Understanding of AHDI’s mission:
The mission of AHDI is embodied in its name: to promote and advocate for the integrity of healthcare documentation in an organized fashion, combining the passion of individual practitioners with the strength of numbers. This mission can best be accomplished through engaging and empowering working healthcare documentation professionals to achieve their highest potential through education, training, and service to the profession and to other professionals.

Goals and Objectives:
My primary goal in running for a seat on the National Leadership Board position from District 1 is to continue to advocate for our profession and the professionals who make it great, as I have done in various ways and through various means over the past decade. It is my desire to maintain an independent viewpoint and voice as I advocate for change in our association and in our industry, yet work together in a cooperative manner with other leaders and association members to accomplish that change. I believe the current five-point Strategic Plan is an excellent foundation upon which to build the future of our association and our profession. It is my hope that I can use my varied background in the industry, from transcribing for local doctors to management positions in national transcription services providers, to serve as a consensus-builder in an organization—and an industry—facing both tremendous challenges and great opportunities.

District 2

Bonnie Monico, CMT, AHDI-F
Independent Recruiting Consultant
Omaha, Nebraska

Understanding of AHDI’s mission:
Promoting the integrity of healthcare documentation as we prepare our members and nonmembers for changes that could or will come in the future.

Goals and Objectives:
The profession of medical transcription has been my life for the past 35 years. We have come a long way since I was first introduced to AAMT back in 1976. We have grown into a respected organization and we are seeing that today. Our roles and expertise have changed, how we do our work has changed, and we have faced the many challenges head-on. The Association and the HOD have made some fantastic leaps and bounds, allowing our association to face 2012 and beyond with the membership in mind. Exciting new technologies in the way we communicate and disseminate information to our membership and this will be particularly important as we cover these vast districts. I have continually kept up with the industry trends. Being a member of this great association has allowed me to develop the confidence, pride, and professionalism to adequately lead our association into the next phases of our careers. I would absolutely love the opportunity to accomplish our goals together. I feel I have the experience to assist all of us in accomplishing whatever we choose to do and I am asking now for your support as well. I am sincerely hoping that the members of District 2 would allow me this opportunity. Together we can embrace the technologies, create the standards, and effectively guide our association to the level of expertise needed to be the industry leaders and the association that people come to when they need the expertise we can offer. I have been most impressed in the past year with all of the work that has been put into the development of our strategic initiatives and all the work that has gone into the creation of the National Leadership Board. I so hope we can continue to develop alliances and work together to accomplish everything we all want to do. We have so much more to do and achieve. I truly hope we can do it alongside each other!

District 3

Martha Songer, RMT
Transcriptionist/VR Editor
Expert Medical Transcription, home-based
Louisville, Kentucky

Understanding of AHDI’s mission:
To provide an educated, prepared workforce capable of and committed to providing the highest level of accuracy, privacy, and security of clinical documentation in the realm of the healthcare system.

Goals and Objectives:
As a candidate for District Director, I am committed to further my education and credential status. In moving toward this goal, I have already obtained my RMT credential, and I am actively engaged in continuing further education as well as participation in a study group in hopes of achieving the credential of CMT in 2011. I believe that the AHDI goals as specified in the current strategic plan are a solid framework to provide guidance for our membership in the continuously changing healthcare industry. As your district director, I am committed to learning and outreach so as to provide representation for all district members to the national board as well as working with all the components within my district to help make sure we have the best possible resources available.

District 4

Diane Warth, CMT, RHIT, AHDI-F
Owner/PRN Staff Member
Medical Documentation Solutions, LLC/Virginia Beach Premier Medical
Virginia Beach, Virginia

Understanding of AHDI’s mission:
AHDI’s mission statement promotes quality clinical documentation provided by an educated workforce.

Goals and Objectives:
As a member of the AHDI Leadership Board and 4th District Director, I would like to use all resources available to me at the national level to:

Maintain regular communications with component leaders in District 4.
Be a resource for component leaders and assist them in solving problems encountered at the local level.
Grow membership by exploring ways to reach MTs in the field.
Listen to member feedback and comments and respond in a timely manner.
Work as a team member to further the Association’s goals and objectives as we navigate the new AHDI structure together.
Look for ways to partner with groups/organizations who could assist us in our goals regarding keeping narrative documentation in the EHR rules for vendors.

District 5

Cynthia Alder, RHIT, CMT, AHDI-F
HIM Medical Records Manager
UNTHealth
Fort Worth, Texas

Understanding of AHDI’s mission:
To promote the value of clinical documentation specialists in the healthcare sector. To provide education, promote membership and credentialing, and to provide avenues for advocacy.

