Karen Fox-Acosta, CMT, AHDI-F
AHDI Board Partner to AHDI-West

I learned to type in 8th grade because my penmanship was awful. I’m sure turning in typed reports raised my grades all through high school. I began my transcription career while at Butte Community College in Northern California. I was on my third major, and after 7 years, I had finally found the career that fit for me, medical transcription; helping people and blending the science of medicine with my love of language and an ability to work my way around a keyboard. Three years later, I graduated with honors, with a certificate of achievement in medical transcription and an associate’s degree. My favorite classes were anatomy and physiology. I took the practical portion of my CMT exam on February 21, 1998. That same day I left my home of 10 years and moved to San Diego to follow my heart. Guess you could call 1998 the year of change for me. That’s also the year I became an AAMT member.

I was a member at large for almost 4 years before becoming a local San Diego Chapter member. Even that was in a roundabout way. I’ll never forget Marie Mendez of the Orange Empire Chapter. She said to me, “well, if you’re willing to drive all the way up to Riverside to come to one of our meetings, you might as well become an OEC member.” Of course, I was sitting there asking myself, well, heck, why don’t I just join the San Diego Chapter. Many of you know bits and pieces of the rest of that history. Having served my local and state chapter in various capacities and having served national as Co-Chair of the Name Change Task Force and Legislative Issues Group chair, I now serve as a director on the AHDI board.

Medical transcription/healthcare documentation has a greater depth than just being able to type fast, and I’ve found my niche in advocating for our profession in various ways. As an AHDI director, this year I am board partner to Alaska, California, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and the Educational components. I am board liaison to the LIG and education alliance. I am a firm believer that we play a critical role in telling the patient’s health story. We will have to retool ourselves to stay relevant in the electronic health data environment and credentialing is a key component to that success.

In my everyday work environment, I’ve transcribed in-house at a local hospital in Paradise, California, been a transcription/QA manager, had my own business, FoxTx Enterprises, for over 10 years, and am now back to working as an IC from my San Diego office. You might say I’ve come full circle, and on the days that it happens, it feels good to be back in the “zone.” I also teach healthcare documentation at a local community college (well as soon as I get a class that has enough people to meet California’s budget requirements). I’m an advocate for career technical education and building a career path that will place the healthcare documentation specialist at the forefront of risk management and continuity of patient care.

California born and raised, I really could not imagine living anywhere else. Remember I said I followed my heart back in 1998. Well, I’ve known my spouse for over 30 years. We exchanged private vows on a rolling hill overlooking the backside of Mount Tamalpias in Marin County on February 22, 1998, and became legally married in California on July 8, 2008. My advocacy work spills over into securing equal rights for our community nationwide, and I am a member of the political action committee of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) here in San Diego. My spouse is 3rd generation in our San Diego home, and we work hard to create an uncomplicated life. We have 3 dogs, 4 tortoises, and a cat named “kitty-kitty,” can’t get much simpler than that.