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HIMAA
MATTERS
The monthly newsletter of the Health Information Management Association of Australia Limited
JULY 2020 VOLUME 6, ED 8
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ISSUE
President's Report
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From the office of the CEO
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Promotional Winners
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Time for a career change
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National Private Hospital SIG
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HIMAA Virtual Conference 2020
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HIM-Interchange
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Latest from HIM-J
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HIMAA National PD Webinar Series
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HIMAA Research Grant Scheme Round 2
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HOT JOB of the week
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Work Web
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I.T. SERVICES
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PRESIDENTS
REPORT
Hello Members, I wrote last month stating that things were starting to return normal where in Victoria my home state, was recording single digit new cases per day. COVID-19 appeared to be under control, and we were planning that Queensland get away to escape the Melbourne winter. Things have changed quickly in the last couple of weeks in Victoria, cases have moved into the triple digits with days of 300 and 400 new cases. The borders to other states have been shut, Melbournians are now on Stage 3 lock-down restrictions and as of 23 July, face masks are mandatory when leaving our homes.
Life in lockdown again The Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews stated that Melbournians had started to become complacent with COVID-19. The consequence has been more restrictions on how we live our lives. Once again, parents are having to juggle home schooling whilst working from home. We’re not able to see family and friends in persons, nor enjoy the activities outside our homes that we enjoy. As stated previously, we need to look after our mental health. Please reach out and connect to with your colleagues including us involved with HIMAA even if it’s for a chat. Starting next Monday 27th July, I’m going to call a HIMAA Member a day to introduce myself and say hello. I would appreciate it if you can spare a few minutes to connect.
She’s a jolly good fellow The Fellowship Panel consisting of Phyllis Watson, Kerryn-Butler Henderson and Jenny Gilder has recently recommended to the Board that Fellowship be awarded to Cassandra Rupnik. In awarding Cassie as a Fellow of HIMAA, it recognises her significant contribution to health information management. Congratulations Cassie! Onwards and upwards! Cheens Lee President cheensl@himaa.org.au
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FROM THE OFFICE OF THE
Chief Executive Officer Hello and welcome to the July HIMAA-Matters CEO report. We have passed the shortest day and the additional minutes of daylight are certainly welcome- summer is coming!
Membership renewals- its time To all our members, please don’t forget to renew your membership so you can continue to receive all of the great benefits that being a member of your professional association brings. The newly formed Conference Committee had its first meeting last month and the members have already rolled their sleeves up. The 2020 HIMAA National Virtual Conference has been announced under the theme: ‘Health Information Management: enabling better health in a digital world’ and the Call for Submissions has been released. At the moment the major activities are around identifying and securing the best in the trade to deliver keynote presentations. The Conference Committee is also working on the next face-to-face conference for October 2021 and keeping Melbourne as the host destination. In 2022, HIMAA will host the 20th IFHIMA (International HIM Associations) Congress. The first congress was in 1952 in London. The congress has been hosted in nations across all corners of the globe, including the Netherlands, Korea, USA and Japan. The International HIM Associations (IFHIMA) Congress has continued to be held every 3-4 years since 1952, during times of war and pandemic. 2022 will be no different, with the 20th Congress coming to Brisbane. Did you know the first International HIM Associations president was Australia’s own Betty James. In 1988 Prof. Phyllis Watson was President, and Australia’s third person to be President, A/Prof. Kerryn Butler-Henderson, will commence her role at the 20th IFHIMA Congress in 2022 in Brisbane.
HIMAA Director Suzette Dela Cruz Regalo steps down from the HIMAA Board Suzette works for the Victorian Department of Health and
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Human Services (DHHS) which is the lead control agency for the COVID-19 class 2 emergency and pandemic in her state. In this role, she has been tasked with an important role to support the department, protect the Victorian community and flatten the curve. Suzette has been supporting the COVID-19 response since the beginning of March 2020, undertaking long work hours which has left her precious little time to support her Board role in delivering HIMAA objectives. The Board thanks Suzette for her ongoing support of HIMAA and her dedication to supporting the national pandemic agenda through her HIM skill-set. We look forward to her seeking Board re-nomination in the future!
