Keystoner
July 2010
Inside This Issue:
President's Message
Board Summary
Annual Meeting Business Meeting Summary
Distinguished Member
Board Spotlight - Secretary
Credentialing Committee Spotlight
Student Scholarships
PHIMA Credentialed (RHIA/RHIT) Exam Reimbursement
Fraud and Abuse in the Workplace!
President's Message
Submitted by Fran Guiles, RHIA, CTR
PHIMA President
Hello Everyone!
Welcome to our final newsletter of this association year and the beginning of
SUMMER!
The 2010 PHIMA annual meeting has ended and passed on into history. I hope
it was as pleasurable and fulfilling for you as it was for me. The Sweet
New Adventures ride has come to an end and I will be starting my new PHIMA
position as Past-President as of July 1, 2010. On a sad note, Cleopatra,
my 23-year old Bluepoint Siamese, and life long friend has gone to the great
“fish store” in the sky. But as I face the final curtain and the end
of my term is near, I feel pretty good. Its “summertime and the livin is
easy”. Fish are jumpin and the cotton is high”. “Whoa whoa
whoa whoa those Wildwood days, wild wild Wildwood days. Every day’s a
holiday and every night is a Saturday night”. On a serious note, I
find comfort in the fact that our goals for the year were reached and some were
surpassed.
"It's the ability to take more out of yourself than you've got".
I was lucky to collaborate with an exceptional Broad of Directors, amazing
Committee Chairpersons and a wonderfully experienced Executive Director that
knew the ins and outs of the HIM community. I will miss the hustle
and bustle of all the activity and Lorri Luciano’s late night and weekend
emails. Thanks to all of you!!!
What a fruitful year we created and enjoyed together. For the 1st. time
HIM students officially participated in achieving team goals and served on PHIMA
committees and attended board meetings. Strides were taken in Legislative
eHealth. Our members regularly attended PAeHI meetings and PAeHI in turn
held their annual meeting in conjunction with ours in Chocolate town.
Education was paramount and superlative. We added a CDI
committee and they provided symposiums throughout the state. The
premiere membership fee was eliminated effective July 1st. 2009.
Now, dues paying AHIMA member automatically becomes a PHIMA member when you
designate PHIMA as your component state association. We began
education of the general public to the personal health record by creating and
presenting a “Train the Trainer” session. Presentations are now underway
at local and state meetings and direct to students at many colleges.
I am proud to have worked with you on these issues and I am grateful for our
successes.
Over 400 members attended our annual meeting. We were very proud and
honored to have hosted an HIT summit, partnering PAeHealth Initiative and PHIMA.
The PAeHI’s annual statewide HIT Summit entitled “Achieving Meaningful Use in
PA” was held on Tuesday offering (6) sessions with phenomenal speakers. A Very
special thanks to Lorri Luciano, and Mark Stevens, Executive Director of PAeHI
for navigating this proactive endeavor. We offered 10 diverse educational
tracks with the possibility of obtaining 22 CEs. Alan Dowling, the
new CEO of AHIMA graciously accepted our invitation to attend our annual
meeting. He mingled and participated with us during our Networking with
Peers on Tuesday evening. He also gave the National Organization’s update
during our Business Meeting. I have confirmed reports from the
Hershey Corporation there were over two-dozen chocolate massages and numerous
successful roller coaster rides.
I personally had a blast at the President’s Reception. Not only did we
have a Renowned Violinist, but also a DJ, I do love to dance. It was
a great networking experience for everyone.
Take a look at the photos from the Annual Meeting
FAREWELL TO OUR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Our Lorri Luciano is moving on to pursue a wonderful new opportunity!! She
served PHIMA during the last three administrations with loyalty and ambition.
At this date and time, lame duck Lorri is still working hard up until her final
moments tightening the nuts and bolts of our organization. Finalizing
local, state and national paperwork reports, burning the midnight oil to the
very end.
Lorri was great at many things, but our annual meetings were her forte, she
loved all aspects of it, or at least I thought she did, she may think
differently. But it was her chance to shine, and shine she did. Our
2010 meeting was a winner!! Corporate sponsorship increased by 25%.
