I would like to share some thoughts on the EHR. The EHR is inevitable, and we should embrace it as an industry and as patients ourselves. Just as many species of life became extinct because they could not or did not adapt to an evolving planet, if we resist the natural evolution of technology and do not adapt we will become extinct. Technology is changing at a very rapid pace, and you can see that if you look around. Today's consumer (patient) wants information readily available, and in the very near future these patients will want their healthcare information readily available, as well. Much information is available on handheld computing devices - why not medical records? As an industry (and AHDI as an association), we must look for innovative ways to deliver our services in order to remain competitive.
Yes, I said competitive. We have considered ourselves indispensable in the healthcare industry, but now we are competing with IT vendors and other groups for our place in the future of healthcare documentation. If we remain resistant to change, we will be seen as obsolete and will be left out of the equation. It's not too late to save our profession, but we must act now! The EHR is coming, and every person in the MT industry must accept that. AHDI is putting together continuing education programs on emerging technology, and even a new certification for speech recognition technology. I encourage all MTs (or "healthcare documentation technologists") to take advantage of these offerings. We must not become extinct - we must step out of our comfort zones and embrace the technology that will be part of our industry, whether we like it or not. :)
Brett
Monday, June 8, 2009
Friday, June 5, 2009
A Few Notes on the 2009 AHDI/MTIA Advocacy Summit
Greetings from rainy Washington, DC!
As I write this, I am waiting for my flight home from Washington Reagan National Airport. The rain is coming down, but I have a relatively good view of the dome of the US Capitol. I am inspired by this - the symbol of democracy and the fact that great things can be accomplished when a group such as the MT industry comes together to speak with a united voice.
AHDI and MTIA have just completed our 2009 Advocacy Summit, and it was a huge success! As a group, 83 attendees met with over 100 lawmakers (and delivered even more letters from members who could not attend) with the purpose of ensuring our future in the electronic healthcare record.
Susan Lucci (2009 AHDI President) and I represented Colorado this year. I personally met with legislative assistants in the offices of Senator Mark Udall, Senator Michael Bennet, and Representative Diana DeGette (Colorado's 1st district). I accompanied Susan at her meeting with a legislative assistant in the office of Representative Mike Coffman (Colorado's 6th district), as well. Overall, I believe that the people we spoke with were very receptive to our message. The Colorado senators are new and, therefore, are still developing their staff, policies, and opinions on important issues. I hope that we can influence that policy development for the future of our industry.
California constituents Karen and Linda Fox-Acosta joined me during my visit at Congresswoman DeGette's office, and I must say this visit was my favorite. It was a tremendous pleasure to meet with her healthcare assistant, Dr. Kerry Bolger, as I actually met with her last year. Kerry has a very good understanding of our issues and concerns with the EHR, and expressed her agreement with our concerns. Unfortunately, we do not have a specific piece of legislation to ask her to support, but she is aware of our industry, and I am confident that she will support us in the future in any way possible.
I shared with my lawmakers the results of our quality study conducted a couple weeks ago, in which over 2000 medical reports were scrutinized for errors. This study found 0.33 errors per report in documents transcribed by MTs, and 1.48 errors per report in documents processed by speech recognition engines. Of these errors almost half were critical. This study is in draft form at the moment, but I will share it here in this blog, as well as with our lawmakers, when it is finalized.
This study emphasizes the main message at this year's Advocacy Summit - the healthcare documentation specialist CANNOT be removed from the documentation process as we transition to the EHR. We are the critical thinkers who protect patients by ensuring that their medical records are accurate.
The main point of contention is that a "point-and-click" healthcare record cannot tell the whole story of a patient's encounter with a physician. Narrative text must be included in the EHR standards that will be developed in the very near future. My interpretation of this point is that a narrative text document can be converted to minable data that can be used in coding, billing, research, and other purposes, while a healthcare worker can still have that narrative document to use to understand the entire picture of a patient's condition. However, a record that is entered as data points from a drop-down menu cannot be expanded accurately to tell the whole story, and important nuances of a patient's condition would be lost.
I must share my most memorable experience from this year's Summit. When I spoke on the phone with Kerry Bolger in Diana DeGette's office to set up the appointment, she remembered meeting with me last year and named all of the issues that we discussed - and she had absolutely no preparation whatsoever! This just demonstrates our effect on "The Hill" when we come together as an industry to make our voices heard. Incidentally, Congresswoman DeGette was running out of her office for a vote on the House floor while I was there. She remembered me from a party we both attended 3 years ago during which we chatted briefly. She is a wonderful lady, and I believe she can be a good ally to our profession. She is the Vice-Chair of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, which oversees healthcare issues, and healthcare is her main focus. I am confident that she will fight for patient safety, which is AHDI's ultimate goal.
