By Jay Vance, CMT

Recently I had the opportunity to express to Lea Sims, AHDI Director of Professional Programs, my interest in blogging for AHDI. I had been writing a blog for ADVANCE for Health Information Professionals magazine for some time but was looking to move my blog to a different venue. One thing led to another and eventually to the AHDI Lounge. What excites me most about this opportunity is the chance to perhaps show AHDI in a new light, one that illustrates the fact that AHDI is not the Borg Collective or the Stepford Wives Club.

If you read any of the better-known online MT forums, you’ll soon discover that, hard as it is to believe, there are some folks out there who don’t care much for AHDI. There are all sorts of reasons given for this animosity, but one theme you’ll encounter often is the notion that AHDI is some sort of monolithic organization whose members are all groupthink zombies controlled by Peter Preziosi. The truth, of course, is vastly different, and that’s something I hope to bring out in the open by way of the AHDI Lounge.

My fervent desire is that this venue can be a place where the variety of viewpoints found among AHDI members can be illustrated and celebrated. There is power in diversity in that people with vastly different opinions and backgrounds can still find ways to work together for common goals while bringing new ways of thinking and doing out in the open. It’s no secret that in order to thrive, we must learn to adapt and change with the times. One of the ways we can facilitate this process is by providing venues such as the AHDI Lounge where new ideas can be expressed in an environment where thinking outside the box is applauded, where challenging the status quo in a respectful manner is seen as a GOOD thing.

I hope you’ll take a few moments to visit the AHDI Lounge and experience the interesting mix of discussions taking place there. I see my role as finding timely, provocative topics to get the conversation started, and then let AHDI members and leaders take it from there. If you have something on your mind that isn’t being covered in an existing thread, please feel free to drop me an email at jaysvance@gmail.com.

AHDI LOUNGE