Vendor support increased by 21% and we had over 400 attendees this year in
Hershey. This added to her double duties involving the PAeHI’s annual
statewide HIT Summit, which was quite an accomplishment.
During her years with PHIMA she worked very hard with our Website Host –
Knowledge Connex, in developing our website. We have a powerful,
user-friendly site for the benefit of all the members and anyone interested in
our organization.
Lorri, I want to say thank you for your years of loyalty and service in making
our professional association better each year.
WE WISH TO EXTEND OUR HEARTFELFT THANKS AND BEST WISHES TO LORRI, OUR
FIREND AND COLLEAGE FROM THE ENTIRE PHIMA BOARD!!!!
“The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost,
to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience”.
Eleanor Roosevelt
Chris Parfitt is your incoming President, and she is already working very hard
to get the association year going, planning our education and the 2011 annual
meeting. She has wonderful new and creative ideas, as well she will
continue with the progress set forth in years past. I look forward to
working with her as Past President. As we announced, I am happy to have
retained Linda McLinden as our new Executive Director. Linda is
working with Lorri during the transition.
I feel we had a very successful year, and as I said in Hershey, you, the general
membership, your support was the reason. I wish to thank everyone for the
opportunity to serve this association.
Thank you and goodnight.
Board Meeting Summary
The final board meeting for the year was held on Monday May 10, 2010 prior to
the annual conference. Lorri Luciano reviewed the final logistics
and attendance. This year’s meeting has been combined with PAeHI.
Registrations were up by both attendees and vendors. Based on
this years attendance and results of the membership survey, the meeting will
remain in Hershey for 2011.
Fran indicated that she would provide a detailed report at the annual business
meeting but did mention PHIMA’s successful collaboration with MGMA, as well as
completion of the Core Service Achievement Award. Fran had the opportunity
to attend Winter Team Talks and spend time with Alan Dowling. All
board members and committees submitted final reports for the year.
The search for the Executive Director has been narrowed to four candidates who
will be interviewed during the annual conference.
Prior to closing, long time PHIMA board member and volunteer Karen Czirr
announced her retirement and gratitude to everyone for their support over the
years. She is relocating to Kentucky.
Annual Business Meeting Summary
The annual business meeting was held at noon on Wednesday, May 12, during
PHIMA’s annual conference. It was well attended. The meeting
was called to order by President Fran Guiles who introduced Patty Gerstner as
presiding officer. Special guests included Val Watzlaf, AHIMA Director,
and Alan Dowling, AHIMA CEO. Chris Staropoli led the
Invocation.
Fran Guiles reviewed her accomplishments for 2009-10 term. It was a
very busy and rewarding 12 months. Before turning it over to
the board for their updates, it was formally announced that the meeting will
return again to Hershey Motor Lodge.
The proposed by-laws were approved and the results of the election were
announced. By the membership votes, the following officers have been
elected:
President-Elect: Laura Rizzo, MHA, RHIA
Secretary:
Cathy Flite, RHIA
Treasurer:
Carol Houlihan, MHA, RHIA
Director, First Year: Laurine Johnson, MS, RHIA, CPC-H
By the membership votes, the following delegates have been elected:
Maria Barbetta, RHIA
Yeva Madden, RHIA (Alternate)
The current board was acknowledged and thanked for their service to PHIMA.
The meeting was adjourned and immediately followed by the installation of
officers and introduction of scholarship winners.
