by Jacque Taylor, AHDI-F

AHDI-West President

Laughter Is The Best Medicine

We’ve heard that old saying time and time again… but how many of us have really taken it literally?  If you haven’t, you should.  Laughter reduces pain, increases job performance, connects people emotionally, and improves the flow of oxygen to the heart and brain.  In a study by cardiologists at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore, Maryland, indicated that laughter, along with an active sense of humor, may help protect you against a heart attack.  The study, which is the first to indicate that laughter may help prevent heart disease, found that people with heart disease were 40 percent less likely to laugh in a variety of situations compared to people of the same age without heart disease.  Amazing, isn’t it?  “The old saying that ‘laughter is the best medicine,’ definitely appears to be true when it comes to protecting your heart,” says Michael Miller, M.D., director of the Center for Preventive Cardiology at the University Of Maryland Medical Center and a professor of medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.  “We don’t know yet why laughing protects the heart, but we know that mental stress is associated with impairment of the endothelium, the protective barrier lining our blood vessels.  This can cause a series of inflammatory reactions that lead to fat and cholesterol build-up in the coronary arteries and ultimately to a heart attack.  We know that exercising, not smoking and eating foods low in saturated fat will reduce the risk of heart disease.  Perhaps regular, hearty laughter should be added to the list.”

Now, here are some more facts for you.
Laughter consists of two parts — a set of gestures and the production of a sound.  Did you know that when we laugh, the brain pressures us to conduct both those activities simultaneously?  When we laugh heartily, changes occur in MANY parts of the body, even the upper and lower extremities and trunk muscles.  Under certain conditions, our bodies perform what the Encyclopedia Britannica describes as “rhythmic, vocalized, expiratory and involuntary actions” — better known as LAUGHTER!!!  Fifteen facial muscles contract and stimulation of the zygomatic major muscle (the main lifting mechanism of your upper lip) occurs.  Give it a try!  Meanwhile, the epiglottis upsets the respiratory system half-closing the larynx so that air intake occurs irregularly, making you gasp.  In extreme circumstances, the tear ducts are activated, so that while the mouth is opening and closing and the struggle for oxygen intake continues, the face becomes moist and often red (or purple).  The noises that usually accompany this bizarre behavior range from sedate giggles to boisterous guffaws.

Robert Provine, author of “Laughter:A Scientific Investigation,” discovered that all human laughter consists of variations on a basic form that consists of short, vowel-like notes repeated every 210 milliseconds.  Were you aware of that?  I WASN’T!!!  Laughter can be of the “ha-ha-ha” variety or the “ho-ho-ho” type but not a mixture of both, he says.  Provine also suggests that humans have a “detector” that responds to laughter by triggering other neural circuits in the brain, which, in turn, generates more laughter.  This explains why laughter is what???  Yep, CONTAGIOUS!

Some more benefits of laughter:Laughter can bring balance to the immune system, which helps us fight off diseases!  In addition, laughter reduces levels of certain stress hormones.  In doing this, laughter provides a safety valve that shuts off the flow of stress hormones and the fight-or-flight compounds that swing into action in our bodies when we experience stress, anger or hostility.  These stress hormones suppress the immune system, increase the number of blood platelets (which we know can cause obstructions in arteries) and raise blood pressure.  That’s a BAD thing.  When we’re laughing, natural killer cells that destroy tumors and viruses increase, (that’s a GOOD thing) as do Gamma-interferon (a disease-fighting protein), T-cells, which are a major part of the immune response, and B-cells, which make disease-destroying antibodies.

The psychological benefits of humor are quite amazing also.  People often store negative emotions, such as anger, sadness and fear, rather than expressing them.  Laughter provides a way for these emotions to be harmlessly released.

We have had some frightening appearances by our old friend, Mother Nature, in the last couple of weeks.  Earthquakes in Colorado and along the east coast, including Washington, D.C.  The Washington monument has cracked due to some of the stress and it has actually sprung a few leaks inside.  In our professional association, we have experienced many changes in just this one year.  We have a new CEO and have lost some members of our awesome AHDI staff who have moved on to bigger and better opportunities!  Our profession is going through many changes right now, and to some of us, it is a very frightening and unsure time in our professional lives.  We can choose to either take the negative attitude and cause ourselves a lot of unnecessary stress and possible stress-related illnesses, or the positive attitude and embrace the opportunities we have available to us to change and make our own world better.  If I were a physician, I would do as was suggested above and exercise those muscles every day.

PRESCRIPTION: At least 2 daily doses of guffaw per day, lasting 10 minutes each.  Take with water if needed, and call me so I can laugh too!!

