by
Lauree E. Handlon, MHA, RHIA, CHFP, CCS, COC, FAHIMA
While our Ohio leadership team and members were experiencing our OHIMA Annual Meeting at the Hilton Easton, I had the privilege to participate in the 2018 AHIMA Advocacy Summit in Washington DC along with Peggy Kilty. I wanted to share some of my experiences from the first day of the summit. Peggy will also be sharing her perspectives as well. While I have participated in the CSOHIMSS and the OHIMA Ohio State Hill Days before, this was my very first experience at the National level.
While our Ohio leadership team and members were experiencing our OHIMA Annual Meeting at the Hilton Easton, I had the privilege to participate in the 2018 AHIMA Advocacy Summit in Washington DC along with Peggy Kilty. I wanted to share some of my experiences from the first day of the summit. Peggy will also be sharing her perspectives as well. While I have participated in the CSOHIMSS and the OHIMA Ohio State Hill Days before, this was my very first experience at the National level.
AHIMA’s
two asks to Congress:
- Patient Matching
- Omit the 1999 language in fiscal year 2019 appropriations legislation to enable HHS to work with industry to advance a nationwide patient matching strategy
- Modernize Privacy Laws to Combat Opioid Epidemic
- Support and co-sponsor bills of ‘Overdose Prevention and Patient Safety Act” (H.R. 3545) and “Protecting Jessica Grubb’s Legacy Act” (S. 1850) to align Part 2 with HIPAA for purposes of healthcare treatment, payment, and operations and strengthen protections around the use of substance use disorder records in criminal proceedings.
So
now I have the AHIMA requests I was to take to the Hill. Was I nervous? Super nervous, but
confident. I knew with Peggy, we could conquer
anything. And really once it all
concluded and I could breathe again, my reflections on the series of events and
outcomes proved I was silly to be anxious in the first place. The people involved created an excellent
learning and networking experience with speakers from HHS OCR, ONC, and CMS,
along with representation from all states.
This experience enabled me to individually grow while also assisting to
increase our HIM profession voice and imprint within Congress.
Day 1: Prep Day
We were introduced to our new AHIMA CEO, Dr. Wylecia Wiggs Harris. While she was being introduced, my attention was grabbed when she was announced to have a degree from our very own Ohio-based Wittenberg University! So this gave me a great avenue to start up a conversation – which actually happened later during our D.C. visit. (BTW - She is an extremely approachable and kind person!)
Day 1: Prep Day
We were introduced to our new AHIMA CEO, Dr. Wylecia Wiggs Harris. While she was being introduced, my attention was grabbed when she was announced to have a degree from our very own Ohio-based Wittenberg University! So this gave me a great avenue to start up a conversation – which actually happened later during our D.C. visit. (BTW - She is an extremely approachable and kind person!)
Wylecia (and we were instructed she wanted to be talked with using her first name), touched on the importance of voting at the local and state as well as national level. Her message was this is ‘your voice’ and she challenged all of us to speak up. To increase our voice and make our passions heard, we need to partner with other like-minded individuals related to our profession and ‘show up & show out.’
Pam Lane, our Vice President of Public Policy and Government Relations at AHIMA, presented advocacy actions and how we can all help at home. Check out the AHIMA and Advocacy site where tools have been provided to help us all participate in important initiatives to our profession.
Once introduced to our asks of Congress and overview of the Summit expectations, Iliana Peters, who spoke on insights from HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) touched on cybersecurity, HIPAA audits, and the latest OCR enforcement activities. She provided a few excellent links:
Maria Durham, Director for the Division of Program and Measurement Support from Center for Clinical Standards & Quality at CMS provided information on latest efforts to improve quality measures and reduce documentation burden including the “Meaningful Measures” Initiative and the “Patients over Paperwork” initiative.
·
The day was filled with a plethora
of fantastic information. Additional
topics to come from Peggy about Day 1: Prep Day and more to come from both of
us about Day 2: On the Hill!
Lauree Handlon serves as the Director of Data Quality + Reimbursement at Cleverley + Associates, where she has worked since 2002. She primarily analyzes third party payer contractual arrangements for strategic pricing, payment assessments, and regional comparisons. Ms. Handlon also conducts frequent regulatory research, monitors data integrity by identifying anomalies in the Medicare public claims data and client submitted claims data, and provides Medicare prospective payment system and coding & billing education.
Ms. Handlon received her Masters of Health Administration from the University of Cincinnati in Spring 2017. She received her Masters in Allied Health Management through the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences from The Ohio State University in 2008. She received her undergraduate degree in Health Information Management and Systems from The Ohio State University in 2000. She holds several certifications from AHIMA, HFMA, and AAPC.
Ms. Handlon also has been instructing part-time for the HIMS department in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at The Ohio State University since 2007 and has served as a Preceptor since 2003. She was awarded Fellowship status from the American Health Information Management Association in 2011. Ms. Handlon is a Past-President and past 2-term role as Delegate for the Ohio Health Information Management Association. She is also the current Membership Chair for the Central Ohio chapter of HFMA as well as President of The Ohio State University School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences Alumni Society.
About the Author
Lauree Handlon serves as the Director of Data Quality + Reimbursement at Cleverley + Associates, where she has worked since 2002. She primarily analyzes third party payer contractual arrangements for strategic pricing, payment assessments, and regional comparisons. Ms. Handlon also conducts frequent regulatory research, monitors data integrity by identifying anomalies in the Medicare public claims data and client submitted claims data, and provides Medicare prospective payment system and coding & billing education. Ms. Handlon received her Masters of Health Administration from the University of Cincinnati in Spring 2017. She received her Masters in Allied Health Management through the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences from The Ohio State University in 2008. She received her undergraduate degree in Health Information Management and Systems from The Ohio State University in 2000. She holds several certifications from AHIMA, HFMA, and AAPC.
Ms. Handlon also has been instructing part-time for the HIMS department in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at The Ohio State University since 2007 and has served as a Preceptor since 2003. She was awarded Fellowship status from the American Health Information Management Association in 2011. Ms. Handlon is a Past-President and past 2-term role as Delegate for the Ohio Health Information Management Association. She is also the current Membership Chair for the Central Ohio chapter of HFMA as well as President of The Ohio State University School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences Alumni Society.
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