Legislative/e-Health Committee
Submitted by Stephen Young, RHIA and Andrea Thomas-Lloyd, MBA, RHIA
With federal push on healthcare reform and technology, much is changing in our
field. These changes have been followed throughout the year by the
legislative/e-health committee. HITECH and ARRA have increased the
standards of our profession. Red Flag Rules and Breach Notification have
been some of the biggest implementations throughout the country. By now,
facilities have started updating their policies and business contracts to deal
with fraud prevention and reporting of HIPAA breaches. While national
changes have been occurring, much has gone on in our state of Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania Electronic Health Initiative (PA eHI) has been very active with the
help of PHIMA. The two organizations collaborated on a Health Information
Technology Summit at the Hershey Lodge in Lancaster. Tail ending last
year’s white paper, PA eHI is turning discussion and theory into action with
health information exchange. The new website www.paehi.org, has received a
makeover and shares the continuous efforts and news regarding HIE. It was
also discovered that Pennsylvania Health Information Exchange (PHIX) is moving
forward on the interconnectivity of the state. As standards quickly
emerge, PA eHI and PHIX will become more familiar names in HIM.
PA eHI had also collaborated with Quality Insight of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania
Medical Society, Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative, UPMC, and the Hospital
and Health System Association of Pennsylvania to apply for federal funding to
act as the HIT Regional Extension Center.
Common with every year, bills and legislation have come in and out of congress
and senate for revision or approval. One of the most significant interim
final rules is the e-prescribing of controlled substances. This rule
benchmarks legislation catching up to applied practice. An on-going bill
with significant impact is the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment
Council. Senate Bill 89 reauthorizes PHC4 through June 2014. Key
provisions of the law include the removal of the single-vendor requirement for
reporting of quality data as well as measures providing for greater oversight
and accountability of PHC4’s actions.
The legislative/e-health committee thanks PHIMA for allowing its members to take
part in this committee and serve our fellow peers on the state level. We
look forward to welcoming Suzanne Weaver, BSN, RN, RHIT, CPHQ into the
leadership position in the up-coming term.
Distinguished Member
PHIMA’s 2010 Distinguished Member Award honor was given to Valerie J. M. Watzlaf
for her loyal service to the PHIMA Community. Valerie has an exemplary record of
service to her community, college and profession. For the past
thirty years, Valerie has made strong contributions to the development of health
information management in research, publication and education . Her
contributions have been generous and much appreciated.
She has served on numerous PHIMA and AHIMA committees and board positions.
She published research and contributed to the science of health information
management. Her colleagues, peers, and mentors have stated that she has given
“tirelessly of herself to the profession for over thirty year”.
Thank you Valerie for your service.
Board Spotlight
Secretary: Denise Dunyak, M.S., RHIA
My name is Denise Dunyak. I have been honored to serve PHIMA as your
secretary for the past year. As my term comes to an end, I have to admit
that this has been one of the most gratifying opportunities, more so than I ever
imagined. I continued to work with some old friends and made many new ones
a long the journey.
A little about me. In addition to serving PHIMA this year, I
continued to remain active with SePHIMA serving as Public Relations chair for
the past two terms and am active with AHIMA, currently a member of the EHR
Practice Council, all while working at Siemens Health Solutions in a very busy
capacity as Marketing Specialist for our HIM portfolio. Another
passion is student involvement. I present at Pitt and Temple’s HIM
programs when given the opportunity as well as mentor. I am fortunate to have a
manager who gives me the latitude to continue my volunteer opportunities as he
understands that it is a win-win for me both personally and professionally.
It’s even part of my performance objectives.
The future of HIM is a bright one and I believe that we must do all that we can
to help guide the future of our profession as well as make sure our voices are
not only loud, but heard at all levels of the association and government.
We need you and I personally encourage you to make a commitment to serve our
organization. If you already serve, I encourage you to take on something
additional. Your commitment need not be on a grand scale. It
can be as simple as mentoring a student, even if only informally, attending an
education session or joining a committee. If you have “been there done all
that” join us for Hill Day. There is nothing more energizing then
walking the halls on Capitol Hill and seeing our lawmakers in action and
educating them on the HIM profession. The opportunities are endless.
Thanks for the opportunity to serve you as secretary of PHIMA in 2009 – 2010.
Credentialing Committee Spotlight
Submitted by: Carol Houlihan
The end of the FY10 Credentialing Committee activities have been completed –
namely, validating as needed/possible any voting discrepancies, running the
annual meeting registration desk and keeping track of any changes in voting
strength at the annual business meeting if bylaw changes are being made.