By Jacque Taylor, AHDI-F

Hindu Prince Gautama Siddharta, the founder of Buddhism, 563-483 B.C., is quoted to have said “Everything changes, nothing remains without change.”  Think about it.  Even then, changes were happening all over the universe.  If there were no such thing as change, we could all still be walking around earth with clubs fashioned of tree trunks, wearing clothing made of animal hide, surviving on nuts and berries from the land that had not yet been contaminated, and partaking of meat from the hunters and gatherers.  If not for change, we would not have some of the many things we take for granted now, such as air conditioning in the summer, furnaces for heating in the winter; automobiles that were once such simple mechanical wonders into computers on wheels with features that even allow the car to park itself and GPS navigational equipment so one does not get lost quite so easily.

Change is something that I look back on with amazement to see how much has changed in my lifetime.  When I was young (I’m dating myself, I know…) and in the 3^rd grade at Grandview Elementary in Provo, Utah (standing no more), our family had one of the first large screen television in the city. I still have that television… a grand invention, complete with a “large” 11 inch screen, an AM radio, and a 45 rpm and 78 rpm record player (the vinyl kind, not the CDs of today), along with storage and large speakers built in. My entire 3^rd grade class took a “field trip” to my home in order to watch Queen Elizabeth’s coronation. It received 3 channels, all local, NBC, ABC, and CBS.  How amazing was that to actually watch something happening around the world right there in my home.   I look at it in wonder now and compare it to the large 62” screen we have now with remote control, cable, and the ability to watch anything in the world. Change, my friends, change.

When I entered the working environment in the clerical field, after having learned how to type on an LC Smith typewriter that I swear weighs about 100 pounds with manual round keys that would stick together in the most inopportune times, then graduation to the amazing IBM Selectric, I was fortunate to be employed by IBM Corporation, which was then the leader in technology.  Amazingly enough, I was at IBM when they introduced their first personal computer. Words cannot express how thrilling that was.  So, again, change for the better.  Computer systems that would take a huge amount of space, sometimes several rooms, and used to require climate-controlled, dust-free environments, are now small enough to fit into your pocket or briefcase.  Sometimes we neglect to look back and see that yes, change has happened, is now happening, and will continue to happen.

Now after being in the medical transcription profession for nearly 10 years, I have seen and am continuing to see changes happening right in our own areas of healthcare documentation.  When I first went to school in 2000, a proud MTEC grad, we were still studying based on the traditional way of doing documentation with tapes and computers.  No voice recognition (I believe it was out but not widely used), no EHR (still in its infancy), just the dictation on sometimes not so reliable cassette tapes of many shapes and sizes.  In 10 short years, right under our noses, look at what opportunities await us in our field because of continuing change!  We now have the schools teaching voice recognition and speech editing, as that has become one of the major changes in the way we do things. Some of our medical transcription professionals are going on to become HIT professionals, privacy and security professionals, instructors, teachers, professors, managers, directors, business owners, all because they decided to become a medical transcriptionist.  Our profession now has an active voice in advocating, with yearly trips to Washington D.C. to meet with our legislators and voicing our concerns with patient care.  We didn’t have that before.  Most of us (including myself) sat still and watched as we saw dooms-day reports that we were becoming obsolete because we were not able to evolve with the EHR, the EMR, speech recognition, etc.  Well, as far as I can see, that prediction has not come true… and, in my estimation, it will not.  Will we still be traditional medical transcriptionists? Sitting at keyboards, listening (or trying) to doctors dictate? Perhaps… but the most important thing is that we are now beginning to be seen as the professionals we are, as having an amazing amount of knowledge available at our fingertips, and are beginning to be recognized not by how fast our fingers move on a keyboard, but for the brainpower we possess as a result of deciding to become a medical transcriptionist.

“Change is everything, and it begins with you.” I still have my red tee-shirt with that written on it from our ACE event in Reno in 2007 with Cathy Baughman as president.  Change IS everything.  We are all changing every day… the world is changing every day… the universe is changing every day.  We can either embrace it, or stand by idly and watch it go by.  I choose to embrace it… what about you?

AHDI-West President, 2011

I know it’s a little late, but I couldn’t be more sincere. This IS a happy new year, and I can see great things happening for AHDI-West, AHDI, and our profession!

We are in the process of proposed changes in the governance structure of our national association, combining the House of Delegates (HOD) and the Board of Directors (BOD) into a National Leadership Board, and electing a District Director from each of the 6 proposed districts to serve alongside 6 “at-large” directors having been elected by the voting membership of AHDI.  If you are a member, be sure to cast your vote by February 28 (see below).

