Welcome to AHDI-WA, your professional state medical documentation component association! * New * An Overview of the HITECH Act Information Prepared By Greg Doggett, JD Government and Board Affairs The Health Story Project Weighs in with NCVHS on "Meaningful Use" *************** The State of eHealth: Trends of Today's eHealth Consumer by Manhattan Research, LLC Impact of the Economy on Health Behaviors Data collected by ICR, Inc. Report prepared by Teresa A. Keenan, Ph.D. A New Day Rising: How will the electronic medical record movement affect medical transcription? SRT Course, Credential in the Works: AHDI is working to create an SRT/editing course, as well as a new credential. By Sherry Doggett NLP and MTSOs: Is natural language processing the key to the future of MTSOs? By Lynn Jusinski MTIA Releases Supportive Position on Workforce Credentialing Bentley College 2007 Medical Transcriptionist Survey Success Starts With Solid Education: We all need to do our part to address the severe work force shortage of qualified MTs By Kim Buchanan, CMT, AHDI-F

Welcome to Your Delegate's Corner!

Advocacy Summit Report

First of all, let me thank each of you for allowing me to be your representative at the 2009 Advocacy Summit in Washington DC on June 2-4, 2009.  It was an exciting opportunity and we had over 100 appointments and delivered more than 200 letters to Capitol Hill to educate our legislators how the MT can help achieve the HITECH Act’s vision of a nationwide, interoperable electronic health record (EHR) system.  We discussed the need for federal legislators and administrative agency officials to recognize the critical role MTs play in ensuring quality of care, patient safety, and proper reimbursement in an electronic health environment.

The Obama Administration is asking for a definition of "meaningful use" for electronic health records by July 2009, for use in determining the funding guidelines for EHR adoption.  The EHR platforms currently “certified” and being considered for adoption do not include provision for narrative text in the EHR.  There is a critically narrow window of opportunity for us to ensure that the complex narrative is preserved in the EHR to maintain quality outcomes, and to maintain patient safety (not just fiscal savings) to drive adoption and integration. The vendors of these “certified” EHR platforms are positioning themselves around key decision-makers in the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).  These are the people who will determine "meaningful use" and their primary interest, of course, is securing adoption of their own EHR through HITECH provisions.  Our message to legislators is that DHHS needs AHDI and MTs at the decision-making table whose interest is geared more toward how these technologies will be deployed and not whether they will be deployed.  We must be at that decision-making table to advocate for patient safety and quality of care. We must be at the table to speak to the document workflow process and the complexities of capturing health stories in a way that maintains quality, assists with clinical decision-making and promotes coordination of care.  If the "meaningful use" definition is shaped only by the vendor community, there is great risk for the EHR to fall short of the goals for capturing and consuming quality health information. All stakeholders, and most importantly the patient, will lose if the EHR vendors are the only ones making the final decisions.

Because this issue is SO important, and the window of opportunity SO narrow, MTIA and AHDI will be engaging a lobbying firm, Dewey Square Group (DSG), to assist us in delivering our message to key members of Congress, as well as those in DHHS, who will ultimately be responsible for the "meaningful use" definition. In addition, in partnership with the membership and DSG, we will continue to drive this message and our recommendations to Dr. David Blumenthal, the National Coordinator for Health IT, so that the role of transcription is not left out of EHR integration standards, recommendations, and regulations.   Our voice on Capitol Hill and continued involvement will be critical to keeping the transcription profession visible to lawmakers as they make these important decisions that will affect the future of MTs everywhere. 

Thank you again for allowing me to be your voice in Washington DC.   If you have questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me at 253-333-6378, or cmccomb@q.com.

Carrie McComb, CMT, AHDI-F
Delegate, AHDI- WA

Introduction by Carrie McComb, CMT, AHDI-F

Your previous Delegate, PJ James was unable to complete her 2-year term as your Delegate, and since I had previous experience as your Delegate, it only made sense for me to step in and complete PJ’s term of office. She has done a fabulous job in 2008, so I have big shoes to fill.

For those of you who don’t know me, I have been an active member of AHDI since 1982, and active in AHDI-WA since its formation in 1985. I have been working in the healthcare field in various positions since 1957, and as a transcriptionist since 1964. I have seen many, many dramatic changes in the way we produce documents – from my first report on a Royal manual typewriter, through various forms of electronic typewriters, and now to the computer. My current position as “Quality Tools Administrator” is allowing me to provide tools to assist the MT with production of high quality healthcare documentation. We have come a very long way in this electronic world of documentation, and where we will be tomorrow is anyone’s guess.

I will try my best to keep you informed. I will be attending the Advocacy Summit in Washington DC on June 2-4, 2009 and the Annual Convention in Nashville in July, 2009. I hope to meet many of you at those meetings. Please introduce yourselves and let’s talk!

Carrie McComb, CMT, AHDI-F
AHDI-WA Delegate 2009
delegate@ahdi-wa.org

An Overview of the HITECH Act
Information Prepared By Greg Doggett, JD Government and Board Affairs