Dear Fellow New Hampshire Health Information Management Professionals:
Happy Spring! As I wind down my term as President and move to the position of Past President I would like to take this opportunity to give you all an update on what has been happening with the NHHIMA Board.
First, I want to thank the Board members who volunteer their time to support the existence of a NHIMA Board. Throughout the year they work to advocate for legislation affecting our profession, provide education for affordable and pertinent CEU’s, and act as liaison between AHIMA and NHHIMA managing budgets, as well as, many other administrative requirements. It has been a pleasure to work with such dedicated professionals.
When preparing this update and thinking about the past year, I felt compelled to encourage everyone to think about volunteering for our wonderful association. It has been an honor and privilege to be a NHHIMA Board member. Being a board member will expand your knowledge of your profession, provide networking opportunities with other professionals throughout the country, as well as, those within your own CSA. The opportunity to work with amazing professionals such as you is a wonderful experience.
There are many opportunities to be a volunteer. We have an upcoming election and would embrace anyone who would like to volunteer and be on the ballot or become a committee member! Contact me at adarcyjames@challiance.org or anyone of the Board member on how to get involved!
On to what has been happening, in addition to many behind the scene activities to ensure the viability of our organization, the following is a brief summary of some of the most notable events:
On Sunday October 16, as president I represented NHHIMA at the Leadership meeting in Baltimore, MD that involved discussion on AHIMA’s 2016 strategic objectives. Which included topics on Information Governance, Privacy and Security, and The evolving HIM Profession (HIM reimagined).
This year we awarded two students a scholarship. These students were chosen due to their academic achievements in the the HIM field. Congratulations to:
- Hannah Boisvert
- Bernadette Proulx
Jane Alessandrini, Director Legislation/Advocacy represented HIM with NHHA at the hearing for senate bill 61. This bill was relative to medical records of a deceased spouse or next of kin.
The proposed new language was sent out to the Hospital HIM Directors for their input. Their feedback was very instrumental in NHHA’s testimony at the hearing and subsequent proposed changes to the language.
We sent a team to the AHIMA Leadership Symposium and Hill Day in Washington, D.C. on March 27th and 28th. Delegates included myself in the position of President NHHIMA and Jane Alessandrini NHHIMA Director, Legislation/Advocacy. In addition to the Leadership symposium that is held yearly, AHIMA asks each state to send delegates to Hill Day. This year AHIMA topics focused on Inspire, Innovate and Lead. In recent years AHIMA has increasingly been recognized by Healthcare Leadership within the US and around the world as experts in the field of Privacy, Security, EMR technology, and advocates for the integrity of patient information. As AHIMA grows in notoriety and gets more recognition for their expertise so do all of us.
Hill Day involves all of the individual States delegates represented throughout the country meeting with their state representative and advocating for the HIM profession. This year’s topics were about the HIM profession and how we have been serving the healthcare industry for nearly a century. How our profession can be found in more than 40 different employer settings and how our responsibilities expand into health IT/infrastructure, research, information governance, patient identity, compliance, and reimbursement. Wow we do a lot!!!
AHIMA also asked us to speak to our representative about the 21st Century Cures Act and to clarify that this act does not hinder the ability of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to assist private-sector- led initiatives focused on developing a coordinated strategy to improve patient matching.
The following NH Offices were provided this information: Senator Jeanne Shaheen, Senator Maggie Hassen, and Rep. Carol Shea-Porter.
In addition to the above the Board led by the Director of Program and Education provided CEU opportunities at the Fall Meeting, Winter Meeting, and Annual Meeting.
Thank you to all who participated in the Member Survey on bringing back the NE Six State Meeting. Stay tuned for the results.
Finally, remember to consider volunteering and look for our upcoming election, remember to vote!
Sincerely,
Ann D’Arcy-James, RHIA
President NHHIMA