A brand new structure, a brand new year, and many BRAND NEW OPPORTUNITIES!!

I am honored to serve alongside a wonderful and talented AHDI-West Board of Governors this year.  Kathleen (Kat) King as President-Elect, Carrie Boatman as Immediate Past President, Kris Porter as Secretary and Director of Communications, Sandy Shumaker as Director of Finances, Maggie Armbruster as Co-Director of Strategic Initiatives (Credentialing and Education), and Teresa Naleway as Co-Director of Strategic Initiatives (Membership and Advocacy).  I am also very honored to serve all the members of our 7-state regional association.

This is the year of renewing our ties with the local communities in an endeavor to reach as many of our healthcare documentation professionals that may not have been able to be involved and informed before.  Instead of you spending money to travel to us, AHDI-West is coming to you!  We are trying to have meetings in each of our 7 states that comprise our region to include Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, and Utah, and do some joint projects with AHDI-WA (Washington State). We are doing this so more of our members will be able to attend the national convention August 17-21, 2011 in our regional state of Arizona. If you want a meeting in your area and are willing to help us organize it, PLEASE LET US KNOW!

As we are the host component for the national convention this year, we want to have a great showing and support from our members of our regiona!  We sincerely hope you will start making plans to attend both ACE and the Advocacy Summit this year.

Check out the AHDI website for information on the Advocacy Summit May 3-4 in Washington, DC, and the ACE365 website with many valuable tips and registration information. Start planning now!

Questions? Ideas? Suggestions? This is YOUR association and we need to hear from YOU!!! Please feel free to contact us and we will forward it to the director that can help you best with the information you need. We are anxious to hear from you!  We want to make this the BEST YEAR YET for AHDI-West, but we need YOU to do it! YOU are the most important member!!

I’ve been watching a new show on TV called The Sing-Off.  It’s about a capella groups and how they make it sound like a whole orchestra with just their voices.  It’s been wonderful.  I think that is how our association, AHDI-West, is formed as well.  There are a lot of voices and the harmonies, the pitches, the bass, the sopranos, and the beat drive it all.  This past 2 years has been so much fun.  It reminded me again of how exciting it is when you throw out the rules and make it up as you go along.  I know that’s frightening for a lot of people, but it fills me with anticipation of what we can do without all the red tape that holds us down sometimes.

I first became active in AHDI (then AAMT) in the early 1980s.  It was a powerful experience as chapters were forming faster than we could keep track of them.  Then we developed the State/Regional Association concept with a House of Delegates and began down that road in 1985.  Now we’ve come full circle.  We are looking at refining our process of governance to cut down on the duplication of effort for governance and refocusing our volunteers on the projects that only they can do….advocacy, membership, redefining our profession and growing our membership professionally to a whole new level.

We are learning to come together under the AHDI umbrella as ONE WHOLE organization and coordinating our efforts at the local and state levels into discrete areas of interest that target the key audiences and get the message delivered loud and clear.

At the AHDI-WA meeting in Tacoma, WA in October, one of the speakers was talking about breast cancer and she was talking about funding and she said, “a bunch of women got together and went to Washington, DC and talked to them and we got lots of money.”  I really don’t see any reason why we can’t be a group just like that (apologies to our male colleagues, this is JUST an example).  Not that we need money per se, but we need to be heard to protect patients and to make the EHR an efficient tool to deliver healthcare and to document it, telling the whole story.

I’m proud of what AHDI-West has accomplished so far, but I think the song, “We’ve Only Just Begun” could be the theme song for next year!

Thank you to all who have helped us get this far and to those who will join us for the next downhill race!

Merry Christmas to All

This phrase took on a whole new meaning when the AHDI-West Board, along with Karen Fox-Acosta, AHDI board partner for AHDI-West and AHDI-WA, attended the AHDI-WA Annual Meeting in Tacoma, WA earlier this month.

What a great day, giving us time to meet and greet old friends and make some new ones. The speakers were nothing short of AWESOME! I especially enjoyed the nurse from Madigan Air Force Base who spoke on Traumatic Brain Injuries. She was full of good information, humor, a love for what she does and a desire to help others understand what is going on in the brain and how amazing the brain is. Lisa Woodley shared her experience with the adoption of an EHR as HIM director at Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle, WA, and the emerging role of Healthcare Informatics.

The AHDI-West board, Karen, Barb Marques, and Kim Buchanan had an opportunity to present to the Washington members about what we are doing and how we can work together as a group to move our profession forward and prepare our members for the huge changes coming our way. It was a great discussion and exchange of ideas and questions.

