What Are YOU Reading? Book Recommendations by OHIMA Board Members

by Sandra Seabold, MBA, RHIA

“Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers”  
Harry Truman

If you attend a conference, walk by a Barnes & Noble bookstore, or view LinkedIn – you’ll eventually be presented with a book recommendation.  During the OHIMA Annual Meeting, so many good books were recommended and the importance of reading and how those books had an impact on the presenters, we thought it would be interesting to see what books your OHIMA Board of Directors also recommends.  A couple members said, because they read records all day, sometimes it’s hard to sit down and read a healthcare related book, so there are a few other genres recommended for those in need of a lighter subject.  Such a variety… can’t wait to check these out!!

Recommended by Speakers

• The One Thing:  The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results Book by Gary Keller
• The Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey
• Developing the Leader within You by John C. Maxwell
• Emotional Intelligence 2.0 by Travis Bradberry and Jean Greaves

Online Articles

• Harvard Business Review 
• Smart Brief- leadership subsection (FREE- delivered daily)
• Flip Board

“To read is to fly: it is to soar to a point of vantage which gives a view over wide terrains of history, human variety, ideas, shared experience and the fruits of many inquiries.” 
A C Grayling, Financial Times (in a review of A History of Reading by Alberto Manguel)

 

Books

• Beyond Heroes: A Lean Management System for Healthcare - May 15, 2014 by Kim Barnas (common-sense lean book with great stories) 
• The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom (A Toltec Wisdom Book) - Nov 7, 1997 by Don Miguel Ruiz and Janet Mills (do good and help others)
• You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life Paperback – April 23, 2013 by Jen Sincero
• Creating Competitive Advantage by Janie L. Smith
• Unshakable by Tony Robbins (Investing)
• White Hot Truth by Danielle LaPorte (laugh-out-loud moments amidst an honest look at the relentless, exhausting, and often, counterproductive striving that happens when we work a bit too hard at being our 'best selves’)
• An American Sickness. How Healthcare Became Big Business and How You Can Take it Back by physician turned reporter Elisabeth Rosenthal (This book is for the patients who finds themselves navigating the complexities of our healthcare system. There is a chapter on Billing/Coding/Collections which many HIM professionals will find particularly compelling)
• Reinventing American Health Care. How the Affordable Care Act Will Improve our Terribly Complex, Blatantly Unjust, Outrageously Expensive, Grossly Inefficient, Error Prone System by Ezekiel J. Emanuel (Considering how the ACA/HITECH Acts really brought HIM to the forefront, how could this book be passed up? And how can anyone pass up that title? :-)  No matter what your opinion of Obamacare, health policy wonks will love this book)
• The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande
• Better by Atul Gawande
• Being Mortal by Atul Gawande
• Complications by Atul Gawande
• The Shift: One Nurse, Twelve Hours, Four Patients' Lives by Theresa Brown, RN (Anyone interested in the world of nursing can gain perspective by following her shift on the oncology floor of a hospital. I found this a wonderful read while seeking a way to connect with patients from my isolated corner in the coding realm)
• The Patient Will See You Now by Eric Topol (Dr. Topol's take on the future of  health care in the digital age)
• The Digital Doctor: Hope, Hype, and Harm at the Dawn of Medicine’s Computer Age by Bob Wachter (for anyone working in or interested in Health IT/Health Informatics)
• The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures by Anne Fadiman (Riveting read and cultural perspective on health care from the eyes of others. I discovered and read this book while working as a medical interpreter--a position that requires an understanding of how people from other cultures view and define healthcare)
• If Disney Ran Your Hospital: 9 ½ Things You Would Do Differently by Fred Lee (It shifts the perspective of hospitals and Disney from providing “services” to providing “experiences” which ties into the patient experience and satisfaction focus in healthcare.  The book also concentrates on service excellence, performance improvement, and patient satisfaction)
• The Crucial Conversations:  Tools for talking when Stakes are high and Crucial Confrontations (good tools for developing leadership and communication/relationship skills)
•  The Key to Japan’s Competitive Success by Masaaki Imai, Kaizen (very influential)

 

Books for Fun 

• The All Girls Filling Station Reunion by Fannie Flagg (light read for summertime with some historical aspects to it) 
• Anything by David Sedaris

Thank you Sara Butz, Dee Mandley, Paula Warren, Peggy Kilty, Carol Barnes, and Janice White for your wonderful book recommendations.  Happy Reading!

