AHDI's FOURTH QUARTER BOARD MEETING

Our fourth quarter board meeting was held in Portland, Oregon following the AHIMA meeting in Seattle. As many board members as possible bunked at the home of director Barb Marques in order to save money and Barb was instrumental in securing speakers for a "free" Friday half-day educational session providing three [3] medical/legal CECs. Thanks SO much Barb for all your efforts on behalf of the board and those members who attended these sessions.

We had a very busy board meeting with an ambitious agenda. We had to review the strategic plan with the assistance of our CEO, Peter Preziosi, we had to provide time for our 2009 president, Susan Lucci, to present her vision for next year and to reveal all committee chairs, and board partner assignments for her term. We also had to elect officers for 2009 who are as follows:

Treasurer -- Sherry Doggett
Secretary -- Kristin Hagen, AHDI-F
President-Elect -- Barbara Marques, CMT, AHDI-F

Many congratulations go out to our new officers and congratulations also go to those directors who presented themselves for the above-noted officer positions but were unsuccessful in their first attempt: Karen Fox-Acosta, Harriet Stewart, and Ava George. Having two candidates for each position is a wonderful thing and shows just how dedicated your board of directors is, however, one will be successful and one will not and this always makes for much wringing of the hands and disappointment by all present. My wish is that their first attempt will not be their last and I wish them success next year -- after all it took running for election to the AHDI board three times for me to finally be successful! So, if at first you don't succeed, try, try again!

Sadly we also had to say good-bye to Jacque Taylor, AHDI-F [secretary] and Cathy Baughman, CMT, AHDI-F [immediate past-president] as their board terms have ended. Both were presented with plaques and the appreciation of all for their dedication to our association and its members. I can assure you that neither of these women will disappear from view as much still needs to be accomplished and they are in it for the long haul.

Following our educational sessions, the 2008 board and our three new board members for 2009 [Karen Fox-Acosta, Kristin Hagen, and Debbie Bright-Chunn] and others did some exploring in and around Portland, including climbing a mountain for a better look at the falls. Finally, we were treated to a wonderful pasta dinner at Barb Marques' home after feeding apples to alpacas at a farm next door to Barb -- and I have pictures to prove it!

NEWS UPDATE: My last fireside chat as president will be at 7:00 p.m. Eastern on 11/19/08 -- please come, ask questions, and share ideas!

AHIMA MEETING - SEATTLE, WASHINGTON

Once again, an amazing line up of speakers was on hand for the 80th Annual AHIMA Meeting in Seattle and the vendor area was as crowded as usual with incredible displays to attract the eye of the attendee. Your AHDI leaders represented you well at a joint meeting between AHDI, MTIA, and AHIMA and many initiatives were discussed that are ongoing or on the table for 2009.

We also had a booth in the vendor area at which information was disseminated to those attendees who stopped by and multiple demos of the knowledge base or KB [an Interfix, Stedman's, AHDI collaboration] were provided. All in all, another wonderful conference I was privileged to attend. FYI - AHIMA will be meeting in Texas next year and I would encourage anyone reading this blog to consider attending if at all possible -- you won't be disappointed.

CAPITAL CHAPTER 25TH ANNIVERSARY MEETING

I was honored to be the keynote speaker for the Capital Chapter's 25th Anniversary Meeting in Austin, Texas this past weekend. Other speakers included John Hays, M.D., a cardiologist who showed videos of cardiac catheterizations with explanations of what we were viewing, Ashley Katz, MSW, executive director of Patient Privacy Rights who provided eye-opening information regarding the sale of PHI by various entities, Ellen Drake, CMT, AHDI-F [AHDI's 2008 Educator of the Year], who spoke on interpreting difficult dictation, and Marlene Schoenberg, Ed.M., CCC /Sp, who provided tips for understanding ESL dictators. There were 64 attendees and 4 new AHDI members were signed up during the meeting. A wonderful time of education, information sharing, and networking was had by all and Kathy Muelker, RMT, Capital Chapter President and her team are to be commended for this wonderful event.

On Friday, prior to the meeting, we had an outstanding Military Spouse Informational at Central Texas College across the street from Fort Hood with 24 military spouses in attendance. An amazing amount of interest was generated in medical transcription as a portable career and, in fact, Operation Life Transformed awarded a $3000 scholarship to one lucky attendee. Many thanks go out to Central Texas College, one of our ACCP approved schools for hosting this event, to Operation Life Transformed, and to the Capital Chapter for setting this up for us. The venue was perfect and the enthusiasm was palpable. A special thank you also goes to Kathy's husband, Jack who helped us with the audio/visual equipment during this MSI as well as during the Capital Chapter meeting -- everything would have been nearly impossible without his expertise.

All in all -- deep in the heart of Texas is a wonderful place to spend a weekend......