MHIMA Uplink

Welcome to the September 2010 issue of our MHIMA member and corporate partner e-newsletter, Uplink.

Remember, we are always looking for authors of articles of interest to our broad MHIMA membership: about 500 words, worth two (2) CE credits for your original work. Contact MHIMA Executive Director.

Current and past issues of our e-newsletter are always available under the UPLINK E-NEWSLETTERS button on our MHIMA website.

If you would like to unsubscribe to our newsletter, please contact Executive Director.

MHIMA Vision & Mission

Vision: The Minnesota Health Information Management Association, together with AHIMA, will set the standard and be the recognized leader in health information management practices, technology, education, research, and advocacy.

Mission: MHIMA is committed to the professional development of its members through education, networking, and life-long learning. These commitments promote high quality health information and benefit the public, health care providers, and other clinical data users.

President's Message


Sue Jensen, RHIT

Where did summer Go? Is your school shopping done? Can you believe that it is September and “summer,” as we know it, is fading away? This weekend our nation celebrates “Labor Day” and many Minnesotans will be spending that final weekend at our great Minnesota State Fair. Do you have a favorite food on a stick? Many people attend the Fair to sample the food and with such a large variety of items, it is literally impossible to try all of them.

All of those choices remind me of the different careers that we, as health information management professionals, work within. I have shared with you that I own a durable medical equipment (DME) company and also own a pharmacy. When I started as a student in this field, I never considered there were “other” places to work beyond a hospital or clinic setting. After working in this current field for three years, I can honestly say I still learn something new every day. Healthcare will forever be a constantly changing field. Just when you thought you had it covered or were ahead of the game, someone changes the rules.

This last week, I spent a large amount of time working with coders and billers within the home health setting. Many of the people working in this field have “fallen into it” by pure chance, find it challenging and exciting. I am working with several of them to help form a Home Health group so they can have a sounding board with others who work in their field. If you are interested in assisting with coordinating this group or joining this group, please contact me.

This past month the Board of Directors and Project Team/Committee Chairs have been busy gathering data and crunching numbers, working on our Annual budget. At our meeting on September 17th, we will be presenting our figures and if all goes well, the budget will be approved by the Board at that time. All of our teams have been working hard and we appreciate all they have done.

Then one short week later, the Delegates will be heading to Orlando, Florida for the annual AHIMA National Convention and House of Delegates (HOD). This year in the House we will be reviewing the following items:

Proposed Bylaws Amendment on AHIMA Name Change

Proposed Bylaws Amendment on Apportionment and Composition
If you have any questions regarding the above information that will be presented, please log onto the AHIMA State Leaders and HOD Community of Practice (CoP) to review the discussions and contact your delegates to share your thoughts. We look forward to hearing from you. Please remember that we, as delegates, represent all of you at these meetings.

In addition, the Annual Meeting and Marketing/Communication Committees are already diligently working on speakers, educational tracks and vendor participation for next year's Annual Meeting. If you are willing to share your expertise as a speaker or know an individual you would recommend for a presentation, please contact our Committee Co-Chairs, Myrna or any Board member. MHIMA has talented, gifted members and to share our knowledge and skills with each other is an honor. If you are not one who likes to present or speak, there are multitudes of ways to volunteer and any assistance is appreciated. The Annual Meeting is at Treasure Island Casino in Red Wing next year, April 27 – 29, 2011. We look forward to seeing you there.

One last note, please go to our website and check out the Calendar. There are several Regions who have scheduled meetings in the next couple of months. Please attend a meeting if you have the opportunity. You get CEU’s for the educational portion, a chance to network with your peers, and meet new friends. If you are unsure what Region you are in, there's a map on our website for you to review, but you are welcome to attend meetings in other Regions. You are not limited by where you live or work.

Hoping everyone had a safe and fun filled Labor Day!

Summer Team Talks & Leadership Conference
"Real Change Calls for Real Leadership"
Janelle Wapola, MA, RHIA, MHIMA Delegate Director

The Summer AHIMA team talks concluded in July in Chicago. The first topic of discussion was titled: “Designing a World Class Association” where we were informed of AHIMA’s current strategy, mission, values and vision. An 18-month strategy map was presented with three main goals:

Lead the Industry in the healthcare arena

Lead the Profession utilizing current and future HIM professionals

Lead the Association using current and future members.

Next steps would be to define Health Informatics, create an awareness and promotion project to include leaders, members, stakeholders and industry as well as others and lastly, an impact planning step. A visual was presented to the attendees indicating the present state value flows for the AHIMA Foundation, CAHIIM and the CSA-AHIMA Value Chain.