Even if the book isn’t “healthcare” related, remember…..

“The more you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.” 
Dr. Seuss, "I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!"

Network through Volunteering

by Lauren Manson, RHIA 

Recently, we hosted a Facebook Live Chat with me, OHIMA's Executive Director – you can watch it HERE!  This particular session was geared towards HIM Students and New Graduates.  Attendees could ask any and all questions about embarking on their career as HIM professionals.  We talked about CEUs, volunteer opportunities, HIM Reimagined and more…

Whenever I am asked for advice, this is what I say … and it applies to both new and established professionals alike …  

Networking can be intimidating.  Especially as a young professional.  I get it.  I remember it.  And sometimes, I still feel a little overwhelmed by it today.  But who you know DOES make a difference in your career!  It opens doors.  It provides opportunities you might not otherwise encounter.  It provides connections and expertise that you might not have on your own.

My suggestion...VOLUNTEER!!  Volunteer with your professional association (AHIMA, OHIMA, Regional HIM Association), your alumni association, your local hospital, local professional networking groups, etc.

Volunteering provides you with the opportunity to network and meet other professionals in similar careers … but it even goes one step further and allows other volunteers to see your passion for the profession, utilizing your talents and expertise in a volunteer capacity.  Great volunteers always stand out.  And established professionals remember them.   

Therefore, if networking is intimidating to you, VOLUNTEER!  I promise you won’t regret it.  

AHIMA Advocacy Summit Part 3: Bigger Than Me

I’ve always want to be a part of something bigger than me, like with a project, a movement, or a cause.  When I was invited to the American Health Information Management Association’s (AHIMA) 2017 Advocacy Summit on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., I had no idea that I would be a part of the biggest project, movement, and cause I could ever imagine.  The experience was life-changing for me.  From the moment I stepped into Reagan International Airport, I knew I wasn’t in Ohio anymore.  The energy that surrounds the Capitol of the United States of America is a living and breathing entity.  There was a feeling of purpose and a drive to get things done.  There was tension mixed with excitement and hope; a hope to be a part of the democratic process that is the foundation of our great nation.

AHIMA proved to be a leader on Capitol Hill.  They provided Advocacy Summit participants, who represented AHIMA’s component state associations (CSA), with invaluable knowledge by showcasing expert speakers to prepare us to engage in meaningful conversations with our Congressmen/Congresswomen and Senators.  You see, the 21st Century Cures Act that was signed into law last year called for the advancement of interoperable electronic health systems. However, the 1999 Omnibus Appropriations Act prohibits the use of appropriated funds by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to “promulgate or adopt any standard for a unique identifier until legislation is enacted specifically approving the standard.”  This language has been seen as a barrier to a public and private sector alliance to expedite and measure effective patient identification and matching solutions. (In other words, the government cannot collaborate with private organizations to advance the goal of developing a national patient matching system.)  AHIMA prepared Advocacy Summit participants to enhance AHIMA’s 2017 Capitol Hill mission by equipping us to ask our elected officials to clarify and change the language so our industry could move forward with coordinating a strategy to develop sustainable patient matching methods.  A totally awesome mission!

Advocacy Summit participants were greeted by the AHIMA President, Ann Chenoweth; Lynne Thomas Gordon, AHIMA’s CEO; Mary Taylor-Blasi, AHIMA Foundation; and guided through the entire Summit by Pam Lane, Vice President, Public Policy and Government Relations, AHIMA.  Keynote speakers who provided immeasurable education included:

• Devin McGraw, Deputy Director, Health Information Privacy, Office for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
• Cora Han, Senior Attorney, Division of Privacy and Identity Protection, Federal Trade Commission
• Whitney Bowman-Zatakin, Managing Director, Flip the Clinic
• Aneesh Chopra, President, NavHealth
• A panel of seasoned AHIMA members who shared their experiences of past AHIMA Hill Days (as the Advocacy Summit used to be called) that included: Colleen Goethals (ILHIMA), Seth Johnson (THIMA), Susan Clark (IHIMA), and moderator, Tracy Elmer (CHIA)
• And last, but certainly not least, Lauren Riplinger, Senior Director, Federal Relations, AHIMA

