by Alonzo Blackwell, RHIA
The House of Delegates meeting was held on October 8, 2023.
The House of Delegates was charged with a lot of emotion regarding some of the issues/concerns of the CA’s around the country.
The President stated that there would be more collaboration with CA’s in the near future focusing on mentorship, content, community and careers. She stated that the communication should be meaningful and purposeful. AHIMA is trying their best to make sure that they are adapting to change and wants the members to always assume good intent.
The CFO spoke about losses and projected gains. Several great questions were asked by the delegates regarding losses as well as the future and what the earning potential would be.
Speaker Review
Goals set were to advocate, transmit and grow. 49% of all videos, 66% completed call to action. Envisioning collaboration team submitted 3 new excellence standards and job descriptions. Only 45 of 210 delegates completed end of year survey. The Speaker is looking for ways to increase engagement. Policies and procedures haven’t been updated since 2018. Also looking at ways to improve new orientation on what it is to be a new delegate.
I learned that the first House of Delegates meeting was in 1946 in Chicago.
Our guest speaker talked about reinventing AHIMA and the Titanic Syndrome. Titanic syndrome is not being prepared for changes. It is important to know how changes affect your organization. She also spoke about today/tomorrow matrix which is, "what is the impact of your profession"? If you don’t fix what is wrong today, you really can’t plan in advance. Essential components are to design, implement and anticipate change. You should implement change in small increments to make sure that they are working and you can measure the success.
We had some breakout sessions to discuss how we see the HIM field moving forward. We discussed working on value proposition for how our profession can be valued. We felt that the next steps would be to look at priorities and what the solutions would be for them.
We also voted on proposed AHIMA bylaws amendments. There were some passionate thoughts regarding some of the changes.
We were all invited to attend the 2024 House of Delegates Meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah by Utah’s CA President.
We then received closing comments from the new Speaker of the House. She shared her vision for the House for the upcoming year.
Overall, I thought it was a good meeting, a chance to catch up with colleagues and to see how the majority of CA’s felt about the amendments. I feel that the delegates felt strongly and expressed and held on to their convictions regarding the amendments. This is my last year but I am sure that my fellow colleagues will continue to strongly advocate on what is best for OHIMA.
About the Author
Alonzo Blackwell, RHIA, is currently a Delegate on the OHIMA FY 2023-24 Board of Directors. Alonzo is a Manager, HIM-Release of Information at Summa Health System.