A break in the resource area provided attendees the opportunity to network and check out the new resources being offered by AHIMA.

The Industry Update/HIM Transformation section of the meeting included discussion topics on ICD-10 transition, workforce development and updates on the Regional Extension Centers/HIE.

Next was a report from the House Team Leadership, where the six different teams showed their accomplishments and their future focus.

A presentation on the "Speed of Trust" by Franklin Covey was followed by the key 2010 AHIMA Initiatives, presented by Sandy Fuller. She spoke of Industry Leadership in the fields of:

EHR

1-10 Workforce

Privacy, Security and Confidentiality

Data Quality
She also spoke of HI Careers, the rising number of CAHIIM accredited schools, and increasing numbers of HIM graduates. She also gave a CAHIIM update and discussed the EHR Competency Assessment which will work on developing and delivering exams to over 27,500 professionals…coming soon. She spoke of the virtual lab which is blossoming, with over 200 schools and 7500 students experiencing hands-on software via the virtual lab. Sandy ended her presentation talking about the 2010 Salary Study Portal. This online tool will collect current salary and compensation data with customizable reports made readily available. The last Salary Study was done in 2008.

The Communities of Practice usage reports show growth and traffic to our websites. ACE members and AHIMA Fellowship is still going strong and there are several new publications as well as online education, audio seminars and webinars.

Closing comments included updates on the annual convention, evaluation of the event and adjournment followed by a wine reception and wine tasting.

House of Delegates Update:

Each July, MHIMA Delegate Directors are assigned to one of the AHIMA HOD Work Groups.

Danika Brinda sits on the Volunteer and Leadership Development team

Janelle Wapola is on the Best Practices/Standards team.

Cindy Glewwe is on the HIM Higher Education and Workforce team

Gina Sanvik is on the HOD Operations team.

Sue Jensen is on the Professional Development and Recognition team as well as the Environmental Scan team.

AHIMA Election voting results for Minnesota:
Eligible voters from the state of Minnesota = 1512 with the number of actual votes = 201, a 13.3% response rate.

2010 Leadership Conference:

The Leadership Conference kicked off with a great speaker, Michael Wilkinson, the managing director for Leadership Strategies, Inc. He offered some very good information on The Secrets to Planning Strategy. We all learned from his very helpful visuals and practical applications of concepts.

The rest of the conference was filled with various topics such as CoP & Social Media, Advocacy, Recruitment and Retention for Members, Support for Accredited HIM Educational programs, ICD-10 Training, Member Communications, Marketing and Branding, Continuing Education Programs, Health Information Exchange, Volunteer Leadership Development, Board of Directors Best Practices, Local/Regional Associations and Thought Leader lecturer.

AHIMA also offered a tour of their facilities.

Workforce Development Training in HIT
A project supported by an ARRA Grant

Are you looking for an opportunity to become a skilled health IT professional to support the broad adoption and use of health IT in Minnesota? Consider an opportunity available at Normandale Community College. Health information technology (HIT) is a demanding, growing profession that requires specialized skills. The Bureau of Labor Statistics, Department of Education and other sources project that as many as 50,000 additional HIT professionals may be needed over the next five years to support the implementation of EHR in the US. The Midwest Community College Health Information Technology Consortium can provide you with the skill, confidence and connections you'll need to thrive in the HIT field. The Consortium is a collaboration of 17 of the largest and most innovative community colleges in the Midwest. Normandale Community College in Bloomington is a member of this Consortium.

Normandale will offer both campus-based and distance education courses, including evening and week-end scheduling, to assist health career and information technology professionals in becoming HIT professionals, within a maximum of six (6) months. Students who complete the program will receive standardized, non-degree certificates of completion. The program provides short-term training in specific roles that will support the implementation of EHR and is not meant to be an overall training program for HIT certification.

The Normandale program curriculum focuses on job-specific training in four (of the six) designated work force roles as defined by the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) to support EHR implementation. Those roles are:

Practice workflow and information mangement redesign specialists

Clinician/practitioner consultants

Implementation support specialists

Trainers

Note: While the ARRA grant also includes two additional work force roles, Normandale will not be training in these two areas:

Implementation managers

Technical/software support staff

In addition to "hard" technical skills, their program will incorporate up to 40 hours of "soft" skills training, which includes problem solving, deciion making, time management, etc.

Enrollment at Normandale is open to students and recent graduates seeking careers in HIT, as well as persons currently employed in health care and information technology. Financial assistance is available to students who qualify.