Digital meeting/ event platformsmodernising our tools and systems HIMAA leverages four digital event/meeting hosting platforms to support our business. As our membership covers the continent, we need to ensure that our hosting platforms are fit for purpose, reliable, accessible and user friendly. Several of these platforms rely on Liz, HIMAA National Office Executive Support Officer to facilitate, coordinate and schedule the event and attendees. With a large number of meetings held weekly, this is quite a task. With the recent deployment of the Microsoft 365 suite, we now have the opportunity to consolidate not only the number of platforms used but also to save some money as well. I have therefore recommended that HIMAA adopt the MS Teams platform as the meeting/ event platform of choice. It is widely used, can be facilitated at the member level and comes with a suite of tools that will assist effective meeting governance. Over coming months you will see a change to our meeting scheduling tools. If you have any queries or questions, I am happy to discuss. Mark Upton Acting Chief Executive Officer
PROMOTIONAL WINNERS For April/ May HIM Awareness Week - Referral Program
Kara Pollard, District Health Information Manager, CCLHD “I was inspired to email all my HIM colleagues during HIM Awareness week and let them know the benefits of being a member of HIMAA. Particularly during COVID-19, it has been a great resource to share information and learn from each other by participating in the HIMAA Webinars”.
Rachael Tindall, Deputy Manager (B Hlth Sci HIM) | Health Information Services Gosford Hospital, CCLHD Thanks to Kara for the encouragement to join HIMAA. I will enjoy reading my prize of books on Fast Food Hackers and imagining the adventures the writer has had when climbing trees all over the world.
Winner of our New Member Promotion for March/April/May Penelope Eichstadt “What a lovely surpirse when rejoining HIMAA to receive the New Member prize from “A Little Luxury”.
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Time for a career change: Saying farewell to a rewarding journey in health information management Lisa Gardiner
I would imagine that many with a career in health information management would say they had stumbled across or fell into this field of study. This was the case with me in the late 1980s and I have always said that it has stood me in good stead. As a business degree at the Queensland University of Technology it offered a variety of subjects to include anatomy, physiology and fundamentals of medicine alongside traditional business and statistical subjects. Not knowing what I wanted to do when I left school, I found a career that has brought fulfilment, skill development and the opportunity to add value in an emerging area of expertise. I learnt to code in ICD-9-CM and have always loved the role of clinical coding. This coded language enabled our roles to add value to the quality of care provided in hospitals through meaningful clinical reporting and later to the understanding of clinical activity in a casemix funded environment. I still reflect on the original purpose of casemix as a quality indicator of care, however later I was fortunate to undertake a Graduate Certificate in Casemix and apply myself to another realm of expertise in the clinical benchmarking and costing environment. I have been rewarded through a number of roles across rural, regional and tertiary centres; located as far south as Cowra in rural New South Wales and as far north as Cairns and Thursday Island. I have loved being able to mentor HIM students and encourage skills development within health information teams. I have the most respect for one of my mentors who has guided and supported me through many challenges, ever since my first-year placement in the late 1980s. The advice from this person was to find my best fit and to always see the possibility of an evolving role that continues to add value and provide stability. I think there should be a ‘Hall of Fame’ for our notable Directors of Health Information Management.
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I have loved every aspect of our profession and always felt a commitment to uphold the professionalism of our roles. By staying connected with HIMAA I was given the opportunity to contribute as part of the editorial subcommittee for HIMInterchange as well as presenting at a small number of conferences relating to clinical coding in rural locations; the building blocks of quality as well as clinical documentation. I love the commitment within our profession to provide continuing education and professional development. I have generally found the qualities of communication, engagement and customer service to be of a very high standard across health information services. I am proud that I have been able to contribute to this industry in some way and would encourage the association and members to continue to profile the wonderful value that we can add to high quality clinical care. Given that I try to be that 110% type of professional (along with a health journey that has left its scars), I have decided to hang up my coding books; data analysis and reporting skills; mentorship and management skills; as well as my confidentiality and records management skills. What an amazing journey I have been able to experience. I am now embarking on a new adventure as the Director / Business Manager for Gardiner Smash Repairs in Roma (Queensland). Working alongside my husband as we invest our skills to future proof our retirement and discover other opportunities that life has to offer will certainly bring new challenges but also the prospect of adding value to another realm of business ownership and more importantly our family. Another journey begins. All the very best and kindest regards. Lisa Gardiner
National Private Hospital SIG Emma Parras
Over the coming years, the private hospital sector will see rapid changes. Shifts away from traditional models of care and funding and the transition to a digital environment are just some of the challenges. To bring about these changes, competent HIMs will be required across the private sector. For recent graduates and HIMs new to the private health industry, this can be an overwhelming task. We often work in silos due to the commercial sensitivity of health fund contracts and the smaller size and geographical spread of private hospitals. Throughout my career I have been fortunate to be supported by my wider HIM network. The mentorship and guidance provided by my fellow private health industry colleagues has been invaluable. That is why I would like to re-invigorate the National Private Hospitals Special Interest Group. The National Private Hospital Special Interest Group is structured as a forum for the Health Information Management Association of Australia (HIMAA) to discuss issues of common interest, to share information and to promote best practice that relates to particular areas of employment in private hospitals. The SIG provides an opportunity for networking and enhancing knowledge through professional development. The SIG also provides members with opportunities for interaction and a
platform to contribute to relevant HIMAA national and state dialogue and strategy development. This SIG is formed on a national basis and functions as a constituent of the HIMAA National Board. The SIG will hold events throughout the year designed to meet the professional development and networking needs of health information managers working in the private sector. Potential topics could include private health funding, clinical coding, audits, legislative and national standard compliance, workforce challenges and the transition to a scanned or electronic medical record. At this stage, the group will not generally meet faceto-face. The intention is to use videoconferencing to meet quarterly. If you work in the private sector and would like the opportunity to share knowledge and experience with other private hospital HIMs please contact executiveoffice@himaa.org.au with your interest.
