Two Big Steps AHIMA is Making to Get Closer to Members

AHIMA is built on the foundational principle of service, serving the needs of the health information (HI) professional. Central to that guiding principle is the commitment to excellence in all that we do, underscoring selfless service, not selfish service. The actions of AHIMA should reflect our commitment to you, and when it appears that such actions do not, we welcome your guidance and challenge(s) to course correct. We exist for you and can best serve you when we actually know you. We intend to engage with you to strengthen our relationship with our members and those we certify by doing two things in the immediate future.

The first is to perform a member needs assessment. If we say we are committed to serving you, we should understand how you would like to be served. The survey is now available. I humbly ask you to commit the limited time required to complete it.

Being the best we can be at serving others does not include us believing we know what’s best for you. Alternatively, we need to learn what is best for our professional community and execute on those priorities. Please help guide us in our efforts to ensure that we are the professional home that you deserve.

The second initiative is to bring you closer to us. Many of you may not be aware that many of our outbound and inbound customer/member relations calls are addressed by two outside agencies. That will end in the near future. I’m fairly certain that I would not be married for 32 years if I had outsourced marital communications to an external call center. Relationships are worth having, and the effort exerted to preserve them is worthy of our best efforts. In the upcoming months, we will no longer delegate customer relations — our relationship with you — to an outside call center. Your AHIMA is here to serve you, and we will reclaim our relationship with our members. Further details will be forthcoming when the transition plan has been finalized. In the meantime, during the transition, please be patient with us while we migrate to our higher level of service and organizational accountability.

Finally, we all hope you are as excited as we are regarding AHIMA24, taking place on October 27-29 in Salt Lake City. This event will be next-level with expanded educational offerings, on-demand access post conference, nationally known keynote speakers, and outstanding social events for networking. Our exhibit hall is nearly sold out. Please join us for this not-to-miss event for the HI professional community.

Thank you again for the opportunity to serve you. On behalf of the entire AHIMA staff, your AHIMA is here for you, your career advancement, and to elevate your expertise and credentials within the healthcare community.

Sincerely,

Kevin

Kevin Klauer, DO, EJD, FACEP, FACOEP, is the chief executive officer of AHIMA.