Though job placement is not guaranteed, the Consortium is developing strong partnerships with regional extension centers and work force investment programs, as well as physician practices and software vendors/consultants, to help students establish the contacts they need that will lead to job opportunities.

To learn more, contact Normandale Community College or call 952-487-8343.

Getting Ready for I-10
Gina Sanvik, RHIA

MHIMA to offer offer ICD-10 Webinars

We are excited to be offering more ICD-10 education with the first webcast being held in November, 2010. Stay tuned for upcoming Monthly ICD-10 Webinars that will be offered by MHIMA experts for purchase as a "Lunch and Learn" Webcast or recorded session if you cannot make the scheduled time. We will be offering ICD-10 topics such as ICD-10 Preparedness, Review of Root Operations, ICD-10-CM Training, ICD-10-PCS Training, Anatomy Refresher, and more.

The Lunch and Learn webinar schedule will be posted in October!

2010 Coding Self Reviews Due by 9-30-10

Do you hold an AHIMA-coding credential? If yes, this is a reminder that the 2010 Coding Self Review is due by September 30, 2010. You can log onto the AHIMA web site and click on "Recertification," "CEU Center" to complete the coding self review online. Before answering the self review questions, you'll be required to pay your self-review fee by credit card. You'll need your AHIMA ID number available to log in. OR

Complete the coding self-review forms you received in the mail and return with your payment fee by September 30th.

Questions? contact AHIMA at 800-335-5535 or email at info@ahima.org

MHIMA Members: Your Advocacy Action is Needed Today

A message from AHIMA (and your MHIMA leadership): The time is now to help update the Standard Occupational Classifications for health information management professionals: Send Your Letter Today!

With Congress returning from their summer district work period very soon, now is certainly the ideal time to send your letter to your member of Congress if you have not already done so. To date, nearly 400 letters have been sent to the House of Representatives. Although AHIMA is pleased with the response to their request for letters of support, they know we can do better as this is less than 1 percent of their overall membership. This is an important undertaking for the association as it updates the outdated Standard Occupational Classifications for health information management professionals.

You can help by visiting the Advocacy Action Center of the Advocacy Assistant on the AHIMA website. All you need to do is

go to “My Advocacy Action Center” in the Advocacy Assistant

click on the “Take Action” alert

review the letter

enter your contact information

and press “send”

The letter writing competition between the states is intensifying. As a percentage of state membership, Montana is in the lead at 4 percent (10 letters). Missouri (31 letters) and West Virginia (eight letters) trail with 2 percent. Texas has sent the most letters with 35 and Missouri is second with 31. Please get involved and send your letters today!

Let's demonstrate a high level of participation from Minnesota! Thank you!

MDH's 2011 e-Prescribing Mandate

In 2009, the Minnesota Legislature enacted an e-Prescribing Mandate in order to improve quality outcomes and efficiency in health care. This mandate requires all providers, group purchasers, prescribers, and dispensers to establish, maintain and use an electronic prescription drug program effective January 1, 2011. Further, the program must comply with all applicable standards in the Mandate for transmitting, directly or through an intermediary, prescriptions and prescription-related information using electronic media (MN Statutes, section 62J.497).

To review and download a copy of the 2011 e-Prescribing Mandate, Click Here.

To access "A Practical Guide to Electronic Prescribing - Guide 3" (a companion to MN Statewide Implementation Plan, 2008) from the MN Department of Health's e-Health website, Click Here.

MHIMA Scholarship Fund Moves to AHIMA Foundation

Want to support our HIM students in their professional education? Want to obtain a tax-deductible contribution for your financial support? You can now do both! The MHIMA Board of Directors has approved an agreement with the AHIMA Foundation to move our Scholarship Fund dollars to a designated fund within the AHIMA Foundation. This fund will be known as the MN Student Merit Scholarships, and beginning immediately, all contributions to the AHIMA Foundation that are specifically designated to the MN Student Merit Scholarships will be added to our scholarship fund. Unlike MHIMA, the AHIMA Foundation is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization; thus, all contributions made to the AHIMA Foundation are considered tax-deductible.

Through this new agreement, the AHIMA Foundation will administer our designated fund dollars on behalf of MHIMA. MHIMA will continue to determine the MHIMA scholarship selection criteria, solicit and review the applications, and determine the scholarship winners. The AHIMA Foundation will issue the scholarship award checks from our MN Student Merit Scholarships fund held at the Foundation.