Emma Parras Group Health Information Manager UnitingCare Health
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CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS The HIMAA Conference Committee is calling for submissions for presentation at the inaugural HIMAA Virtual Conference. Closing date for submission of abstracts is 5.00pm, Friday 31 July 2020 Click here to download
HIM-INTERCHANGE We have made it through the first half of a very challenging year so far. With all the changes to how we have had to live our lives, many of us now have a lot more down time. Take the opportunity to catch up on what others in our professional community have been up to in HIMInterchange. The second issue of HIM-Interchange for 2020 is now available on the HIMAA website and hard copies should be reaching your mailboxes soon. This issue is particularly exciting as it has a focus on student placements. We start with Merilyn Riley reminding us just how important work integrated learning is in increasing graduate employability, ensuring they are ‘workforce ready’. We then hear the personal perspectives from the next generation of health information managers on their experiences in professional placements, reminding us all how exciting it was to be able to put theory into practice for the first time. As an added bonus, we also hear from the
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perspective of placement supervisors. They give insight into what works well when hosting a student and provide some words of wisdom for those who are thinking of taking on a student in the future. Finally, a reminder that HIM-Interchange will be producing a special COVID-19 issue, highlighting stories of how our profession has dealt with the pandemic – from changes in workplace practices to how health information managers have helped shape patient care. If you have a story you’d like to share with HIM-Interchange, contact us touch at HIMInterchange@ himaa.org.au. We have a team ready to guide you through the writing process!
HIMAA MATTERS | JULY 2020
LATEST FROM HIM-J ... Since last ‘HIMAA Matters’, Health Information Management Journal- Volume: 49, Number: 2-3 (May-September 2020) was published. This was a bumper issue, to compliment the larger-than-usual Special Issue on Clinical Coding and the Quality and Integrity of Health Data published in January. HIMJ also published two On-lineFirst articles. A brief summary is provided below.
New Articles Professional practice and innovation article A multi-method quality improvement approach to systematically improve and promote the quality of national health and social care information Niamh McGrath, Barbara Foley, Caroline Hurley, Maria Ryan, Rachel Flynn June 26, 2020 | OnlineFirst This article describes the development of an evidenceinformed, multi-method quality improvement program for health and social care data in Ireland. The methodology used proved to be a robust approach to identifying areas of good practice and opportunities for improvement in information management practices. Research article Understanding the challenges associated with the use of data from routine health information systems in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review Klesta Hoxha, Yuen W Hung, Bridget R Irwin, Karen A Grépin June 30, 2020 | OnlineFirst
The use of routine health information systems in lowand middle-income countries is limited due to concerns regarding quality, accuracy, timeliness, completeness and representativeness. This investigation systematically reviewed the technical, behavioural, and organisational/ environmental challenges that hinder the use of these systems, and the strategies implemented to overcome these challenges. Research article A qualitative investigation into clinical documentation: why do clinicians document the way they do? Stella Rowlands, Amina Tariq, Steven Coverdale, Sue Walker, Maryann Wood July 9, 2020 | OnlineFirst The transition from paper-based to electronic medical/ health records has highlighted a number of issues associated with clinical documentation practices. Developing new ways to document care, and persuading clinicians to accept change, must be supported by evidence that change is required. This study identified that clinicians’ documentation practices are complex, being driven by both environmental/systemic factors and personal factors, and found that documentation practices of individuals, when considering quality of care, are considered legitimate and therefore will continue to form part of the health/medical record regardless of the format.