We had a delicious lunch with lots of talk around the table about our careers, our industry, how to equip students entering the field and how to assist those students to get a job when they complete their program. It was a day spent with friends, learning new things about medical care and critical thinking skills, and looking for ways to partner with other State/Regional Associations to make a difference in the life of our members!

My thanks to Washington State members and Board who cordially invited us to attend and made us feel like part of the family!

By Carrie Boatman, CMT, AHDI-F

Every fall most components begin to plan for the next year, the next meeting, the next Advocacy Day, the next AHDI Conference, the next…..the list is endless. This year is different. We are all patiently waiting (and some of us not so patiently) to hear what the plans will be for changing our association structure and moving to a place where our volunteers can focus on the initiatives voted on by the House of Delegates (HOD).

Right now, components focus on making enough money to keep our association going, sending our volunteers to Advocacy Summit in DC, sending our delegates to ACE (AHDI’s annual conference and exposition), making arrangements to host meetings and education opportunities throughout our state or region, developing and retaining membership, and promoting certification. Wouldn’t it be wonderful not to be so concerned with making money at our meetings? Instead, we could really focus on building relationships with our members and legislative representatives at the local and state level, and building alliances with local and online educational institutions, local medical societies, local AHIMA groups…the list goes on. I’ve been actively involved in AAMT/AHDI for over 25 years. I can’t tell you how many board meetings I’ve attended where we spent 2, 3, or 4 hours planning a symposium so we could make enough money to meet our obligations. I’m really looking forward to what our committees come up with to address these thorny issues.

It has been a pleasure working with the new AHDI staff that have come on board, such as Linda Brady, CAE, Director of Member Services and Coleen Fisher, who is coordinating our public outreach efforts. In conjunction with the rest of the dedicated AHDI staff, it has been a real eye opener working with people who have a lot of experience in their respective arenas and can help us move our association forward by leaps and bounds.

One idea that has been discussed, although I don’t know if it’s still alive at the committee level, is having AHDI staff support for the Districts once they are formed. They are a wonderful resource for the local and state/regional components and we, AHDI-West, will continue to work closely with them.  Most components put a lot of effort into maintaining a website and a newsletter of some sort. Wouldn’t it be nice to have all of this centralized and coordinated by staff so we have an integrated message to members and nonmembers alike? To access lots of information and make us more effective advocates for our profession, for our industry, and, ultimately, for the patients we serve?

We have an opportunity to prepare our association and its members for the future of healthcare that is rapidly unfolding. In order to ensure a place for us in this new world, we need to learn how to influence others effectively and quickly. We need to learn how to work cooperatively rather than competitively. We need to learn how to build lasting relationships with other stakeholders.  Much of the clinic work could end up being done by speech recognition engines or direct entry by the healthcare providers or their staff. Are those of us who currently love to transcribe ready to move to speech recognition? Are you able to articulate the value WE bring to healthcare documentation over physicians doing their own entry or using EMR templates?  What can you do to be part of this transition and beyond? What are the options for our skill set?

We need to take a hard look at our skills and abilities, and see where they can be utilized. The truth is, we can’t stop the Mac truck coming our way. We need to learn how to grab hold of the steering wheel and turn it in a direction that delivers quality documentation effectively and efficiently using the technologies that are currently available. It means hard choices.

We as a profession and an association need to have these tough conversations and work together to develop strategies to make these changes include us. So, keep your eyes and ears open to see the new plan recommended by the HOD steering. This could and should be a dramatic change from “business as usual” for our association.

AHDI Strategic Initiatives Steering Committee

AHDI Bylaws, P&Ps and Transition Timeline Committee (link to WIKI page available soon)

Don’t you just love that word?? It’s one of those words that sends chills down my spine. As a kid, I could not believe it took 12 months for Christmas to come again. Not to mention my birthday…well, back in those days I looked forward to birthdays. You want to know what I’m looking forward to now? Austin…the Music Capitol of the South! And the city will be even more special because lots of my friends and colleagues will be there. Some of them I’m meeting for the first time. The Annual Conference and Exposition (ACE) is a great place to meet up with people I work with and IM on a daily basis. Of course, I also get to see a lot of my long-time friends.

Not to mention, all the great lectures that are on the schedule for this year. The exhibit hall. The networking. All-in-all, I find ACE to be almost as rewarding as Christmas! Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to attend a lot of annual meetings. Each one seems to take on a character of its own. Sometimes I think I know how a meeting will be…only to arrive and find out the latest buzz and voila! The meeting totally changes. This will be the first ACE since the change went into effect last year that makes this meeting the beginning of our committee/Task Force structure. That’s different. It’s the first time the officers will change place actually at this meeting. It’s our first time in Austin.