In closing, I would like to thank and congratulate all participants in this year's Advocacy Summit for a job VERY well done! Even if you could not attend, you should know that there are dedicated people out there working on your behalf to better our profession. If you could not attend, you can still be involved. Write or call your legislators and express your concerns and opinions. As we talk more and more with people in DC, we are learning that those letters are read and those calls are heard. If you have any questions or comments, or want advice on how to fight for your profession, please contact me.
Thank you for taking the time to read this!
Brett
As I write this, I am waiting for my flight home from Washington Reagan National Airport. The rain is coming down, but I have a relatively good view of the dome of the US Capitol. I am inspired by this - the symbol of democracy and the fact that great things can be accomplished when a group such as the MT industry comes together to speak with a united voice.
AHDI and MTIA have just completed our 2009 Advocacy Summit, and it was a huge success! As a group, 83 attendees met with over 100 lawmakers (and delivered even more letters from members who could not attend) with the purpose of ensuring our future in the electronic healthcare record.
Susan Lucci (2009 AHDI President) and I represented Colorado this year. I personally met with legislative assistants in the offices of Senator Mark Udall, Senator Michael Bennet, and Representative Diana DeGette (Colorado's 1st district). I accompanied Susan at her meeting with a legislative assistant in the office of Representative Mike Coffman (Colorado's 6th district), as well. Overall, I believe that the people we spoke with were very receptive to our message. The Colorado senators are new and, therefore, are still developing their staff, policies, and opinions on important issues. I hope that we can influence that policy development for the future of our industry.
California constituents Karen and Linda Fox-Acosta joined me during my visit at Congresswoman DeGette's office, and I must say this visit was my favorite. It was a tremendous pleasure to meet with her healthcare assistant, Dr. Kerry Bolger, as I actually met with her last year. Kerry has a very good understanding of our issues and concerns with the EHR, and expressed her agreement with our concerns. Unfortunately, we do not have a specific piece of legislation to ask her to support, but she is aware of our industry, and I am confident that she will support us in the future in any way possible.
I shared with my lawmakers the results of our quality study conducted a couple weeks ago, in which over 2000 medical reports were scrutinized for errors. This study found 0.33 errors per report in documents transcribed by MTs, and 1.48 errors per report in documents processed by speech recognition engines. Of these errors almost half were critical. This study is in draft form at the moment, but I will share it here in this blog, as well as with our lawmakers, when it is finalized.
This study emphasizes the main message at this year's Advocacy Summit - the healthcare documentation specialist CANNOT be removed from the documentation process as we transition to the EHR. We are the critical thinkers who protect patients by ensuring that their medical records are accurate.
The main point of contention is that a "point-and-click" healthcare record cannot tell the whole story of a patient's encounter with a physician. Narrative text must be included in the EHR standards that will be developed in the very near future. My interpretation of this point is that a narrative text document can be converted to minable data that can be used in coding, billing, research, and other purposes, while a healthcare worker can still have that narrative document to use to understand the entire picture of a patient's condition. However, a record that is entered as data points from a drop-down menu cannot be expanded accurately to tell the whole story, and important nuances of a patient's condition would be lost.
I must share my most memorable experience from this year's Summit. When I spoke on the phone with Kerry Bolger in Diana DeGette's office to set up the appointment, she remembered meeting with me last year and named all of the issues that we discussed - and she had absolutely no preparation whatsoever! This just demonstrates our effect on "The Hill" when we come together as an industry to make our voices heard. Incidentally, Congresswoman DeGette was running out of her office for a vote on the House floor while I was there. She remembered me from a party we both attended 3 years ago during which we chatted briefly. She is a wonderful lady, and I believe she can be a good ally to our profession. She is the Vice-Chair of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, which oversees healthcare issues, and healthcare is her main focus. I am confident that she will fight for patient safety, which is AHDI's ultimate goal.
In closing, I would like to thank and congratulate all participants in this year's Advocacy Summit for a job VERY well done! Even if you could not attend, you should know that there are dedicated people out there working on your behalf to better our profession. If you could not attend, you can still be involved. Write or call your legislators and express your concerns and opinions. As we talk more and more with people in DC, we are learning that those letters are read and those calls are heard. If you have any questions or comments, or want advice on how to fight for your profession, please contact me.
Thank you for taking the time to read this!
Brett
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Next week, 70+ AHDI members are traveling to Washington, DC, (most on their own dime) to meet with legislators and help to ensure our future in the electronic health record. These are involved members who care about our profession. There are many groups out there who would like to eliminate us from the future of healthcare documentation, and they will succeed if we allow them. We need to come together as a profession and convince the decision-makers that we ARE the healthcare documentation specialists and that we absolutely CANNOT be left out of the equation.
