Your New Board

Briarwood is now Lincoln College

A New Name For Briarwood

Submitted by Phyllis Hilt, MBA, RHIA
 

1. Briarwood College was bought by Lincoln Educational Services.We now are known as Lincoln College of New England and we are the only collegiate entity of Lincoln with a regional accreditation.  This means Lincoln College of New England is a separate entity under the Lincoln Educational Services that offers college degrees. With this new venture, we now have the resources to develop additional four-year programs and in 3-5  years we will also be seeking approval for Master's programs, as well.  HIM is one of them!

2. The HIT Program.  The two year program has received approval from the CT Department of Higher Education to offer the program both on ground and online.  We are now awaiting approval from The New England Accreditation of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) for their approval for the complete online format.

3. The HIA Program. The 4-year bachelor's program in health information administration has been approved by the CT Department of Higher Education. We are now awaiting approval from The New England Accreditation of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) for their approval which should happen in June 2010 or Sept 2010. 

This means we'll be offering the 2 and 4 year program online starting this fall, either in Sept or Oct 2010. Once NEASC approves the 4-year program, we will initiate the CAHIIM Accreditation from AHIMA.

We're on our way!

Congratulations to Nancy Lowry!

AHIMA has announced that Nancy has been awarded a Merit Scholarship Award for 2009.  The award in the amount of $1000 is sponsored by Spheris.  Nancy is a student a Briarwood College.   

A Blast from the Past

Take a step back in time.  Below is an excerpt from  an annual meeting that took place some time ago.

"In this hospital, we have a record committee composed of the chiefs of the divisions of service, medical, surgical, obstetrical. The duties of that committee are to see that the records are kept up and to review them at the end of the month to see that they are accurate and that there are no omissions.  A record completed later than two weeks after the discharge of the patient is not worth the paper it is written on.  I feel that severe measures are indicated.  There must be some way possible to keep records up.  A rule should be instituted in the hospital that all records must be up by the 10th of the succeeding month or dismissal from the staff would be the penalty, and no excuse should be accepted other than illness or unexpected holiday."    Quote:  Dr. Thos. Murdock, Chief of Medical Dept Meriden Hospital, Connecticut Hospital Historian's Association, Annual Meeting May 31, 1932.

Upcoming Events  

  

Event:  AHIMA Election

Location: AHIMA website

Date: 6/7/2010-6/25/2010

 

Event:  CTHIMA Strategic Planning Meeting

Location: Groton, CT

Date: 6/10/2010

 

Event: AHIMA Summer Meetings/Team Talks

Location: Chicago, IL

Date: 7/16/2010

Website:  Click here for details (URL)

Event: AHIMA Summer Meetings/Coding Roundtable

Location: Chicago, IL

Date: 7/18/2010

Website:  Click here for details (URL)

Event: AHIMA Convention & Exhibit

Location: Orlando, FL

Date: 9/25/2010-9/30/2010

Website: Click here for details (URL)

Member seeking Internship or Volunteer Opportunity.

Presidents Message

I recently had the opportunity to speak with Dr. Dowling, the new CEO of AHIMA, about the future of our profession.   We discussed, amongst other topics, the potential damage that could be done if the IT field is able to take the reigns when it comes to the electronic record. AHIMA is out there tooting our horn, but they can't do it alone.   They need the support of CSA's -and  that means you.  We all need to be aware of the changes and not be afraid to accept the challenges that go with it.  When we let the IT folks accept key roles that we are more than qualified to fill, we give them the upper hand.  

We are a very diverse group in that we represent so many different areas of our field.  Many years ago that wasn't the case - we worked in the Medical Records Department and pushed paper.  No, we never were the paper pushers, but the perception of many is that's what we did and ultimately still do.  We certainly know better.  We still struggle for a seat at the table when issues affecting us are being discussed.  This scenario is currently playing out at the national level. AHIMA must make sure they (we) are represented.  With the evolution of  ARRA, HITECH, RAC's and ICD-10, to name a few, we cannot lose sight of our role in all of this as HIM professionals.

I know what you're saying; you're not the type to get involved.   It can take as little as voting. The national elections just opened. Take a few minutes and go over the bios and position statements of the candidates.  These are the individuals that represent you at AHIMA.  Do they represent the direction you believe AHIMA should be going?  Do they see the challenges that are ahead of us?  The same goes for the CSA elections - vote, nominate someone you think would be make a great director or nominate yourself (I forgot you're not the type to get involved).  You can write an email to the board members about your concerns, ideas or just to say hi.  See, you can become involved and it may not be as painful as you might think. 

At the strategic meeting this week, we will be discussing the direction CTHIMA will be taking.  We will use the data compiled from the environmental scan that was collected last month.  The environmental scan is another example of how you can be heard.  If you didn't complete it this year, please do it next year.  The more people we hear from, the better picture we have of your needs.  

