Welcome to the First Issue of the TxHIMA Round-Up!

A decision was made by the TxHIMA Board of Directors to provide communication to the members via a newsletter rather than the Journal as it has been published in the past. Why? A smaller newsletter can be done in a more cost effective manner and can be compiled and distributed more quickly with special issues prepared as needed. Why the name, TxHIMA Round Up? A list of possible names was generated by the District Presidents who were at the District President Workshop in September and votes were then cast by those attending the September fall meeting. This first issue is focused on TxHIMA, our state professional association. Also, in this issue we are beginning several columns we hope to continue in the future such as the “Featuring Our Members” and “District News”. However, we need your help in providing information to be included in these columns and to let us know of other information appropriate to the newsletter format and that you would like to have included in future issues. Contact information for sharing information is included later in the newsletter.

WHO is TxHIMA?

As of August 2008, there are 3,421 TxHIMA members. This includes 2,777 active, 5 Honorary, 53 Senior, 409 Students, and 177 New Graduate members. There are an additional 1,257 individuals in Texas who maintain their credentials but do not hold membership in AHIMA/TxHIMA and do not have the benefits of membership of reduced meeting registration, right to vote and hold office, access to portions of some websites, or receive most published materials. How has the membership numbers changed over the years? See the chart below. The New Grad category which began in 2005 is a membership category for previous Student members who no longer qualify for that category and can change to the New Grad membership for one year at a reduced rate. In 2007, the Associate Membership category was discontinued consistent with the changes in the AHIMA membership categories.

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How Does One Become a Member of TxHIMA?

TxHIMA is a CSA (Component State Association) of AHIMA and when one joins AHIMA they automatically become a member of the CSA of choice. Most select the state where they reside but can choose a different CSA if desired. Joining in any of the membership categories except for Honorary is done by going to ahima.org, About AHIMA link, Membership, and then Apply for Membership. Information about each of the membership categories is at this site as well. The Honorary membership is a designation awarded by AHIMA.

Any TxHIMA member with membership in any of the categories has the benefits of membership which includes attendance at meetings and workshops and the member registration rate, member communications, and access to member-only areas of ahima.org to name a few. Plus, most importantly one is connected to others who are also interested in participating fully in the AHIMA and TxHIMA professional associations.

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Our TxHIMA Executive Office Staff

Madeline Perrett, TxHIMA Executive Director, is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the TxHIMA Executive Office, financial transactions, providing assistance to the TxHIMA Board, and representing TxHIMA to various individuals and groups, and “other duties as assigned.” Cherry Kay Abel is Meeting Planner for the organization. In this capacity she works with the arrangements with the meetings sites and support services, vendors, attendees and the Board liaisons for the various meetings. Currently Amy Biedermann works part time on an as-needed basis for special projects.

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What is TxHIMA?

TxHIMA is a CSA (Component State Association) of AHIMA which has federation CSAs (state chapters) in every state plus Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico. CSAs provide their members with local access to professional education and networking. The formal voice of TxHIMA to AHIMA is via the TxHIMA Board of Directors who serve as delegates to the AHIMA House of Delegates. Based on the size of our membership, we are represented by five delegates. The five delegates to the October House of Delegates in Seattle will be Gwen Duffie, President; Carol Smith, President-Elect; Curtis Rojas, Conventions Director; Terri Frnka, Education Director; and Sabra Bozeman, Public Relations Director.

TxHIMA is governed by by-laws that are in conformance with the AHIMA by-laws. The TxHIMA Board of Directors has recently updated the by-laws consistent with the required changes in membership categories and other aspects of the organization. Following a final review and editing, these will be distributed to the membership for adoption. TxHIMA is divided into 17 districts based on the number of members and a geographic distribution. Three of the districts are currently inactive and plans are underway to reevaluate the alignment of the districts. Districts adjacent to the inactive districts include members from the inactive areas on mailings and opportunities to attend educational sessions. See the TxHIMA website for an illustration of the boundary lines of each of the current districts. The purpose of each district is to provide leadership at the local level, to serve as liaison with TxHIMA, and to provide educational programs and other services at the local level. The districts are governed by their own officers with a TxHIMA Board member assigned as a mentor for each one. TxHIMA holds a District Presidents’ meeting once a year at the fall meeting for communication and sharing of ideas and concerns that might affect the membership.

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Why Is There a TxHIMA?

The TxHIMA vision and mission statements communicate the purpose of our state professional association. They are:

TxHIMA Vision:

TxHIMA is committed to being leaders in Health Information Management who are recognized as taking a proactive role, affecting change, while supporting and promoting diversity of our knowledge-base and viability of our profession and state association.

TxHIMA Mission:

Our mission statement at TxHIMA focuses on three main aspects:

• Provide dynamic leadership in the creation and utilization of systems and standards to ensure quality health information management.
• Influence governmental, educational, social, and business issues which impact on the management and use of health information for the benefit of patients and providers.
• Provide educational programs and other services to advance the professional competency of both members and others who work with health information.
  

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Where is the TxHIMA Executive Office?

At one time, TxHIMA was solely a volunteer organization but the number of members and the level of activity continued to grow and become more complex so an Executive Office was created with the employment of a permanent staff person to support the membership and activity of the Board of Directors. That first office was in the THA Building in Austin. For the past several years, the office has been in San Marcos.

