2800 Opryland DriveNashville, TN 37214
Make your reservations online
Reservations by phone: 888-777-6779
EVENT CODE: N-AAMT (reference this code to receive group rate)