Thanks to all of you that have stepped up this year and volunteered for any number of things.  We could not have done it without you.  You are the backbone of this association. 

Sincerely,

Linda

Linda H. McKone, RHIT

President

We want to know

Proposed Amendments to the AHIMA bylaws on House Apportionment and Composition

Martin Cohen, RHIT

Past President, CTHIMA

On June 7^th through June 18^th the House of Delegates will vote on a proposal to change the apportionment and composition of the House. This new apportionment and composition would have the number of delegates from each state determined by the percentage of AHIMA voting members in each state.  For CT, we would go from 4 delegates whom we presently have to 2 delegates. There has been much debate on this issue, and there is currently a motion to postpone the current vote. Below are some key points to this issue and what our delegates will be asked to vote on.

Key Points - Proposed Amendments to the AHIMA Bylaws on

House Apportionment and Composition

What is required for the proposed amendments to pass?

·         For an amendment to the AHIMA Bylaws to pass, 2/3^rd of delegates who vote must affirm the motion.

If passed, when would the proposed amendments become effective?

·         If adopted, the proposed amendments would become effective July 1, 2011 to seat the 2011-2012 House of Delegates. If the House apportionment amendment passes, it would allow CSAs time to make local changes.

·         The 2010-2011 House of Delegates was seated under the current AHIMA Bylaws (100 member formula). The apportionment report was sent to CSA leaders in February 2010 and is available in the State Leaders and House of Delegates CoP.

Who is bringing forward these proposed amendments to the AHIMA Bylaws?

·         The proposed amendments are being brought forward by the House of Delegates Team on House Operations. Like all House Teams, the Team is lead by two co-chairs appointed by the AHIMA President. There are 34 delegates on the Team representing 32 CSAs. The Team had consensus to bring the proposed amendments forward. The AHIMA Board of Directors is not bringing the proposed amendments forward.

Why is the "% of membership" apportionment formula being proposed?

·         The proposed formula to calculate delegate apportionment would keep the House of Delegates at a constant size. If a CSA is very near the upper or lower end of the percent and experiences a significant shift in membership, this could cause the House to gain or lose a delegate.

·         The proposed formula is an attempt to give members better representation by delegate - balanced against the other goals for addressing apportionment. Note: a majority of issues the House addresses affect the HIM profession or association at large.

·         AHIMA is a membership association; therefore the proposal focuses on number of members per CSA - as the current formula in the AHIMA Bylaws does. A member should feel well represented regardless of the CSA he/she lives in. Under our current formula 33 CSAs have the maximum number of delegates (five). Is this fair to all CSAs?

How will these motions be voted on - Delegate Apportionment and House Composition?

·         Both amendments will be voted on simultaneously. The House composition motion is contingent on the delegate apportionment motion passing. It could happen that the delegate apportionment motion passes and the House composition motion does not.

·         While the motion to change the House composition will be voted on at the same time as the motion on delegate apportionment, it is contingent on the delegate apportionment amendment passing. This means that both motions must pass for the House composition motion to become effective.

Approved and Provided by the Apportionment Workgroup

There has  now been a motion filed by the Missouri HIMA, and seconded by the Kansas HIMA which is asking for a postponement of this vote till August 9^th through the 20^th, so that more questions can be answered.

 Since that question has not been addressed either on the COP or in a conference call with the MHIMA and KHIMA delegates, MHIMA and KHIMA feel that this should be postponed to allow more time to debate so this question, and any others that delegates may have, can be answered, and the full House has the information they need to make an informed decision in this important matter."

 At issue now is the fact that the current House of Delegates have debated this issue for well over a year or more. We debated this at the HOD last year and we postponed the vote then. We were asked to go back to the Operations Committee and  see if we could come up with another plan. After many calls, and votes within the committee, as well as a survey which was sent out, the Committee voted to bring back the same motion which was based on the percentage of AHIMA voting members to make up the amount of delegates from each state. This was voted on by a majority of the delegates present on the conference call at the time of the vote.

Now what must happen is we have to vote on whether to postpone the vote first. If we do not postpone the vote, the delegates that were voted into office and who have been debating this from before the last HOD will vote on the new makeup of the house. If there is a vote to postpone the vote till August, then most of the delegates that have debated this issue, and are familiar with the issue will no longer be delegates. New Member delegates will now be asked to vote on an issue that they have not debated, and may not know what is behind it. So that is where we are now. We would welcome your comments, ideas, and thoughts that will help us know how you would like us to vote.  The only difference for CT would be we would loose 2 votes, but proportionately it should be about the same. So we would really like to hear from you the membership, what do you think? You can contact me, Marty Cohen at mcohen@masonicare.org .