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The Keystoner
New PHIMA Executive Director
ONC Releases "Meaningful Use" Criteria for Public Comment
Amendments to Charges for Medical Records  
PHIMA Legal Reference Manual of Health Information Management
Meet Alan F. Dowling, PhD
Health Information Bill of Rights
PHIMA RHIA/RHIT Exam Reimbursement Recipients
Mervat Abdelhak Receives AHIMA Distinguished Member Award
CSA Core Service Achievement Recipients
Legislator Letter About HIM Education
ICD-10 Update
Geographic Pennsylvania Community of Practice 


The Keystoner - The Official Publication of PHIMA 

The Board of PHIMA is engaged to keep our membership fully abreast of issues impacting our profession, on a state and national level.  The Keystoner is a quarterly publication of PHIMA that covers items of interest within the association, updates on committees and members, and the status of the local associations within PHIMA.   The Keystoner is distributed via email or can be downloaded. 


New PHIMA Executive Director

It is my pleasure to announce that Linda McLinden, RHIA, has accepted the position as our new Executive Director. Learn more


ONC Releases "Meaningful Use" Criteria for Public Comment

On December 30, 2009, CMS and ONC issued proposed regulations on the definition of Meaningful Use and the initial set of standards, implementation specifications, and certification criteria for EHR technology. "We believe the EHR incentive program...will accelerate and facilitate health IT adoption by more individual providers and organizations throughout the health care system,” said Dr. David Blumenthal, National Coordinator for Health IT.

For more information, please visit ONC's Interim Final Rule.

PAeHI will be reviewing this information during the 60-day public comment period, and welcomes your input. More information to follow.

Mark Stevens
Executive Director PAeHI
717.561.5338
mstevens@paehi.org


Amendments to Charges for Medical Records
(Effective January 1, 2010)

The Department of Health announces the Amendments to Charges for Medical Records effective January 1, 2010.  Click here to learn more or visit the Pennsylvania CoP.

As a reminder, the PHIMA Reference Legal Manual is available for purchase. 


Meet Alan F. Dowling, PhD


Click here to watch an exclusive interview with the AHIMA CEO.


Health Information Bill of Rights

AHIMA announced the Health Information Bill of Rights, a model for protecting the personal health information of the nation’s more than 300 million healthcare consumers. The bill of rights was created by a blue-ribbon panel of HIM professionals. The full text of the bill is available online here.


PHIMA RHIA/RHIT Exam Reimbursement Recipients

Congratulations and Welcome the following HIM professionals have recently graduated, successfully passed their RHIA or RHIT certification exam, and were reimbursed their exam expense.

  • Brenda Gray-West, RHIT

  • Donna Lougher, RHIT

  • Dawn Micklich, RHIT

  • Martin Schryver, RHIA

  • Joshua Share, RHIA

  • Kathy Summers, RHIT

  • Carol Wise, RHIT

If you, or know of someone, that qualifies for exam reimbursement, please visit the PHIMA webpage for more details www.phima.org/careercenter_examreimbursement.html


Mervat Abdelhak Receives AHIMA Distinguished Member Award

Dr. Mervat Abdelhak, Chair of the Health Information Management Department (HIM), at the University of Pittsburgh, School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences received the American Health Information Management Association’s (AHIMA) Distinguished Member Award.  The Distinguished Member Award is AHIMA’s highest honor for an individual with a long and exceptional history of HIM contributions.  An educator, leader, mentor, and AHIMA volunteer, Dr. Mervat Abdelhak’s career spans more than 30 years in the HIM field.  She served as AHIMA president in 2005 and continues to serve in leadership roles in AHIMA.

Dr. Abdelhak has contributed significantly to the profession as an author and researcher and has advanced the knowledge and practice of HIM.             

Dr. Abdelhak is a supremely respected educator, eminent leader and mentor, and therefore, very deserving of the 2009 AHIMA Distinguished Member Award. 


CSA Core Service Achievement Recipients



Take a look at the award certificates

NEW! Read the article

The component state association (CSA) Core Service Achievement recipients were announced at Leadership Conference on July 18. This is the program’s fifth year which highlights those CSAs creatively excelling in the core services. The eight categories were reviewed by a panel of AHIMA members. The recipients are:

Continuing Education Programs Relating to Coding (including Coding Roundtable Activity)

First place: South Carolina
Second place: Pennsylvania
Third place: Mississippi

Continuing Education Programs Related to HIM Practice Topics

First place (tie): Florida and Pennsylvania
Second place: Virginia
Third place: South Carolina

Diversity Programs

First place: South Carolina
Second place: Mississippi
Third place: Colorado

Legislative and Regulatory Advocacy

First place: Minnesota
Second place: South Carolina
Third place: Virginia

Member Communications

First place: North Carolina
Second place: Missouri
Third place: South Carolina

Recruitment and Retention Activities for Members

First place: South Dakota
Second place: Tennessee
Third place: Michigan

Recruitment and Retention Activities for Students

 First place: Illinois
Second place: Hawaii
Third place (tie): Colorado and South Carolina

Support for Local Accredited HIM Education Programs

First place: California
Second place: Pennsylvania
Third place (tie): Michigan and South Carolina


Legislator Letter About HIM Education

State legislators around the country are being urged to initiate HIM programs at the baccalaureate level.  An open letter to state legislators is being distributed tomorrow at the National Congress of State Legislators.  It will also be distributed to the media.  You may be queried by reporters, members, and/or the healthcare industry.  Please find the letter posted to the State Leader and HOD CoP.


ICD-10 Update

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has released a final rule for replacing the 30-year-old ICD-9-CM code set with ICD-10-CM and ICD-10-PCS.  The final rule outlines the effective date as 60 days after publication in the Federal Register, and the compliance date for the two classification sets is established as October 1, 2013.

Learn more on the AHIMA website


 Pennsylvania Community of Practice 

Another great way to share information with others, ask a question, network with over 400 Pennsylvania-based colleagues and provide feedback on state-wide or national issues is to join the  Pennsylvania Community of Practice (CoP) sponsored by AHIMA.  The Geographic Pennsylvania CoP is an online member interaction tool designed with Pennsylvania’s AHIMA members needs in mind.

The CoP contains up-to-date news, links to helpful resources, and, most importantly, solutions and ideas from peers. It's much more than discussion boards, because there are many tools integrated into this site to help members connect with members. And because it is supported by PHIMA, you can trust the information to be timely, accurate and relevant to health information professionals practicing within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

You must be a member of AHIMA to access the CoP.  For instructions and more information about the CoP,
download this helpful how-to brochure to get started.

Pennsylvania CoP

The Keystoner Newsletter

PHIMA Legal Reference Manual of Health Information Management