President's
Message - March 2010
Submitted by: Tim Keough, MPA, RHIA
What
an exciting and historic time to be in
healthcare! With healthcare
reform now law, there is no doubt that our roles
as health information practitioners will evolve
and become even more important! This past
week – your NJHIMA Delegates were in Washington,
D.C. to participate in Winter Team Talks as well
as the AHIMA Capital Hill Day. On behalf
of AHIMA and NJHIMA, we visited with staff of
our elected representatives including Senators
Frank Lautenberg, Robert Menendez and
Congressman Bill Pascrell. 
Our goal while there was to advocate for our
profession on specific issues including:
1) Request to introduce and support the Allied
Health, HIM and Medical Informatics Investment
Act (funding and development of EHR education
labs); and 2) Request to reclassify our HIM
workforce definition within the Bureau of Labor
Statistics to accurately reflect our
professional responsibilities. Thanks to
Peggy Feeley, Ellen Shakespeare, and Linda
Bailey-Woods for participating in Hill Day and
putting our profession on the map in D.C.!
NJHIMA / HFMA / NJHIMSS
Joint Meeting:
Mandate 10: A
Systematic Approach To Complying With ICD-10 And
HIPAA 5010 Standards In The Era Of Meaningful
Use
Registration will be available
soon on the NJHIMA web site.
DATE:
Monday, May 3 2010
All day
event
LOCATION:
New Jersey
Hospital Association
Conference Center
760 Alexander Road
Princeton, NJ 08543
Report from our Treasurer
Submitted by Ellen Shakespeare, MBA, RHIA
We have conducted an extensive
review of our current insurance coverage and
have found that we were able to reduce our
insurance expense for 2010 by approximately
$2500. This was a labor-intensive process,
but the outcome was well worth it to our bottom
line! We may achieve some further
reductions in the near future. Our tax
return was filed as required along with our
submission to the New Jersey Charities
Registration department. NJHIMA continues to
have a healthy balance sheet!
Report from our Nominating
Committee
Submitted by Stacy Gansfuss, RHIA
Election
time is near!! I would like to thank all
of the members who put names into nomination for
this year’s ballot. We had 32 names put
forth for the 8 positions that we need to fill.
19 people have accepted the nomination.
This is a huge turnout and we are very
thankful!!
Now the fun begins. The
election period will be April 10-30, 2010.
We will again be voting electronically and you
will receive information shortly on how to cast
your vote.
I encourage all members to take a
few minutes and vote. This is a member
driven association and these people are going to
be helping to move our organization in the
appropriate direction. VOTE, VOTE, VOTE!!
NJHIMA to Potentially Lose
2 Delegates
AHIMA House of Delegates –
Apportionment Issue Update
Submitted by Tim
Keough, MPA, RHIA
NJHIMA needs your input.
Review this information and give us your
feedback on the
AHIMA CoP for NJ. Last October
at the AHIMA House of Delegates (HOD), a bylaws
amendment to decrease the number of State
Delegates was tabled and a decision was reached
to return the topic to the HOD Operations work
team to reconsider formulas to achieve a more
manageable and cost effective House of
Delegates. Initially – the
impact to NJHIMA would have been a decrease of 1
Delegate.
During Winter Team Talks
on March 22, 2010 – the HOD Operations Team
announced their recommendation to bring forward
2 amendments. The first amendment deals
with apportionment (how the number of delegates
per state is determined), and if passed –
would reduce the number of NJHIMA delegates from
5 to 3 based on methodology they are calling
the Percentage Model. Under this model,
states with more members such as California will
receive an additional delegate – 6, while
smaller states with fewer members such as
Delaware will get an additional delegate – 2.
States in the middle – such as NJ will end up
losing delegates and voting power within AHIMA.
The second – contingent amendment addresses the
number of votes that the AHIMA Board of
Directors would retain. Only if the
apportionment bylaw is passed will this
amendment be voted on. If passed – the
number of AHIMA Board votes would decrease from
12 to 9 – but this remains as a consistent 5% of
the overall HOD vote.
Your NJHIMA Board
sees this as a loss of voting power at the
national – AHIMA level and we oppose this bylaw.
Please visit the CoP and let us know your
thoughts.
Scholarship Fund Board
Update
Submitted by Susan DeSantis, RHIT,
CCS, C-CDI
Remember how it was when you
were a student? The cost of classes,
books, certification examinations and living
expenses can be overwhelming. NJHIMA is
proud to have a scholarship fund to help
deserving students...but, this would not be
possible without the generous support of our
members. Please consider taking a moment
to make a donation to this fund - no matter how
large or small. Every dollar counts and
YOU do make a difference!
Support our professions future by contributing
to the NJHIMA Scholarship fund.
To donate, please
click here.
NJHIMA Annual Meeting and
Coding Roundtable:
“HIM – A Profession
with Growing Opportunities”
Coding Roundtable:
June 16-17, 2010
Annual Meeting:
June 17-18, 2010
LOCATION:
Trump Taj Mahal Casino Hotel
Atlantic City, NJ
Registration for
members will be open April 12th.
You will have a number of options this year – to
attend the Coding Round Table Track only, the
Annual Meeting only, or both! Program
topics include: ARRA Changes HIM Forever;
Managing Hybrid Records; Audits, The Good, The
Bad and The Ugly; HIPAA/HITECH Disclosures and
Regulatory Enforcement; RAC Readiness; Patient
Safety Organizations; Impact of ICD 10 on
Revenue; Navigating the Job Market; Clinical
Documentation Improvement; AHIMA Update- Real
Leadership in a Time of Change; Interviewing
Skills; Beyond the Basics Identity Management;
and ICD10 Implementation.
Remember – we
will be having our annual Silent Auction
again this year so we encourage you to consider
donating items for the auction, as well as to
bid often! Donated items can be brought to the
registration area Wednesday evening – include
your name and the value of the item.
In addition to the auction, we will also have
Silpada Jewelry and Mary Kay Cosmetics
representatives who will donate a portion of the
sales to the scholarship fund.
NJHIMA Distinguished Member
Award
Submitted by Susan P. Scully, BS, RHIA,
CCS, CCS-P
All members are encouraged to
submit nominations using the NJHIMA nomination
form which must be completed in its entirety.
All nominations must be received by April
15th. The Distinguished Member Award will be
presented at the NJHIMA Annual Meeting.
To learn more and to nominate someone online,
please click here.