Goals and Objectives:
I would like every American to know just how important healthcare documentation specialists are to health care. I once said in a discussion post that we prove our worth to the industry by proving it to ourselves first, with ongoing education, advocacy efforts, credentialing, and involvement in our professional association. Most of all, I’d like to see our industry professionals finally understand their own value and stop feeling invisible in the healthcare spectrum. We all know the saying about one voice that speaks being louder than 10,000 who remain silent. Our 10,000 have been silent long enough. Our professional organization’s leaders have to stop speaking for them and help them find their own voices. Charles Wesley once said, “Catch on fire with enthusiasm and people will come for miles just to watch you burn.” It’s time to light the fire.

District 6

Ann Donnelly, MS, CMT, AHDI-F
Owner and President
Transmedical Services, Inc.
Miramar, Florida

Understanding of AHDI’s mission:
AHDI's mission is the continued development of a qualified workforce that will ensure the integrity of the healthcare documentation. This should also include educating those in the healthcare professions such as clinicians and patients about the importance of quality and accuracy in ensuring the integrity of the healthcare record of each consumer in our healthcare system.

Goals and Objectives:
If elected to the National Leadership Board, my goals and objectives are to effectively represent all the members of District VI, bringing their issues to the attention of the NLB, working towards solutions to ensure the successful continuation of all of our present components. Working with the components in the district would help to strengthen the membership base, increase their efforts towards credentialing and stress the importance of advocacy at the various levels of government, especially regarding the important issue today of retaining the narrative in the EHR. Attending the component events in the district I could become better acquainted with the members and their concerns.

As a member of the very successful AHDI-Florida state association, I would strive to share the knowledge, practices, enthusiasm and commitment of our members with the other components in our district. By sharing our resources and assets among the members of the district, we can strengthen the components in the district so that they will thrive, continuing to grow their membership and their influence with the MTs, employers and other stakeholders who are so vital to the success of our association.

At-Large

Linda Giles
Owner
Transcription, Etc.
Washington, DC

Understanding of AHDI’s mission:
My understanding of AHDI’s mission is to remain the industry leader in the medical transcription field in reference to data capture and document integrity, to help promote patient safety and continuity of care, to assist with setting documentation standards and educating the healthcare community, and to support and further the education of documentation specialists to create a solid, growing, and trusted (credentialed) workforce.

Goals and Objectives:
My goal is to bring about increased awareness of the association and its benefits to the medical transcription and healthcare documentation industry. I intend to help the Association create alliances and strengthen relationships in the healthcare community. I will continue to support and communicate the Association's position on preserving the dictated narrative for patient safety, physician efficiency, and preserving the patient's "Health Story.” As we navigate the changes of EMR adoption, we have to unapologetically continue to educate the community about the level of expertise this industry brings to health care. I will advocate for growing the credentialed workforce while also bringing recognition to the current credentialed workforce, and bringing to light the critical roles that we hold in the industry today. I am committed to helping members and associates, in any way that I can, as we embark on the next level of healthcare document delivery. This is truly a changing environment, and I am so excited and impressed at how this association continues to stay abreast of technology and industry changes as well as future roles for the industry.

Susan Lucci, RHIT, CHPS, CMT, AHDI-F
President
Privacy Officer Services
Parker, Colorado

Understanding of AHDI’s mission:
The professional association exists to support healthcare documentation professionals (MTs, editors, auditors, educators, and others) in their education and development and to provide quality educational resources, viable, recognized credentialing opportunities as well as standards of practice. The purpose of a professional association is to be the conduit between practitioners and end-users of healthcare documentation, the respected resource for information to ensure quality, patient safety, and improved patient outcomes. This can be achieved by involvement with an association that is focused on evolution in technology, standards, and legislation in this sector.

Goals and Objectives:
There is still much work to do and many doors yet to open regarding the value that our professionals bring to health care. Having proudly served as this association’s President, I am so motivated by how positive that experience was that I am excited to have the opportunity to continue the work that has already begun.

Our professionals have worked very hard, with so much dedication to help improve patient safety, and we are now beginning to see some real uptake for initiatives like the Health Story Project, Advocacy, and the Medical Data Exchange—all of which help deliver on meaningful use requirements and create efficiencies for physicians while we keep a watchful eye on quality content. The EHR is here to stay and with our inclusion, EHRs will become more widely adopted and practical for physicians if we are in the picture.

The time I have spent writing, speaking, volunteering on committees, and alliance building have been some of the most rewarding times of my life. Let’s get more of these important tasks accomplished while our momentum is strong. We have no time to waste and I have my running shoes on!