Most exciting, and challenging was running the registration desk. The Hershey
Lodge provided us with a very nice work area and Lorri did a great job in
organizing the activities for us! I’d like to thank my committee members,
for without them (especially on Tuesday!!) registering everyone would have been
impossible:
Erica Donovan, York College of PA
Lori Kain, Normandie Ridge Senior Living Community
Patricia Swetland, Penn State Hershey Medical Center
Hopefully everyone enjoyed meeting my son, Gavin, too and appreciated the
bag/tag distribution method that he put together.
Student Scholarships
Submitted by Dawn Criswell, MS, RHIA, FAHIMA
1st Year Director
Every year Student Scholarships are presented to deserving College Students who
have met specific criteria that are posted on the PHIMA website. The PHIMA
Executive Board is responsible for selecting the students for Vendor sponsored
awards, as well as a PHIMA sponsored award. These were all presented at the
PHIMA annual conference held at the Hershey Lodge in Hershey, Pa. in May. Each
student received $500.00 and a certificate of recognition.
Vendor Sponsored Scholarships:
iod Incorporated - Information on Demand
Presented by Bonnie Heim
iod Incorporated is a leader in providing medical release of information and
secure record storage services for clinics and hospitals. PHIMA is proud
that they are again a sponsor for PHIMA Student Scholarship program. This year
iod Incorporated sponsored:
2010 Student Scholarship Recipient - Patricia Neill
 Patricia
Neill is the Administrative Assistant at Gwynedd-Mercy College for the School of
Allied Health Professions where she is enrolled the Health Information
Management Program. Pat will graduate this May with a degree in Health
Information Technology. She is a member of PHIMA, AHIMA and LVHIMA.
Pat is a PHIMA student volunteer for 2009-10 and serves on PHIMA’s Community
Education Committee. She also recently attended PHIMA’s PHR presenter
training session and is certified to do community training sessions.
In 2009, Pat was awarded the Kathleen Lynch Student Scholarship. In addition,
Pat will be inducted into the Alpha Eta Honor Society this May, which is an
honor society for the School of Allied Health Professions. After
graduation, Pat is interested in a position advocating for the patient in their
transition to electronic medical records.
CBIZ KA Consulting Services, LLC
Presented by Patty Belluomini, RHIA
CBIZ provides experienced consultants to ensure accurate and complete coding and
reimbursement, grouping, auditing and data entry. PHIMA is proud that they
again are a sponsor for PHIMA Student Scholarship program. This year CBIZ
sponsored:
2010 Student Scholarship Recipient - Lauren Gess
 Lauren
Gess is enrolled in the Health Information Management program at Temple
University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She currently has a 3.52
cumulative grade point average. She is a student member of AHIMA, and
PHIMA, and looks forward to becoming more involved in other HIM associations in
the future. She will be graduating in May 2011 with her Bachelor of Science in
Health Information Management.
She is the President of her Junior HIM class. With this role she runs
fundraisers for her class as well helps run Temple’s HIM week. While being a
student in Temple’s demanding HIM program, she belongs to a wonderful community
service organization called Temple University Circle K. This group of students
is dedicated to serving the Philadelphia community at organizations such as
Philabundance Food Bank, Trevor’s Place, and Ronald McDonald House. She has also
volunteered at many Philadelphia marathons and walks to raise money for finding
cures. For the past year she has been the Secretary of Circle K, but has
recently moved up to the President position to show her desire to give back. She
hopes to volunteer for HIM associations soon to show her commitment to her
field.
Although she is extremely busy with her education, community service
organization, and having the President responsibilities of her class, she looks
forward to learning as much about Health Information Management as she can. She
has managed to stay well organized and devoted to everything she does.
PHIMA Sponsored Scholarships
2010 Student Scholarship Recipient - Lindsey Wislie
 Lindsey
Wislie is currently enrolled in the Health Information Management program at the
University of Pittsburgh, PA. Lindsey’s cumulative grade point average is
a 3.63. She is a student member of AHIMA, PHIMA, and WPHIMA associations.
