AHIMA Members Meet With Congressional Representatives

Megan Weis, Carrie Arens and MariBeth Lane 

American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) members from Iowa met with policymakers during AHIMA’s 12^th annual Hill Day Event March 18.

Carrie Arens, AHIMA member and Health Information Director from Horn Memorial Hospital was a representative from a group of Iowa hospitals.  AHIMA members urged Congress to move forward with implementing an updated medical coding system called ICD-10-CM/PCS and discussed other pending legislation that addresses health information issues.

“AHIMA’s members are the lifeblood of our association, and we are grateful they traveled from Iowa to Washington D.C. to advocate for issues that are critical -- not just to the health information management (HIM) profession -- but the entire healthcare system,” said AHIMA CEO Lynne Thomas Gordon, MBA, RHIA, CAE, FACHE, FAHIMA.

AHIMA members spent the day with representatives and senators from their home states highlighting the local impact of these national advocacy initiatives. Members also provided elected leaders with detail about the depth of the HIM field, which draws from more than 40 different employer types and 120 different job functions.

On March 17, members participated in AHIMA’s Leadership and Advocacy Symposium.
HIM professionals protect the safety and privacy of medical records and make sure this information is available when and where it’s needed. HIM professionals also analyze overall trends to be sure the nation’s healthcare leaders have the proper information to make decisions on diagnosis, treatment, budgets and policy.

The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) represents more than 71,000 educated health information management professionals and health informatics in the United States and around the world. AHIMA is committed to promoting and advocating for high quality research, best practices and effective standards in health information and to actively contributing to the development and advancement of health information professionals worldwide. AHIMA’s enduring goal is quality healthcare through quality information. www.ahima.org