Active, vocal, involved associations are key to promoting their professions. Without the American Nurses Association, nurses would still be "stuck" in the 1940s, wearing short skirts and cute little caps, acting as glorified waitresses, and making minimum wage. Without the American Medical Association, physicians would not have the power that they do today. Without AHDI, today's working MTs would still be considered secretaries and would be unemployed in the very near future.
Please allow me to list some of the things that AHDI is doing for the working MT.
- helping to protect students from "predatory" schools by operating an approval process for MT educational programs
- promoting respect of our profession by encouraging credentialing and continuing education
- promoting education in emerging technology to prepare the MT workforce for the future
- maintaining dialog with the "decision-makers" (with events such as the Advocacy Summit, as described above) to convince them that we are essential
- developing tools such as the Book of Style and Benchmark KB to help MTs maintain documentation standards and increase production
And we can do more if we have more active members who bring their ideas to the table. There is strength in numbers, and we must make our numbers evident to those who are making the decisions about the future of our industry.
A few years ago, I believed I did not need to be part of AHDI (then AAMT). After learning all of the benefits of a professional association, I have gradually become more involved. In fact, a few day ago I submitted my application to appear on this year's ballot for the AHDI Board of Directors. I believe that each one of us has something to offer, and each one of us MUST become involved to protect the future of our profession. I feel an obligation to be involved and support the current efforts of AHDI and develop new ideas to accomplish things that we have not accomplished to date.
If AHDI is doing nothing for the working MT, who is? What are YOU doing for your profession? What are the critics of AHDI doing for their profession besides simply offering criticism? It is important for MTs to be aware of the ways that AHDI is working for them. The working MTs who believe that AHDI does nothing for them, and who don't think they should be active members (or even members for that matter) are the ones who are keeping all of us down. These are the same people who complain that they can't make a living on their current wages. The only solution to this dilemma is to unite with one voice and demonstrate to the industry that we are essential to the future of healthcare documentation.
I honestly hope that the reader, as an MT, can be open to this message and learn what you must do to protect your future. If you have any questions or comments about this post, PLEASE contact me. AHDI leaders are open to any CONSTRUCTIVE criticism offered, and any ideas to improve our chances of survival. We simply cannot hide behind the statement, "AHDI does nothing for the working MT." After all, who is AHDI? WE ARE!
Active, vocal, involved associations are key to promoting their professions. Without the American Nurses Association, nurses would still be "stuck" in the 1940s, wearing short skirts and cute little caps, acting as glorified waitresses, and making minimum wage. Without the American Medical Association, physicians would not have the power that they do today. Without AHDI, today's working MTs would still be considered secretaries and would be unemployed in the very near future.
Please allow me to list some of the things that AHDI is doing for the working MT.
- helping to protect students from "predatory" schools by operating an approval process for MT educational programs
- promoting respect of our profession by encouraging credentialing and continuing education
- promoting education in emerging technology to prepare the MT workforce for the future
- maintaining dialog with the "decision-makers" (with events such as the Advocacy Summit, as described above) to convince them that we are essential
- developing tools such as the Book of Style and Benchmark KB to help MTs maintain documentation standards and increase production
And we can do more if we have more active members who bring their ideas to the table. There is strength in numbers, and we must make our numbers evident to those who are making the decisions about the future of our industry.
A few years ago, I believed I did not need to be part of AHDI (then AAMT). After learning all of the benefits of a professional association, I have gradually become more involved. In fact, a few day ago I submitted my application to appear on this year's ballot for the AHDI Board of Directors. I believe that each one of us has something to offer, and each one of us MUST become involved to protect the future of our profession. I feel an obligation to be involved and support the current efforts of AHDI and develop new ideas to accomplish things that we have not accomplished to date.
If AHDI is doing nothing for the working MT, who is? What are YOU doing for your profession? What are the critics of AHDI doing for their profession besides simply offering criticism? It is important for MTs to be aware of the ways that AHDI is working for them. The working MTs who believe that AHDI does nothing for them, and who don't think they should be active members (or even members for that matter) are the ones who are keeping all of us down. These are the same people who complain that they can't make a living on their current wages. The only solution to this dilemma is to unite with one voice and demonstrate to the industry that we are essential to the future of healthcare documentation.
I honestly hope that the reader, as an MT, can be open to this message and learn what you must do to protect your future. If you have any questions or comments about this post, PLEASE contact me. AHDI leaders are open to any CONSTRUCTIVE criticism offered, and any ideas to improve our chances of survival. We simply cannot hide behind the statement, "AHDI does nothing for the working MT." After all, who is AHDI? WE ARE!
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