She is also the secretary of her schools Health Information Management student
association (HIMSA). She will be graduating in May 2010.
While being a student and attending school, she also holds two part-time
positions. One at UPMC’s Shadyside Hospital, working as a medical records
clerk in the department of urology; there she is responsible for filing and
retrieving patient records, and other administrative duties. The other is
as a banquet server at the Peterson Event Center. Her supervisors at both
jobs credit her as being very hard working, respectful, and a determined
individual. Lindsey’s faculty found her to be extremely enthusiastic in
the field of health information technology and systems especially in the area of
the electronic health record and how it impacts the quality and safety of
patients.
Lindsey credits her professors at the University of Pittsburgh as being very
supportive, and helping students achieve success in what ever path they choose.
She also credits her family for giving her much encouragement throughout her
college years. Her current goals are to proceed with a career in HIM, and
eventually continue with her education.
PHIMA Credentialed (RHIA/RHIT) Exam Reimbursement
PHIMA is pleased to continue the PHIMA RHIT/RHIA Reimbursement Exam Fund this
2009-2010 fiscal year. Because PHIMA strongly encourages students to take the
RHIT/RHIA exam as a demonstration of their commitment to the HIM field, the
Board of Directors will again reward those students who do!
All students who are PHIMA members and graduating from an approved HIM school
between July 1, 2008 and June 30, 2009 AND who have successfully completed one
of the exams are eligible.
The application form and details can be found on the career center link at
www.phima.org/careercenter_examreimbursement.html.
Congratulations and welcome the following HIM professionals have recently
graduated, successfully passed their RHIA or RHIT certification exam and were
reimbursed their exam expense.
Michelle Creveling, RHIT
Krupa Desai, RHIA
Maurice Frazier, RHIT
Kyle Guth, RHIA
Lauren Houseal, RHIT
Nadirah Jefferies, RHIT
Stephanie Korn, RHIA
Celia Lam, RHIA
Donna Lougher, RHIT
Christine Martin, RHIA
Christina McCleer, RHIA
Dawn Miklich, RHIT
Heather Mills, RHIT
Michelle Moyer, RHIT
Hong Nguyen, RHIA
Joyce Oster, RHIT
Kelly Pasquinelli, RHIT
Martin Schryver, RHIA
Joshue Share, RHIA
Marissa Stains (Sokol), RHIT
Kathy Summers, RHIT
Erh Hsuan Wang, RHIA
Elizabeth West, RHIT
Carol Wise, RHIT
Fraud and Abuse in the Workplace!
Submitted by Kathy Arner LPN,RHIT,CCS,CPC,MCS,CPMA
Program Integrity Investigator for Geisinger Health Plan
Fraud is an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage to another
individual.
Fraud is on the rise throughout the United States and none of us should sit back
if we know of someone who may be committing Fraud. We are all responsible to
look for Fraud and Abuse in the work area. If you or if you know of someone who
is asked to do something that you feel is not appropriate, question why. If you
don’t receive an appropriate answer or are uncomfortable with the answer you
receive, you may need to discuss with someone outside of your work area.
Recently the Medicare Strike Force recovered 1 Billion Dollars involving many
different states for inappropriate services. Areas to be concerned about are DME,
Infusion Therapy, Home Health, Labs and Medical Identity theft. When it involves
Medical Identity theft it is done quickly, it could occur by Internet use,
Health Insurance claims where they steal the numbers or sell the numbers.
Have you ever wondered why an office has a name on the outside but nothing is in
the building? This could be a set up for a factitious business.
Have you ever billed for a procedure and found no documentation to support the
procedure has been done?
The list could go on and on how people will commit Fraud. It is the
responsibility of every person to proactively identify and report issues
relating to potential insurance fraud, waste and abuse, and to comply with
various policies and procedures designed to minimize such exposure.
If effects all of us, so it is all of our responsibility to watch for Fraud and
Abuse and report to the proper personnel to investigate further. |
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