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WVHIMA Outgoing Speech
What
a year this has been! What an amazing board
that I was so fortunate to have during my
term as President of WVHIMA. So many
wonderful things were accomplished and with
such dedication and hard work.
Board meetings were held every 6-weeks at
various locations throughout the state even
with such obstacles as the weather we had
this past winter. These meetings were well
attended and well received with lots of
discussion and planning. Our board meeting
held on April 30th was attended via
conference call by Alan Dowling, AHIMA CEO.
Many concerns were discussed and we were
very impressed by his genuine interest and
immediate feedback.
Beverly Ellis, Vice President and myself
attended Summer Team Talks in Chicago on
July 17, 2009. By attending this meeting, we
were able to bring upcoming issues from
AHIMA back to the WVHIMA board for
discussion.
The Fall Retreat itself was amazing. Beth
Shanholtzer did an outstanding job! We had
excellent speakers on several hot topics
such as clinical documentation improvement,
ICD-10, and IPPS Update and New Code - ICD-9
Codes for FY2010. The Fall Retreat, held at
Fairmont State University, was well attended
with 90 attendees. We received very positive
comments from the attendee surveys.
Then on to the House of Delegates in
Grapevine Texas where I was joined by the
other delegates – Beverly Ellis, Vice
President; Brett Randolph, President Elect;
Savithri Kamath, Past President; and Melissa
Maston attending as alternate (just in
case). Wow- what an awesome experience!
There were several issues addressed but I
have never been part of such a heated
discussion at the House as the proposed
amendment to change the delegate
apportionment. This amendment would mean
that the smaller states (approximately 31)
would lose delegates while the larger states
would gain one delegate. The proposal would
mean that we, as a smaller state, would lose
2 delegates as compared to some of the
larger states who would gain. This is based
on a percentages of membership. Should this
pass, this would mean that we would lose
some of our voice. There was a motion to
postpone voting on the delegate
apportionment bylaws amendment until August
9-20, 2010. This motion was defeated and the
voting was held June 21-30, 2010. The number
of CSAs with delegates participating in the
vote were 52 out of 52. The results of the
vote should be announced later this month
(late July).
That brings us to the WVHIMA Annual
Convention held in Martinsburg again this
year. Tammy Baker and her annual convention
committee could not have done a more
excellent job, right down to the smallest
detail. Beth Shanholtzer did an outstanding
job coordinating all the speakers. Beverly
Ellis did an exceptional job finding space
for the vendors which was quite a task this
year especially. I am going to quit naming
names before I forget someone as the entire
committee should be commended for a job well
done.
And yes, the vendors – what can I say about
the vendors?
We have struggled financially over the last
couple of years, as an association. As a
result, Savithri worked very hard last year
as President to keep the cost down and did
an amazing job. I have followed suit in
trying to keep the cost low for our members
and enable them to get the CE’s they need
and also provide them with some great
educational opportunities. The sponsorships
that we received from our vendors enabled us
to keep the cost low yet still offer quality
education. On behalf of the board – we thank
the vendors for all they do for WVHIMA.
What an experience this has been, but I have
to say that all the hard work has been done
behind the scenes by the board. Their job is
to serve our membership and that they do. I
am very proud of everything that has been
accomplished especially given that each of
the board members have full time jobs,
families, and many other commitments but yet
they volunteer their time to make this
association run very efficiently. Without
them, there would be no WVHIMA.
With that, I am in the process of finalizing
my term as WVHIMA President. I want to thank
everyone again for their confidence in me
and for all the help I received during my
term.
I am very excited to hand over the gavel to
our incoming President, Brett Randolph.
Brett is very passionate about WVHIMA’s
success. I am very confident that he will do
an excellent job! Congratulations, Brett!
Blessings,
Debbie Parenti, RHIT
WVHIMA Outgoing President 2009-2010
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