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stakeholders at a local and national level on a range of digital health priorities. Bronwyn has driven the development of policies and standards across digital health, ensuring they align with best practices both nationally and internationally. Bronwyn is currently working on range of state wide and national programs including Unique Patient Identification, Clinical Information Sharing, Digital Health Maturity and Integrated Care. Bronwyn has a particular interest in ensuring that digital and eHealth standards support interoperability, are scalable and fit for purpose for the Health Services that adopt them. Bronwyn is a proud La Trobe University alumni, graduating with a Bachelor of Applied Science (Medical Record Administration) in 1993. COVID App Deployment
Webinar #5: Digital Health – What is Victoria up to? 31 July 12 pm – 1 pm AEST The Digital Health Branch provides whole of health sectorwide leadership to inform the health reform agenda and support Victorian public health services in their delivery of digital health solutions. Hear about what the Branch is working on, what a Principal eHealth Advisor actually does and the highs and lows of working in the public sector. Bronwyn Taylor BAppSci (MRA), GradCert HI, MBT, CHIA Principal eHealth Advisor at the Department of Health and Human Services Bronwyn is currently a Principal eHealth Advisor at the Department of Health and Human Services, where she provides high quality business knowledge, strategy and advice and sound policy recommendations to senior
HIMAA RESEARCH GRANT SCHEME ROUND 2 - 2020 NOW OPEN FOR APPLICATIONS Click here for application & details 10
During the current Covid-19 pandemic, Siemens has delivered the myCare Companion home monitoring solution, which enables patients with a positive Covid-19 result and mild symptoms or high risk discharged patients to be monitored 24/7 by specialist staff remotely. Brooke Whiteside Clinical Workflow Specialist Team Lead, Siemens Healthcare Brooke is an experienced HIM that has worked in both the hospital and private enterprise sectors for sixteen years. Throughout this time Brooke has been involved in managing and delivering major digital health projects across health record management, elective surgery, specialist consulting, emergency, freedom of information and diagnostic imaging. In her current role with Siemens Healthineer’s she leads a team of specialists that provide consultative workflow design and tailored digital health solutions. To register and find out more
Click Here
HIMAA MATTERS | JULY 2020
JOB OF THE WEEK
Clinical Coding Auditor/ Educator Adelaide, Australia Job Ref: 729981 / W2293 • Central Adelaide Local Health Network, The Queen Elizabeth Hospital and The Royal Adelaide Hospital • Indicative Total Remuneration: ASO-5 $89,475 - $99,403 (pro rata) • Permanent full-time or multiple part-time positions considered; job share possible • Opportunity to work from home You will be responsible for providing coding auditing and education within the Clinical Coding Service and to Clinical Directorates across the Central Adelaide Local Health Network (CALHN). This will include the coordination and control of related activities and monitoring the standard of work quality/ delivery, drawing on your relevant skills and experience in Clinical Coding education and auditing...
Clinical Coding Auditor/Educator Adelaide, Australia
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New Website, New Work Web Checkout our new job board! Another reason to advertise with HIMAA
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Work Web Notice Board July 2020 | HIMAA Job Title: Clinical Coding Educator
Job Title: Clinical Coding Auditor
Position Type: Full Time, Contract
Position Type: Full Time
Organisation: Greenslopes Private Hospital
Organisation: Greenslopes Private Hospital
Location: Brisbane, Australia
Location: Brisbane, Australia
Contact Name: Megan Hayes
Contact Name: Megan Hayes
Contact Email: HayesM1@ramsayhealth.com.au
Contact Email: HayesM1@ramsayhealth.com.au
Application Closes: 31/07/2020
Application Closes: 27/07/2020
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Job Title: Clinical Coder - Moruya
Job Title: Clinical Coder - Queanbeyan
Position Type: Part-Time
Position Type: Full-Time
Organisation: Southern NSW Local Health
Org.: Southern NSW Local Health District
Location: Moruya, Australia
Location: Queanbeyan, Australia
Contact Name: Melinda Doyle
Contact Name: Melinda Doyle
Email: melinda.doyle@health.nsw.gov.au
Email: melinda.doyle@health.nsw.gov.au
Application Closes: 25/07/2020
Application Closes: 25/07/2020
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Job Title: Clinical Coder – Batemans Bay Position Type: Part-Time Org.: Southern NSW Local Health District Location: Batemans Bay, Australia Contact Name: Melinda Doyle Email: melinda.doyle@health.nsw.gov.au Application Closes: 25/07/2020 View job
Please visit our job board online to discover many more current job offers
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