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President’s Message
 Hello fellow GHIMA members. Even though it seems as if spring just started, we are full steam ahead and approaching summer. On a personal note, for those who are parents, the countdown is under way for the last day of school. For those like me who are parents of seniors, I’m sure your world has been just as crazy as mine as we try to prepare them for the transition to adulthood. I know there are big dreams and bigger decisions facing them as they start thinking about college and their future. I know you all will encourage them to continue their education so that they can follow their dreams and aspirations. To the parents with graduating seniors, my hat is off to each of you for a job well done guiding these young ladies and gentlemen to this milestone. I wish them all the best as they enter the next phase of life because these individuals will be our future leaders. With that being said, we will jump right in to some updates about what is happening in GHIMA.
I am happy to report a very successful Hill Day in Washington, DC last month. Our group was able to meet with someone from each representative’s office and by all reports, the meetings were very successful. We were able to share information about the importance of patient matching and our need to work toward more advanced methods for patient matching. In addition to patient matching we addressed the growth and advances in telemedicine that have occurred without requirements for consistent, accurate and timely documentation of these visits. It is our hope that HIM professionals will be involved in any future discussions of expansion in the telehealth arena. It is crucial that we continue to have our voices heard on these and other important topics.
In addition to our hill day activities, there has been continuous work on the strategic initiatives outlined at the beginning of the year. Plans are under way for another IG workshop in the spring as we continue to educate on this important topic. The leadership team continues to meet monthly with some excellent participation, lively communication and great opportunities to learn from each other. My involvement with this group of outstanding leaders has been an absolutely wonderful experience. And finally, the plan to reduce the existing six regions down to three is finally coming to fruition.
On May 13th, a called business meeting was hosted virtually with all 6 regions present at various locations across the state. The sole purpose for the meeting was to vote on the bylaws change necessary to move forward with this initiative. With a greater than 2/3 majority, the bylaws change was approved. On behalf of the Board, thank you all for your participation in this important process.
For those of you who are mothers, I hope you had a wonderful Mother’s Day and were able to spend some treasured time with your family!
Kathy Alberson, RHIA
2015 - 2016 President​
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Bylaws Vote Results from Called GHIMA Business Meeting
As Kathy Alberson stated in her message above, the proposed bylaws changes regarding the reduction of regions from six (6) to three (3) and changes to the Board composition was approved at a called GHIMA business meeting that was held simultaneously via teleconference in each of the existing regions. The new bylaw content and the voting results by region are below. Further information will be sent out over the next two months to members about which of the three regions they will belong to as of July 1st.
Approved Bylaws Change:
Respectively submitted,
GHIMA Board of Directors​
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Delegate Report
GHIMA sent delegates to the 2016 AHIMA Hill Day in Washington, D.C. on April 5th. There were meetings set up with both Senators and Representatives from Georgia. There were two issues that were discussed during these visits: Telehealth and Patient Matching.
Telehealth:
Telehealth is exploding as a source of health information and as an innovative business model in healthcare. According to the American Telemedicine Association, there are approximately 200 telemedicine networks with 3,500 service sites in the U.S. today. A recent 2015 Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) survey indicates that telemedicine adoption was up 65 percent for hospital respondents and 34 percent for physician practices from the previous year. As new alternative payment models and population health continues to advance, demand for telehealth will only accelerate.
AHIMA’s request to congress was as follows:
- Any expansion of telehealth services or coverage at the federal level should ensure that telehealth record requirements are consistent with other health record documentation requirements to ensure that the record is consistent, accurate, timely, and does not contain duplicative documentation.
- Include HIM professionals from your congressional district in future discussions on expansion of telehealth services at the federal level.
Patient Matching:
In 1996, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) mandated a Unique Patient Identifier for healthcare purposes. Because of privacy concerns , the 1999 Omnibus Appropriations Act prohibited the use of appropriated funds by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services )HHS) to “promulgate or adopt any standard for a unique health identifier until legislation is enacted specifically approving the standard.â€
AHIMA’s request to congress was as follows:
- Omit the 1999 language in FY17 Appropriations legislation to allow HHS to work with industry to advance a multi-faceted initiative to improve patient matching. ​
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2016 GHIMA Scholarship Application Announcement
GHIMA is now accepting applications for academic scholarships. Please follow the link below to learn about eligibility and filing requirements.
