Become an Advocate
Advocacy is a personal endeavor that requires an innate passion for the subject and a drive to spread the word about it. The Legislative Leader program was developed by AHDI/CDIA to identify and train one legislative leader in each state – someone who has a vested interest in healthcare documentation, a desire to advocate on behalf of the profession and its role in ensuring patient safety, and the ability to contribute to these advocacy efforts through grassroots organization at the state level. Those individuals selected will serve as a state/local organizer of advocacy efforts, activities and communications as they relate to the national AHDI/CDIA advocacy campaign.
To learn more about the position, read the Legislative Leader Job Description
Become a Legislative Leader:
If you are interested in serving the association and your colleagues in this capacity, please contact the Legislative Leader Program Chairperson, Sheryl Williams (swilliamscmt@msn.com) and/or Legislative Leader Program staff liaison Miranda Chalabi (mchalabi@ahdionline.org).
Legislative Leader Program Steering Committee
AHDI Chair: Sheryl Williams (swilliamscmt@msn.com)
CDIA Chair: Steve Gaus (stephen.gaus@verizonbusiness.com)
Board Liaison: Karen L. Fox-Acosta, CMT, AHDI-F (karen.fox@foxtx.net)
Staff Liaison: Miranda Chalabi (mchalabi@ahdionline.org)
Advocacy Alliance
Members of both AHDI and CDIA can participate in the Advocacy Alliance listserv group – designed for anyone who has an interest in advocacy issues and desires to stay abreast of the dialogue. Leaders who are part of the Legislative Leaders Program are members of this Advocacy Alliance listserv by default, but it is open to those who just want to stay connected to advocacy information and/or participate in specific initiatives and events.
Resource Materials
We’ve developed the following materials to help you convey a clear and concise message in any meeting or conversational setting where you are advocating for our profession and its relevance within healthcare. These materials can be used in preparation not only for our visit to Capitol Hill during Advocacy Summit 2011, but throughout the entire year as we continue to pursue our advocacy goals:
- Advocacy Agenda – Your orientation as a legislative leader should begin here. AHDI and CDIA have identified 6 key areas upon which the associations have chosen to focus their advocacy efforts. Download and read the agenda to understand these critical objectives.
- Legislative Packet from Advocacy Summit 2011 - This pdf document contains all materials that were included in the legislative packets provided to all attendees at Advocacy Summit 2011.
- Advocacy Documents – The resource list below contains documents, flyers, and handouts that will not only enhance your own understanding of AHDI’s advocacy agenda but can also be downloaded to create advocacy packets and outreach materials to support your regional and local advocacy efforts:
- Legislative Training Manual – An overview of how the legislative process works, how to find pending bills and legislation, how congressional committees operate, tips for communicating with your elected officials, an overview of congressional staff roles, and how to access contact information for your elected officials.
- Guidelines for Hosting a Congressional Meeting – A short handout with tips for developing congressional relationships through advocacy appointments.
- Capturing America’s Healthcare Story – Powerful 2-page, full-color flyer that conveys the critical importance of comprehensive patient health stories, with information about what a health story is, how it needs to be preserved through the course of EHR adoption, and what both associations are doing to advocate for preservation of health stories. This can be downloaded, duplicated, and distributed to federal, state, and local legislators as well as to healthcare organizations and the general public.
- AHDI/CDIA 2011 Talking Points – This 2-page bulleted list of talking points is designed to assist legislative leaders in creating a coordinated, high-impact message when speaking with legislators and policymakers.
- National Hometown Advocacy Week Flyer - Take this flyer to your federal legislative representative during the National Hometown Advocacy Week May 20-26.
- AHDI/CDIA Comments on Stage 2 Meaningful Use – Advocating for the importance of patient health stories means positioning that argument with the right committees and policymakers around EHR adoption. Download and read this official comment to the Health Information Technology Policy Council, the governing body overseeing the deployment of ARRA funds and establishing criteria for those funds through the definition of “meaningful use.”
- Opportunities and Challenges for the Clinical Documentation Sector – Advocacy conversations have to include some practical information about the current status of our sector, particularly when discussing the potential for legislation or funding that can address or impact the challenges our sector is facing and/or create new opportunities for our industry. This document is a strong outline of what those challenges and opportunities are.
- Health Story Project – A short flyer outlining the role and purpose of The Health Story Project, founded by AHDI, CDIA, and AHIMA to support standardization around how unstructured text is formatted and codified for use by EHR systems.
- Medical Data Exchange – A short flyer outlining the role and purpose of the Medical Data Exchange (MDE), a CDIA/AHDI partnership with Verizon Business and ICSA Labs to deploy a health information exchange network between transcription service providers and healthcare providers to exchange patient records in a secure virtual space.
- Improving the Accuracy of Narrative Patient Notes – A one-page advocacy document advocating for the critical role of the healthcare documentation knowledge worker (ie, MTs and editors) in risk management. This powerful message relates the outcomes of a 24-hour error study performed in 2010 that documented the QA practices of a group of MTs for a one-day period of time. This study demonstrates how frequently MTs are engaged in error recognition, editing, and flagging to support accuracy and risk management in a clinical setting.
- Advocacy Summit Followup Letter to Legislators (2011) - Use this draft template letter to followup with your legislator after Advocacy Summit and/or other district legislative appointments and meetings.
Legislative Leader Training Sessions
It is our goal to equip our volunteers with the training they need to make them the best possible local/state grassroots organizers and advocacy-related communications experts. The following webinars are all aimed at essential skill development within those areas.
Webinar Recordings
NOTE: You will need to download and install the GoToMeeting codec before viewing any webinar recordings.