It's always great to meet new MTs entering the field. There are so many opportunities emerging for future documentation specialists. We had a lively discussion before my send off in Tuscon today with Tina and MaryBeth regarding the future risk management and compliance roles for transcriptionists - with the health insurance market as a primary employer. The challenge will be to educate and build new roles that bridge to careers with today's MT.
When I arrived in Carlsbad, I was greeted by Bonnie Bakal, CMT, FAAMT, Pat Bowen, CMT, FAAMT, and Rusty (I didn't catch his last name), a new MT working for DTS America. Rusty has a great deal of enthusiasm and many new ideas for making the local chapter a success. He plans to be the president-elect of the local chapter, so he can spend a year learning from Bonnie on how to run the chapter. Bonnie has become the hometown hero for MTs in the area. The group filled me in on their plans to start a new chapter in Carlsbad, New Mexico, and talked about how successful their state meeting was over the past weekend. Pat Bowen mentioned that one-third of the state members attended the conference and she believes there is a new found excitement in New Mexico with an alliance developing with the New Mexico Health Information Management Association.
Post Script
It seemed to be a long haul into Carlsbad, New Mexico. I learned to keep the air in the car circulating rather than circulate air from the outside. That may be the reason for becoming a little under the weather - unless it's because I'm not used to sitting in one position for so many hours. The scenery was spectacular, especially around the mountain range I drove through south of El Paso into New Mexico. The border police stopped me to check my citizenship around the New Mexico border.
475 miles driven today
1,226 total miles driven
Monday, April 30, 2007
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Lessons Learned from Cowboys, Elk, and Deserts
I began today's journey with a home cooked meal prepared by Karen Fox, CMT, FAAMT, in the California desert and ended the day with a home cooked meal prepared by Tina Whitecotton, RMT, FAAMT in the Arizona desert. The meals were a pleasant surprise, but so were the lessons learned during the conversations over these meals. The biggest surprise of all was that I ate elk for the very first time and it was surprisingly tasty (it didn't taste like chicken, but more like beef). Driving through the California and Arizona desert to get to my next destination, I was surprised to see how green the desert actually was, the number of cactus present, and the lack of tumbleweeds - all told, however, a beautiful part of America.
Now to the meal conversations. Karen invited Teri Costa, CMT, RHIT, Health Information Manager from the Betty Ford Center to the breakfast. It's probably no surprise that the subject of health information privacy and security became a topic of conversation - especially considering the patient population at the Betty Ford Center. The non-MTs in the group were asking what binds an MT to keep patient information confidentiality. Karen talked about the Code of Conduct and credentialing but qualified her response with it being a voluntary process and that only a small fraction of transcriptionists are actually credentialed, therefore questioning how familiar most transcriptionists are with the Code of Conduct.
Licensure and credentialing soon became the topic and I learned some interesting things about other fields. First, in California a hairdresser must be licensed before they cut your hair, but a permanent make-up artist does not have to be licensed. An individual performing an invasive procedure (putting permanent color on your lips and eyes like a tattoo) not required to be licensed makes little sense to me. Come to find out my one host, Kevin, just completed beauty school and he is taking his state board test on Wednesday to become a beautician. He must pass the test by demonstrating the ability to make a pin curl and finger wave. Do women - or men - walk around with pin curls and finger waves anymore (except maybe Christina Aguilera)? So much for the beautician license. Kevin was previously in the flooring industry with Linda and the issue of licensure for floor installers was discussed. Linda mentioned that the floor installers don't want licensure because many installers are in the U.S. illegally and would get deported. So much for opposing licensure for that reason.
The conversation was rekindled with my hosts tonight in Tuscon, Arizona. I was commenting that if you're going to license a profession, make sure the license is relevant. We got to talking about ranch hands and cowboys and how changed their jobs have become over the years. Ken Whitecotton, who I thought was a cowboy but was also a retired policeman, talked about the difference in the skills/expectations 0f police today versus when he was a policeman. "Basically, you got your gun, your handcuffs, and keys and then you became a police officer." MaryBeth Moran, CMT, mentioned a similar situation in the medical transcription profession. "It was pretty much you learned on the job, but you had the benefit of being mentored from more seasoned transcriptionists because you were working side by side in the hospital so if you didn't understand a word you had resources immediately available to assist you." Home based transcription has somewhat changed that opportunity. It really got me to thinking whether or not our educational systems, credentialing programs, and on-the-job training and staff development offerings still remain relevant for medical transcriptionists who are challenged today with more complex clinical documentation.