And this year AHDI has added a Leadership Summit. I can’t tell you how excited I am about this. I have truly missed the opportunity to have face to face time with other component leaders to discuss issues, challenges and share successes.

I hope you all are getting ready to attend this year as well. It’s going to be an awesome meeting!

Today, I dragged myself out of bed early to attend a webinar presented by AHDI’s Blueprint for Great Governance Task Force. And boy was I glad I did!

As many of you know, I’ve been around AAMT/AHDI for several years. Before we had state or state/regional associations, before we had a House of Delegates, before we had a credentialing exam….and over the years it’s been so exciting and fun to watch and participate in the growth and development of our association. Well, I’m here to tell you, the fun and excitement are back!

This task force is discussing ways to streamline our component structure, bring all component leaders together to share ideas and work more effectively, and decrease time spent on administrative functions at the component level (separate bylaws, policies and procedures, newsletters, websites, and tracking financial reports) by providing staff support…think about it, STAFF! This change would allow our volunteers to focus on the things we are passionate about: Working with students, promoting a credentialed workforce, advocacy, networking…the list is endless. So, the volunteers can drive the bus and the staff can make sure there is gas in the tank, get the tire pressure checked, and make sure we have a good map to follow to our destination.  This is the one of the most dynamic changes I’ve seen our association make in a long time and will be in Austin to see the outcome.

Our House of Delegates will be considering these ideas and voting on whether or not to move forward with these in August. AHDI-West has 3 delegates representing you at the House of Delegates meeting in Austin.

What can you do? Be informed and be part of any changes.  There are two more Town Hall Meeting webinars scheduled before then (6/14 and 7/14), and we encourage you to attend one of them.  Send any comments to Info@ahdi-west.org.

As our world turns more digital and technology oriented, it was great to see so many people show up for a face-to-face meeting. In fact, it was a confirmation that we need to find ways to continue to make these meetings happen. The other surprise for me was on the evaluations. We had one medical speaker. I expected to hear about that. Instead, we got rave reviews on providing information to our members about what is coming down the pipeline and how to be ready for it. What a difference from a few years ago when attendees insisted on mostly medical credits. We are definitely growing in our awareness of how the outside entities affect our lives and our jobs.

On Saturday we were at Gateway Community College and it was awesome! We used the computer lab to demonstrate a number of products, services, and technologies including the Benchmark KB. An investment in this product actually increases your production and quality while supporting our association…does it get any better? In the main auditorium we had speakers sharing about career pathways and EHRs.

I have to say this is one of the most exciting and upbeat meetings I’ve attended in a long time. Thank you all for coming and sharing time with us. I hope to see you all again in Austin for the AHDI No Limits Conference!

Over and over Laura, my trainer, tells me, you have to be consistent in what you tell him and how you do it. And you have to be persistent in giving the command and making sure he obeys it. Do not ever give a command and then not follow through. These are tough lessons for a softie like me. But we are making progress.

I think the same holds true for AHDI and AHDI-West. It’s hard work to be consistent when not everyone agrees on everything. But don’t we all agree on the basics: We want to have jobs in this evolving healthcare documentation world. We want to continue to produce or edit healthcare documents that accurately reflect what transpired. We want to do this in a timely manner. We want to continue to advocate on behalf of the patient and the patient’s family so that what is in those exceptionally important documents is accurate and communicates clearly and consistently the information the healthcare provider deemed important.

Is that happening now? In some places, yes. But as our economy has taken a dive and everyone is cutting costs, one of the “obvious” places to cut is proofreading, quality assurance and, yes, even asking the MLS to spend less time researching terms and just “get the work out the door”. Does that ultimately serve the patient’s best interest? Or the healthcare providers who are trying to take care of them? Or even, ultimately, the facility that has adopted this approach? I don’t think so. Sooner or later, the buck will stop and the lawsuits will start. Probably there are some already underway.

So what? So, now is the time for us to be persistent in our message that quality counts, that patients have a right to an accurate record and to tell the nation that in many cases that is not happening because no one is proofreading the data that is input into the record….because proofreading costs time and time is money. Now is the time for us to be persistent in our efforts to share our intimate knowledge of this documentation process with our legislative representatives, those who participate in the regulatory process, and with the public. Now is the time to speak up and speak out – on the forums for major newspapers, on the blogs of major news organizations, everyplace and anyplace you can make your voice heard.

AHDI-West has committed to send representatives to AHDI’s Advocacy Summit again this year to participate in this critical process. We continue to be consistent and persistent on behalf of our members.