You Spoke, We Listened: Enacting Change to Benefit AHIMA Members

Since I began as your CEO on January 8, beyond the necessary onboarding activities and day-to-day operational work, I have spent a considerable amount of time on discovery and organizational assessment for the identification of priorities. My time, and that of our wonderful staff, must be spent wisely on what matters most. 

It may seem cliché, but what matters most is all of you, our members. Our true north as a membership and trade association is our membership. AHIMA is a wonderful organization with many amazing offerings serving the health information (HI) professional community. However, my observations have led me to conclude that AHIMA has drifted from its true north, and we intend to course correct to refocus our dedication to our members as quickly and as organizationally possible. 

Of course, we will continue our commitment to excellence in certification, education, competency, and academic curricula development, and the creation of the wonderful services and products that support and enhance the career of the HI professional. However, we will do so with the member as the core of our mission and the focus of our efforts. We want a relationship with you, not a transaction with your credit card. Our strongest future is one built on relationships with those who matter most to AHIMA. 

A true commitment to our members is reflected in our member value proposition. In fact, intentionally reconfiguring and substantively enhancing our value proposition for membership has been explicitly written into the 2024-2027 strategic plan of AHIMA. The Board-directed and approved plan is being formatted for release in mid-May. The staff has already begun the important work on the more than 90 tactics that have been identified to fulfill the five strategic objectives of the three-year plan. 

At the March Board of Directors meeting, the membership Token Reward Center, available through the My AHIMA portal, was a focus of discussion with subsequent action. It was clear through feedback received by our board, staff, and me personally, that we owed you something better than we had offered. The content available to members in the Token Reward Center needed updating, and a higher level of commitment to excellence was owed to our members. The Token Reward Center seemed like the “island of misfit education.”  

Well, that all changed the first week of April. Our staff, led by Dana Perrino, vice president of membership, began work to expeditiously update this important member benefit, which included the following changes: 

1. All outdated content (25 webinars total) were removed from the Token Reward Center. 

2. Thirty-three up-to-date, single CEU webinars available through the AHIMA store have been added to the Token Reward Center for immediate use. 

3. All 2023 SDOH Data Break webinars will be added to the Token Reward Center during the corresponding quarter they were offered last year. 

4. The most current Journal of AHIMA quizzes are available in the Token Reward Center and will continue to be populated there as they become available. 

You spoke, and we listened.  

We will continue to listen and make certain that your AHIMA is here for you in ways that you need and want us to be. The Token Reward Center updates are one very small, but important example, of the sincerity with which I deliver this message. AHIMA is your professional home, and we intend to do some remodeling so that home is welcoming to you and serves your needs. 

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