AHDI/MTIA Industry Accomplishments Illustrated in Video

At the MTIA 2010 Annual Conference in Daytona Beach, FL, the audience was treated to a short slideshow presentation at the Industry Update General Session & Luncheon. This slideshow provides a brief overview of the major successes AHDI/MTIA has had over the past year within the realm of public policy and affairs due largely to the Dewey Square Group, a Washington, DC-based lobbying firm employed by AHDI/MTIA.

Recording Now Available for Post-Advocacy Summit Webinar

On Friday, April 16, AHDI and MTIA members attended a webinar highlighting accomplishments and success stories from the recent Advocacy Summit. Scott Shalett and Jason Eberstein of the Dewey Square Group and AHDI-MTIA staff provided a recap of Advocacy Summit and presented follow-up plans to capitalize on the success of the event. In addition, members who attended Summit shared their inspiring stories and experiences. If you could not attend the webinar, you can check out a recording by clicking here.

The 2010 AHDI-MTIA Advocacy Summit in Review

Last week AHDI and MTIA members took to Capitol Hill to educate legislators on the need for regulators to recognize the medical transcription sector’s valuable contribution to quality documentation and accelerated EHR adoption. Information about the outcome of this event can be found on the AHDI website. In addition, we are offering a free webinar in which Scott Shalett and Jason Eberstein of the Dewey Square Group and AHDI-MTIA staff member Greg Doggett will provide a recap, including information about the dozens of meetings members had with legislators and their staff, the hundreds of letters delivered to legislative offices, and major outcomes and policy implications of the associations’ advocacy efforts. Advocacy Summit attendees will share their stories, experiences, and thoughts from the event. Webinar participants will have an opportunity to ask questions and to offer comments. For full details or to register for this webinar, click here.

New Webinar Open for Registration--"2010 Advocacy Summit Accomplishments and Success Stories"

Date: April 16, 2010
Presenters: Scott Shalett, Jason Eberstein, & Greg Doggett, JD
Time: 12:30 PM PDT / 1:30 PM MDT / 2:30 PM CDT / 3:30 PM EDT
Duration: 1 Hour
Registration Close: April 13, 2010
Cost: Free
CE Given: 1 ML

Scott Shalett and Jason Eberstein of the Dewey Square Group and AHDI-MTIA staff member Greg Doggett will provide a brief recap of the 2010 Advocacy Summit, including information about the dozens of meetings members had with legislators and their staff, the hundreds of letters delivered to legislative offices, and major outcomes and policy implications of the associations' advocacy efforts. Advocacy Summit attendees will then share their stories, experiences, and thoughts from the event. Webinar participants will have an opportunity to ask questions and to offer comments.

Scott Shalett is a principal in Dewey Square Group’s grassroots practice. A results oriented, critical thinker with a background in strategic planning, policy analysis and political organizing Shalett brings extensive experience and strategic planning to high profile political and corporate clients across the country. Prior to joining Dewey Square Group, Shalett managed The ATLAS Project devising grassroots strategies in 15 battleground states on behalf of progressive institutions and democratic allies.

In 2004, Shalett served as Chief of Staff for Louisiana Lt. Governor Mitchell J. Landrieu where he was responsible for the policy and political direction of the Lieutenant Governor’s office and the Department of Culture Recreation and Tourism.
In 2000, Shalett was the Southern Political Desk at the Democratic National Committee and also directed Al Gore’s Get- Out-the-Vote effort in Iowa. He served as the Field Director for U.S. Senator Carl Levin (1996) and directed City Council relations for New Orleans Mayor Marc Morial from 1994 to 1996.
Shalett was selected as one of the "Rising Stars of Politics" by Campaigns and Elections Magazine in 2002 and is a native of New Orleans.

Jason Eberstein, a principal at the Dewey Square Group, is involved in legislative lobbying and advocacy, government outreach, and strategic planning for the firm’s clients. With an extensive background in lobbying and public relations, Mr. Eberstein brings a strategic approach to advocacy and government affairs. Eberstein has represented a cross section of American businesses and foreign entities on issues ranging from appropriations to taxes, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, and telecommunications and trade.

Mr. Eberstein has represented numerous clients before federal, state and local governments. Additionally, Mr. Eberstein has experience in coalition creation and management, having developed and run multiple successful national grassroots legislative advocacy coalitions.
Mr. Eberstein’s government relations experience includes both working for a foreign embassy, on Capitol Hill, and for a global public affairs/public relations firm. Mr. Eberstein holds a Master’s of Business Administration from the George Washington University and a Bachelor of Arts in History and Political Science from the University of Maryland.

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.

Register Now!

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.

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.