416 miles driven today
845 total miles driven
Now to the meal conversations. Karen invited Teri Costa, CMT, RHIT, Health Information Manager from the Betty Ford Center to the breakfast. It's probably no surprise that the subject of health information privacy and security became a topic of conversation - especially considering the patient population at the Betty Ford Center. The non-MTs in the group were asking what binds an MT to keep patient information confidentiality. Karen talked about the Code of Conduct and credentialing but qualified her response with it being a voluntary process and that only a small fraction of transcriptionists are actually credentialed, therefore questioning how familiar most transcriptionists are with the Code of Conduct.
Licensure and credentialing soon became the topic and I learned some interesting things about other fields. First, in California a hairdresser must be licensed before they cut your hair, but a permanent make-up artist does not have to be licensed. An individual performing an invasive procedure (putting permanent color on your lips and eyes like a tattoo) not required to be licensed makes little sense to me. Come to find out my one host, Kevin, just completed beauty school and he is taking his state board test on Wednesday to become a beautician. He must pass the test by demonstrating the ability to make a pin curl and finger wave. Do women - or men - walk around with pin curls and finger waves anymore (except maybe Christina Aguilera)? So much for the beautician license. Kevin was previously in the flooring industry with Linda and the issue of licensure for floor installers was discussed. Linda mentioned that the floor installers don't want licensure because many installers are in the U.S. illegally and would get deported. So much for opposing licensure for that reason.
The conversation was rekindled with my hosts tonight in Tuscon, Arizona. I was commenting that if you're going to license a profession, make sure the license is relevant. We got to talking about ranch hands and cowboys and how changed their jobs have become over the years. Ken Whitecotton, who I thought was a cowboy but was also a retired policeman, talked about the difference in the skills/expectations 0f police today versus when he was a policeman. "Basically, you got your gun, your handcuffs, and keys and then you became a police officer." MaryBeth Moran, CMT, mentioned a similar situation in the medical transcription profession. "It was pretty much you learned on the job, but you had the benefit of being mentored from more seasoned transcriptionists because you were working side by side in the hospital so if you didn't understand a word you had resources immediately available to assist you." Home based transcription has somewhat changed that opportunity. It really got me to thinking whether or not our educational systems, credentialing programs, and on-the-job training and staff development offerings still remain relevant for medical transcriptionists who are challenged today with more complex clinical documentation.
416 miles driven today
845 total miles driven
Saturday, April 28, 2007
The Fortune Cookie Message
The fortune cookie is always the highlight of a Chinese dinner. Dining out with my hosts tonight at a Chinese restaurant in Desert Hot Springs, California, one of our fortunes read "Integrity is doing the right thing, even if nobody is watching." An appropriate message for how we lead our lives and for the responsibilities we have in the medical transcription and clinical documentation sector. This past week we had the privilege of presenting at the Healthcare Compliance Association convention in Chicago and our message to compliance officers was similar to the fortune cookie message -- wake up to the sloppy dictation and documentation practices going on in healthcare facilities around the country. Not only is it the right thing to do, but poor dictation and documentation habits in an electronic health environment will increase the number of medical errors to exponential proportions, threatening the integrity of the information captured and exchanged within the broader system.
Cathy Baughman, CMT, FAAMT, 2007 AHDI President, showed errors that went unchecked from the Children's Hospital Radiology Department in St. Louis, Missouri, following implementation of front-end speech recognition and self editing from the radiologists. This example is not confined to radiology at Children's Hospital in St. Louis, it is rampant in the healthcare industry because quality data standards are non-existent. Policy makers and architects of the National Health Information Infrastructure hope to one day see consumers access their health information similar to using an ATM card to access their banking information. The ability to exchange healthcare information that is usable, relevant, and accurate is critical to this goal. Look forward to a legislative agenda from AHDI and MTIA promoting these important principles.