MHIMA is very excited to offer this opportunity to everyone who is supportive of our MHIMA Scholarship program. For more information on how to make a contribution, contact Myrna Wells-Ulland,

Regional Fall Meetings Are Coming!

Five of the MHIMA regions have scheduled Fall meetings. These meetings are open to any MHIMA members living anywhere in Minnesota. For more information, visit the MHIMA website Calendar.

Region A (Northwest): October 21, 2010

Region B (Northeast/Duluth): November 18, 2010

Region D (East Central/St Cloud): October 2, 2010

Region E (Southwest): October 22, 2010

Region F (Southeast/Rochester): October 27, 2010

Keep your AHIMA Profile Current

When is the last time you reviewed the information in your AHIMA profile? Have you changed positions? Have a new email address? Have you recently moved? These are just a few of the data elements in your AHIMA profile, and MHIMA uses this information on a regular basis.

Take a minute or two right now, visit the AHIMA Website, log in with your 7-digit AHIMA member number and your last name (capitalize the first letter!), and click on "My Profile/Dues Renewal." Review all of the four sections and update the information as appropriate.

In the section for My Communication Preferences, may we ask that you check "YES" under the CSA Selection box for emails and postal mail? CSA stands for "component state association" and it means the state that you want to be associated with as an AHIMA member. MHIMA uses email and occasionally land mail as our primary means of communication, and if you check "NO" in the email or postal mail boxes, you won't receive either type of communication from us. Thank you!

MHIMA Legal Resource Manual

The 2009 Legal Resource Manual remains available for purchase! This Manual is a complete update of the 2007 version and includes the laws and rules that address the majority of issues that may arise with respect to health information practice. There are many new updates in every chapter. As one member states, "This is truly a valuable resource for anyone that works with health care." It's a compilation of best practices and experience of HIM professionals and the facilities they represent in Minnesota, and it's had extensive legal review.

There will not be another update to the Legal Manual until 2011.

All HIM Departments should have this Manual in their office for ready reference. It's available on CD only and can be purchased from the MHIMA Store button on the MHIMA website.

MHIMA Job Bank

Are you seeking a job? Are you an employer looking for a potential employee? Is your facility looking for someone with a skill set of MHIMA members? Be sure to check out the MHIMA Job Bank Network on our website, which continues to be very popular and new positions are being posted on a regular basis. Here, you'll find information about registering as a "Job Seeker" or as an "Employer". New positions are posted frequently, so check us out often!

Job Seekers: There is no fee to register.

Employers: Job posting fees are very reasonable and reach all of our MHIMA membership. E-blasts of job announcements are also available for purchase.

Click Here to visit the MHIMA Job Bank.

MHIMA Coding & Data Quality Roundtable Tool Kits
The MHIMA Coding & Data Quality Committee's newest PowerPoint presentation, including case study questions, is "Neoplasms - Carcinoid Tumor" There is an accompanying case study answer presentation. This is one of several "tool kits" developed for use by MHIMA members to support coding education and discussion in your facilities and at your regional meetings.

Is there a tool kit topic that needs to be developed? Let your needs be known. Contact Angela Jackson or Jessica Peterson.

The general "Do It Yourself" PowerPoint tool kit gives you the guidelines to set up a coding roundtable.

Additional tool kits on specific topics that have been developed and are available include Interventional Radiology, E&M, Heart Failure, updated Present on Admission (POA) and Aftercare vs Follow Up.

All are available on the Coding and Data Quality button on the MHIMA website. Watch for additional toolkits as they are developed!

And a reminder about your general coding questions: You are encouraged to use AHIMA's Coding CoPs for coding related questions. There is a general coding CoP community for coders as well as several for specific coding areas. These CoPs are a great resource for submitting coding questions and participating in the discussion threads surrounding the questions of others. To participate in these CoPs, Click Here.

Health Information & Technology Week

AHIMA and CHIMA have designated November 7-13, 2010 as Health Information & Technology Week. This year's theme is "Ensuring Health Information Integrity." It's not too early to begin planning for how you will recognize your department and your staff in November. A Planning Kit was available in the August 2010 issue of AHIMA Advantage, and resources can also be found on the AHIMA web site.

Save-the-Date for the 2011 MHIMA Annual Meeting

Put the dates of April 27-29, 2011 on your calendar now and plan to join hundreds of your fellow MHIMA members at our 2011 Annual Meeting at the Treasure Island hotel and conference center in Red Wing, Minnesota. Your 2011 Annual Meeting planning team is already at work, developing a program that you won't want to miss. We are in a time of incredible and perhaps even unprecedented change in health care. Save the date!