Reshaping AHDI: Be an Informed Voter

At the 2010 House of Delegates meeting, the House passed a resolution that calls for a reshaping of the association to meet the needs of our members and components. The association and profession must continue to evolve in the face of greater electronic health information exchange and the emerging technologies that will impact the practice of the documentation professional.

Since the vote at the August 2010 House of Delegates meeting, two steering committees were created to implement the reshaping plan. The Strategic Initiatives Steering Committee developed purpose-driven affiliation agreements to spur on greater innovation and collaboration among components and alliances in promoting credentialing, education, advocacy, and member development. The Bylaws and Policies & Procedures Steering Committee drafted bylaws to restructure the AHDI Board of Directors and House of Delegates into one National Leadership Board by ACE 2011. The board will consist of 12 to 14 at-large and district directors voted in by the general membership and corresponding districts, respectively.

Thanks to Carolinas Delegate Loretta Foulkrod who led the Strategic Initiatives committee and Texas Delegate Cynthia Alder, CMT, RHIT, AHDI-F, who chaired the Bylaws and Policies & Procedures committee. Members were invited to listen in on bi-weekly sessions as well as review the work in progress on a collaborative wiki. Extended terms for the 2010 Speaker of the House, Speaker-elect, and delegates during this period of transition was be put into effect.

As we prepare for an upcoming vote on changes to the association bylaws to reshape AHDI, we will update the website on January 19, 2011, with information to assist you in making an informed voting decision. Voting polls will open at that time and eligible members will have until February 28, 2011, to vote on the bylaws revision.

Town Hall meetings are scheduled for members to hear from Association leaders on the Reshaping AHDI plan. Please feel free to register for any of the following Town Hall meetings to ask questions about the program.

January 25 at 5 p.m. Eastern
February 3 at 6 p.m. Eastern
February 9 at 6 p.m. Eastern
February 17 at 6 p.m. Eastern

We encourage you to talk to your delegate, component officers, Board members, and the staff to ask questions and to learn about the reshaping plan. You may also reach the AHDI Member Relations Department by tel: 1-800-982-2182 or 1-209-527-9620, or by email: ahdi@ahdionline.org.

Blueprint for Great Governance

AHDI’s Board of Directors, Component Leaders, and House of Delegates are spearheading a new initiative to ensure the long-term success, relevance, and business sustainability of our association’s components. This project, called "The Blueprint for Great Governance," is being lead by AHDI President-elect Barb Marques, CMT, AHDI-F, and Speaker of the House Bonnie Monico, CMT, AHDI-F, with an esteemed group of team members representing the diversity of our membership.

Over the next six months, the team will host a series of Town Hall meetings both in person and online to brainstorm new approaches, services, and models to best serve the needs of our members and position MTs for long-term success in this rapidly changing environment of health care. We will examine the 1) purpose of components, 2) tactics for collaboration and sharing of best practices, 3) ways to ensure financial stability, and 4) engagement models.

All AHDI members, component leaders and members, and delegates are invited to participate in the Town Hall meetings. The online Town Hall meetings will be announced in Vitals as they are scheduled; and face-to-face meetings will be held as follows:

• March 25, 2010 (in conjunction with the Advocacy Summit)
  2 p.m. to 5 p.m.
  Marriott Crystal City; Arlington, Virginia



• April 16, 2010 (in conjunction with the AHDI-West Conference & Advocacy Day)
  9 a.m. to 12 p.m.
  Hilton Garden Inn–Phoenix Airport North, Phoenix, Arizona

Following the Town Hall meetings, there will be a Leadership Summit held at ACE on Wednesday, August 4, 2010, for our Component Presidents, House of Delegates, and national AHDI Board of Directors. Please mark your calendars. Our goal for the Summit will be to reach final consensus on a blueprint for the future and specific paths forward in the four areas outlined above.

If you have questions or would like more information on this important initiative, please contact Linda G. Brady, CAE, director of member relations by email: lbrady@ahdionline.org.

Meet the Candidates Webinars

AHDI will be hosting two candidate webinars in the month of July. Registration is free for members to attend the debates. View the 2009 Candidate web page.

First Webinar
Was held 7/13/2009 (Monday)

Second Webinar
Date: 7/21/2009 (Tuesday)
Time: 4:00 p.m. PDT/7:00 P.M. EDT
Topics: (1) Membership Recruiting/Retention, (2) Governance/Components, (3) Platform issues, and (4) Personal Contributions
Reserve Your Seat Now

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!