Learn more and apply online
Applications will only be accepted online and must be completed with upload of all required documents no later than June 1, 2016.
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GHIMA 2016 Annual Meeting and Exhibit
“Charting the Course... A World of Opportunitiesâ€
August 3-5, 2016
Duluth, GA - Sonesta Gwinnett Place Atlanta
Registration now open!
Don’t miss our keynote, Past AHIMA President, Patty Sheridan, as she presents on “Adaptive Leadership in Information Governance.â€
We also expect to have a full exhibit hall and great door prizes.
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2016 GHIMA Election Results
GHIMA Ballot 2016-2017
Predident-Elect
Janyce House, RHIA — Southeast Georgia
Delegate (1st Year)
Jennifer McCollum, RHIA, CCS — Greater Atlanta
Director (2)
De Sears, RHIT — South Georgia
Karen Searcy, RHIA, CPC — Greater Atlanta
Nominating Committee (2)
Misty Neal, RHIA — South Georgia
Becky Lobdell, MBA, RHIA — Greater Atlanta
GHIMA had a total of 123 qualified votes cast from our total of 1640 active voting members at the time of the election. This was an 8% voter turnout rate.
Voting by Region is as listed below.
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Advocacy
This year our Delegate’s and Advocates from our great state of Georgia attended Hill Day in Washington DC to advocate for accurate patient identification. This topic is near and dear to our hearts because our profession’s attention has always been focused on providing accurate patient information.
As AHIMA CEO, Lynne Thomas Gordon stated, “Patient identification issues are compromising the sharing of electronic health information — incorrect matching can and has led to costly and even dangerous mistakes.†(AHIMA CEO Lynne Thomas Gordon)
Our own GHIMA delegates and advocates stormed the Hill this past April in order to make known our belief that accurate patient identification is vital to providing safe healthcare. In order to understand the importance of their advocacy efforts, I ask that everyone take a moment of your time to help support our professional and state organizations by proceeding to the following website below to learn more about the significance of patient matching.
Please click below:
Journal of AHIMA
Christi E. Snider, RHIA
GHIMA Advocacy Chair
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Summer Coding Roundtable
Please join us for the next GHIMA Virtual Summer Coding Roundtable on Saturday June 11, 2016. We will be focusing on Outpatient Coding Guidelines and concepts and then a Q&A session. Please submit any coding questions or helpful resources that you have found. Hope you can participate!
Coding Roundtable Chair
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Beware of Ransomware
If you thought only hospitals get hit with ransomware, think again. Your personal computer is just as vulnerable. Ransomware is the latest malware trojan designed to infect and encrypt a computer’s data making it unusable until a ransom is paid to the thieves in bit coin. Upon payment, you are provided a code that un-encrypts your data. Your computer becomes infected by downloading programs or documents from websites that look like ordinary websites or by opening an email attachment that claims to be an invoice or receipt. To protect your computer and your data, install a virus protection program and turn on automatic updates so it will update regularly. Back up your data regularly to the cloud or an external hard drive, but do not leave it attached to your computer. If your computer becomes infected, it will be infected too. Don’t open email attachments unless you know who they are from and what they are sending you. Be smart about surfing the web and downloading programs, especially “freeware†that doesn’t cost you anything.
Marian Grier
Engage/Social Media Chair
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Newly Credentialed Members
Congratulations to the twenty-two GHIMA members who took and passed credentialing exams during March and April this year. This demonstrates their hard work and dedication to the HIM profession.
- 5 CCAs
- 2 CCSs
- 5 CDIPs
- 2 RHIAs
- 8 RHITs
The entire list may be viewed by clicking here.
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Other Potentially Useful Links
Georgia Department of Community Health
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
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