LHIMA Incoming President's Message

LHIMA TEAM MEMBERS

As President of LHIMA this year I have taken sometime to reflect on what our goals and game plan should be for the upcoming year. I would like to offer my assistance to each member not just as the President of the organization, but as a Mentor and Coach to each of you.

GOALS of Our TEAM

• Embrace teamwork as a vital ingredient for our organization to succeed in an ever changing and progressing profession
  
• Need to learn as much as possible about the Electronic Health Records which are becoming a vast reality, and assist each other in this area.
  
• Investing and mentoring of students, as well as all members of LHIMA should be a priority
  
• Need to increase member participation with HISPC workgroup

LHIMA is a volunteer organization and there is an increasing need for new volunteers. Each member plays a vital role in our organization. No matter how large or small your contribution to the association, it is appreciated. As Jill Callahan Dennis, JD, RHIA stated "Volunteers are the lifeblood of our association, and a huge factor in our success. The experiences gained through volunteering pay dividends throughout your career, in terms of new skills, a stronger network of contacts, and a greater understanding of the power of one person to really make a difference." So let us focus this year on dedicating our time and our talents to the profession.

The Louisiana Resolution was written by Louisiana Delegates and it was a suggestion to add more e-HIM continuing education hours as a requirement for HIM professionals. As electronic health records are becoming a vast reality and we need to learn as much as possible, and assist each other. Louisiana did receive a response from the COC about the resolution written in 2005. COC recommended that the HIM Domain provide examples of educational experiences, not requirements, therefore it was determined that reference to e-HIM within these examples might be more appropriate than creating a new mandatory e-HIM category.

As we proceed into the era of the EHR, it is imperative that those of us who possess the skills and experience in this specialized area share our knowledge. In order to secure the future of this association, we should invest in our members and students the necessary tools to practice in this vocation.

The year 2005 was unusual for LHIMA with Katrina and Rita devastating our state. LHIMA has been in the thoughts and prayers of every component state association. The conditions of our state were discussed at Hill Day in Washington, DC with our legislative representatives.

AHIMA donated computers to educators and they also had a Katrina/Rita fund application process to assist our members who were affected by the hurricane. We thank AHIMA for their outreach to our members. LHIMA collected and disbursed $8400 among 28 members based on their applications. We would like to offer a special thank you to Danielle Berthelot and Tami Duplantis for their efforts in speaking at various meetings on disaster recovery and disaster planning.

Health Information Security and Privacy Collaboration (HISPC) workgroup is a project to assess how organizational business policies, practices, and state laws regarding privacy and security affect health information exchange on a national level. This workgroup is a highly visible privacy and security project for our state and few of our members have volunteered. It is imperative that you get involved. The outcome of this project will reflect and have an impact on all practitioners. Our participation in this workgroup will give us the opportunity to help develop the best practices and propose solutions to challenges, and increase expertise with health information privacy and security protections. I encourage each of you to get involved. If you would like to participate please contact by e-mail skirkland@shrinenet.org.

The growth and elevation of our profession is both encouraging and inspiring. I want to thank you for the opportunity to serve as president of LHIMA and it is an honor. Thinking back to when I first started attending meetings, there was always someone who would make me feel welcomed, and needed. I would like to also encourage everyone to apply the teamwork philosophy that will enable our association to grow and achieve our goals.

"Even when you've played the game of your life, it's the feeling of teamwork that you'll remember. You'll forget the plays, the shots, and the scores, but you'll never forget your teammates." -H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Shelly Kirkland, RHIA
President LHIMA 2006-2007