In the meantime, AHDI and MTIA, along with AHIMA and M*Modal are working on implementation guides using HL7's clinical documentation architecture for common narrative reports beginning with tags that will enable the History & Physical to be exchanged across healthcare systems. However, even with the proper computer tagging and taxonomy in place, if the information going into the system to begin with is inaccurate, it will remain inaccurate. We still must address the issue of good dictation and documentation hygiene. AHDI recently released a Dictation Best Practices Tool Kit, generously sponsored by MedQuist, to assist clinical authors in becoming more efficient and effective with their dictation. We have widely distributed this tool kit at several national conventions and through AHDI local and state/regional components to assist dictators in doing the right thing.
429 miles driven today
Cathy Baughman, CMT, FAAMT, 2007 AHDI President, showed errors that went unchecked from the Children's Hospital Radiology Department in St. Louis, Missouri, following implementation of front-end speech recognition and self editing from the radiologists. This example is not confined to radiology at Children's Hospital in St. Louis, it is rampant in the healthcare industry because quality data standards are non-existent. Policy makers and architects of the National Health Information Infrastructure hope to one day see consumers access their health information similar to using an ATM card to access their banking information. The ability to exchange healthcare information that is usable, relevant, and accurate is critical to this goal. Look forward to a legislative agenda from AHDI and MTIA promoting these important principles.
In the meantime, AHDI and MTIA, along with AHIMA and M*Modal are working on implementation guides using HL7's clinical documentation architecture for common narrative reports beginning with tags that will enable the History & Physical to be exchanged across healthcare systems. However, even with the proper computer tagging and taxonomy in place, if the information going into the system to begin with is inaccurate, it will remain inaccurate. We still must address the issue of good dictation and documentation hygiene. AHDI recently released a Dictation Best Practices Tool Kit, generously sponsored by MedQuist, to assist clinical authors in becoming more efficient and effective with their dictation. We have widely distributed this tool kit at several national conventions and through AHDI local and state/regional components to assist dictators in doing the right thing.
429 miles driven today
Friday, April 27, 2007
Ready, Set, Go!
We're off. After packing the boxes, loading up the car, and getting a special send off from the Modesto staff, I'm ready to hit the road. The staff made sure I have plenty of power bars, energy drinks, and trail mix to keep me nourished along the way. A very special thanks to Angie Adams for helping above and beyond in organizing and assisting in the packing - a true friend and colleague.
I'm prepared for the highways, overpasses, deserts, and mountain tops armed with some interesting audio books to pass the time. "Where Have all the Leaders Gone?" - Lee Iacocca, "Blink" - Malcolm Gladwell, "Einstein, His Life and Universe" - Walter Isaacson, and "Social Intelligence: the New Science of Human Relationships" - Daniel Goleman. I hope to receive inspiration from these books along with the inspiration and great hospitality of members and health information professionals along the way. I'll make sure to take some time out to appreciate the nature and the beautiful countryside.
Thanks for all your well wishes.
I'm prepared for the highways, overpasses, deserts, and mountain tops armed with some interesting audio books to pass the time. "Where Have all the Leaders Gone?" - Lee Iacocca, "Blink" - Malcolm Gladwell, "Einstein, His Life and Universe" - Walter Isaacson, and "Social Intelligence: the New Science of Human Relationships" - Daniel Goleman. I hope to receive inspiration from these books along with the inspiration and great hospitality of members and health information professionals along the way. I'll make sure to take some time out to appreciate the nature and the beautiful countryside.
Thanks for all your well wishes.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Welcome and Introductions to AHDI/MTIA Advocacy on the Move
Welcome AHDI and MTIA members. As you may know, I'll be moving to Washington DC to begin building a stronger advocacy and visibility presence for the clinical documentation sector and our associations. The timing of this move couldn't be better considering the many policy issues arising now in our nation's capitol around the exchange of health information, the quality of the information exchanged, and how we will insure privacy and security.
Thank you for joining me as we begin this important journey across the United States. I'll be stopping along the way to meet with members and other professionals to learn what they are doing to advance relevant, useable clinical information to optimize healthcare delivery.
Right now I'm knee deep in boxes getting ready for the movers to come. I embark on Saturday, April 28, 2007. Please consider subscribing to this blog and post your comments as we begin the next era in our associations' history.
Thank you for joining me as we begin this important journey across the United States. I'll be stopping along the way to meet with members and other professionals to learn what they are doing to advance relevant, useable clinical information to optimize healthcare delivery.
Right now I'm knee deep in boxes getting ready for the movers to come. I embark on Saturday, April 28, 2007. Please consider subscribing to this blog and post your comments as we begin the next era in our associations' history.
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