Tom Foolery Doesn’t Work Here Anymore
My friends, those we serve, Mr. Tom Foolery no longer works at AHIMA.
Transparency, clarity in purpose, and making those we serve the center of each and every day is the new norm.
Justifiable frustrations that some, if not many, of our members have had from unfulfilled expectations are real and understood. We’ve listened and heard you and we are a different organization today than we used to be.
What is counterintuitive to me is that those who have been legitimately vocal about their concerns in recent years, requesting, if not demanding, change from its professional association do not seem to recognize the intentional and demonstrable changes occurring, the very changes they have been asking for.
I fully recognize and understand that trust is earned, and actions speak louder than words. However, today’s AHIMA is simply not the same. We are better, stronger, and laser-focused on our membership and member service. Although more work is to be done, we have responded in record pace, and change is clearly evident in word and action for even our greatest critics to notice.
Transparency: We are emerging from an operational restructuring, which will ensure our existence and success for the next 100 years. Simply put, we had room for improvement as fiscal stewards of our finances, your dues dollars. We are financially sound and operationally effective and efficient. Success to us is measured by our ability to provide service to you. Dollars that do not have a direct line of sight to positive member benefit have been removed from our budget. Programs that do not benefit you have been discontinued so our efforts and resources can be refocused on service to our members and the HI professional community.
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Here are just a few examples of programmatic changes already made or underway: |
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Membership is now its own department and no longer resides in the department of Communications and Marketing. |
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We hired two outstanding leaders with AHIMA credentials to serve in our executive leadership team (c-suite). |
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Enhanced Customer Relations: Outsourced for years will now return home in the first quarter of 2025. |
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Development of a Mobile Application: Our expectation is to launch our mobile application by the second quarter of 2025. |
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Updates to MyAHIMA: The transition is nearly completed with greater functionality and ease of navigation (updates guided by your input have been implemented and are nearly completed). |
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Searchable Body of Knowledge Database: This will go live by the end of 2024 so you can search for the content you are seeking, as opposed to asking staff to find it and get back to you. |
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Membership Value Proposition: The value of membership will be enhanced following Board direction from the October Board meeting. |
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Realignment of Certification-Membership incentives: We are revising the discounts for those we certify to become members and are bringing back the dual dues invoice. |
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AHIMA24: Coding professionals now have a track specifically for them. |
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AHIMA24: Emerging leaders and students have content included specifically for each of them. |
A member reached out to me last week about membership concerns. Those concerns were important and valid. She took the time to reach out to me. So, I certainly committed my time to respond to her. Following this interaction, she emailed me saying, “I appreciate you taking the time to address my concerns. You have earned my respect as many CEOs don’t make an effort to answer to the ‘little guy.’ I look forward to seeing the change you bring to AHIMA.”
My response to her and to you is, “Little guy? We are nothing without our members. I’m the little guy, as I work for all of you, our 62,000 members.”
Our staff, your President (Mona Calhoun), and Board and I personally devote considerable time to speak with and assist our members. You deserve personal attention, and exemplifying an earnest and true commitment to care for our members is an honor and a privilege.
We aren’t playing. Our commitment is real. We wish Mr. Tom Foolery well, but he is no longer welcome at AHIMA.
Kevin Klauer, DO, EJD, FACEP, FACOEP, is the chief executive officer of AHIMA.