As you can see, Advocacy Participants experienced the most amazing educational sessions!  Then, we were sent out to Capitol Hill to educate and enlighten the nation’s Congressmen/Congresswomen, Senators, and/or their Legislative Staff.  There is a rich tradition of a one-of-a-kind code of etiquette when meeting with people in the Legislative Offices and it was understood that everyone is held to a high level of respect.  Time was of the essence because there was not enough time in the business day for everyone to be heard; however, each office earnestly did their best to acknowledge and hear everyone who had an appointment.

There is still so much my brain is processing from this invaluable 2017 AHIMA Advocacy Summit! AHIMA truly prepared us and encouraged us to walk out their Advocacy theme, “Inspire. Innovate. Lead.”  My experience on Capitol Hill has inspired me to believe that I can make a difference in the lives of patients everywhere by continuing to learn and grow within the HIM profession and become knowledgeable about the laws that effect the management of patient health information. AHIMA has sparked a participating spirit in me to no longer stay on the sidelines and let someone else revolutionize the manner in which patient health information is delivered to caregivers.  As a final point, each and every person who was involved in the planning of the Advocacy Summit, was a speaker or participant, or the colleagues who represented Ohio with me, was instrumental in building my confidence to seek leadership roles within the AHIMA/OHIMA organizations and my community in order to further the mission of service to others by being a good steward of all patient health information.  Truly, I will continue to find ways to be a part of something that is bigger than me.

About the Author

Krystal Phillips, RHIA, CHTS-IS is a HIM coder at OSU Veterinary Medical Center and an adjunct professor at Columbus State Community College in Columbus, Ohio.  Krystal currently serves on the OHIMA 2017-18 Board as President-Elect, the Director of Public Good and chair of the Coding Roundtable Committee.

5 Tips for a Remote Interview

By Laura Vondenhuevel, BS, RHIT, CTR

Have you ever considered consulting or contracting work as an alternative to a 9 to 5 office job? If you’re not used to working from home, it can be frightening to make this type of transition. Often times you’re very first interaction with a potential employer will be a remote interview via the phone or WebEx. This can be overwhelming! Should you prepare differently than you would for an in-person interview? As someone who has 10 years of experience working and teaching from home, I have had my share of remote interviews and business interactions. Hopefully my tips can help you feel more confident during your first remote interview.
 

1. Smile!
Even though employers can’t always see your face during a remote interview, I strongly believe they can hear you smile on the other end. If it’s a video interview, make sure you look professional - just like you would for an in-person interview - and treat the camera as your interviewer. And make sure you are in a quiet area.

2. Be clear and concise.
I learned once that just 20 percent of communication comes from the words you say and how you say them. The other 80 percent comes from nonverbal cues. Being clear and concise during your remote interview will ensure your message comes across appropriately.

3. Understand your industry.
Make sure to research what your industry requires for home office needs. If you’re in the healthcare industry like myself, make sure you are aware of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) or other compliance standards that will apply to the location of your future home office (e.g., the ability to secure your computer when you are not using it, screens not facing a first floor window, or needing a cross cut shredder).

4. Know your tech. If you are going to be working from home, even with IT support from your company, be prepared to describe your technical skills and familiarity with a computer. It is also good to know your internet service provider name and your connection speed.

5. Ask questions.
Find out how the company supports its remote workers. Do they offer remote opportunities for interaction with co-workers? If there are on-site and off-site employees, are activities available companywide? How do they support a connected remote workplace?

Hopefully these remote interview tips will spark some ideas and help you feel more comfortable as you venture into the world of working outside of the office. My final piece of advice is to talk to someone who has already done it and have them walk you through what they did before they started working remotely. I promise if you are the right kind of worker for remote work, it’s not as scary as it may seem.

This article was originally featured on the CHAMPS Oncology Outlook blog on June 22, 2017. https://champsoncology.com/blog/5-tips-for-a-remote-interview