TxHIMA Executive Office contact information:

Mailing address:

3331 Ranch Road 12 #104
San Marcos, TX 78666
Phone: 512 392-4715
Fax: 512 392-4718
Email: txhima@txhima.org

Send Newsletter items to: txhima@txhima.org or to sb02@txstate.edu

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TxHIMA Job Board

Don’t forget the TxHIMA Job Board! At txhima.org, select Job Board from the list on the left. From there you will be able to view Available Jobs, Job Seekers, and Post a Position. The fees for posting are included there as well.

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TxHIMA Scholarship Information

The scholarships currently awarded by TxHIMA include the TxHIMA HIT and HIA scholarship and the Peggy Starks Graduate scholarship awarded at the annual meeting each year. The amount of these scholarships varies each year based on the availability of scholarship funds. Eligibility for all include holding the appropriate membership status in AHIMA/TxHIMA and submission of the required applications and supporting information. See the TxHIMA website for additional information.

Announcing a new scholarship, the Evelyn L. Cockrell Memorial Scholarship Award to be awarded for the first time at the annual meeting in Dallas in June. This scholarship fund was started in honor of one of our past presidents, Evelyn L. Cockrell, with monetary gifts from friends, family and peers. The application for this scholarship will be available at the TxHIMA website. This scholarship will be awarded to a qualified individual based on financial need, classroom performance and by recommendations of educational advisors or professors.

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Upcoming TxHIMA Workshops

Refer to the Calendar at the TxHIMA website for information on scheduled and planned workshops. These include:

9/26 “New Game in Town – Texas RAC”, Valley Baptist Medical Center, Harlingen.

10/24, “RAC”, Tyler

11/15, “RHIT Exam Review”, DeVry University, Irving

12/12 & 12/13, TxHIMA Winter Meeting, Mission Regional Medical Center, Mission.

More information and on-line registration is at txhima.org at the Calendar link.

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Featuring our Membership

This column will provide an opportunity to profile and recognize the contributions to the HIM profession of one of our own. We are proud to recognize Beatrice Avila of San Antonio and the current president of the Alamo Health Information Management Association in this first issue of the newsletter.

New Coder Catch 22

“We only hire experienced coders“ the new coder was told. “Then how do I gain experience if you won’t hire me?” replied the dismayed recent graduate. The familiar scenario is beginning to change because of avant garde employers like UT Medicine of San Antonio. The change was implemented in 2006 by Beatrice Avila, RHIT, CCS-P, Coding & Billing Manager. Recent health information graduates are hired for a variety of physician based coding & billing positions closely mentored through the probationary period to include completion of the internal coding training program. Those without experience should have successfully completed a Certified Coding Program or be a graduate of a Health Information Program preferred. The newly credentialed students have demonstrated the required skill set to succeed in today’s healthcare industry and this is a wonderful and continuous resource UT Medicine San Antonio is utilizing.

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Featuring our TxHIMA Board

The Board members featured in this issue are the three president positions – past, president, and elect. Sue Biedermann, Past-President, is Associate Professor and Chair of the HIM Program at Texas State University. Gwen Duffie, current President, is a Project Manager for 3M health Information Systems and lives in Forney. Carol Smith, President-elect, is Director, Health Information Management Clinical Operations, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

The rest of the TxHIMA Board members will be featured in future issues of the TxHIMA Round-Up.

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From the Past

(Note the changes in titles of our TxHIMA publication over the years)

10 Years Ago – August/September/October 1998, TxHIMA Journal ---

• The Theme of the National Health Information Management Week was “Putting Health Information To Work with Care”
• Larry Dunham was President
• Becky Squires was the Executive Office Director
• AHIMA Fore winners were Jeramy McClannahan, RRA, St. Anthony Publishing Julia LeBlond Memorial Award; Sarah E. Glass, RRA, winner of the Innovision Imaging, Inc. Award.

20 Years Ago – July/August 1988 Journal of TMRA ---

• The AMRA/IFHRO Annual Meeting to be held in Dallas was featured on the front cover
• Linda D. Duelm, RRA, was President
• Mary M Bearden, J. D. provided a legal update entitled Unauthorized Disclosure of Medical Records Violates Patient’s Right to Privacy
• From the President’s message, “April 9, 1988, will always be remembered as a momentous occasion by those present at the Board Meeting. On that day, the Central Office concept so long discussed and dreamed of by so many finally took root. A budget, an employee job description, a lease and services agreement, as well as an implementation schedule were committed to paper.”

25 Years Ago – June 1983 TMRAgram –

• Helen Orr was President. She wrote about change in her President’s message, starting out her message with “We are entering an era of unprecedented change. A change that has been ushered in by reimbursement legislation that is also unparalleled. It would be very easy to be overwhelmed and succumb.”
• The Annual Meeting had just been held in Corpus Christi
• In a section of the publication called “What’s Your Problem” the following questions had been submitted:

  1) What does your hospital do with fetal monitoring strips?

  2) To what extent does your department check for incomplete nursing documentation, i.e., signatures on flow sheets, transfusion records, narrative notes?
  

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District News

Planned for future issues, please submit your items.

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Legislative Update

Planned for future issues, please submit items.

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Meta Health Technology

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