It will be my privilege and pleasure to serve as the President of this Association in 2009-2010 and I am thankful for the confidence the membership has placed in the incoming Board and me. 

This is a turbulent time in our nation focused on significant health care reform.  The management of health information has never been in a more prominent light.  The people in this room and our HIM colleagues across the country stand in a position to make significant and lasting contributions to moving this all forward. 

I believe that;
We as HIM leaders need to be in the forefront of efforts to protect health information privacy and security while being equally strong advocates of legitimate and beneficial health information exchange.  We need to be the leaders in trying to attain that delicate balance of efficient and effective use of this vital information.  This is not an easy task. 

We need to look at improving workflow, accuracy, efficiency and customer satisfaction within our respective organizations, whatever they may be, to help them remain compliant and financially secure. 

We need to be positive role models and mentors to those entering this field by sharing our knowledge and experience freely.

At Stony Brook University Medical Center we live by “5 Simple Rules” that emanate from our CEO and are the cornerstone of how we operate.  I believe that they can help all of us forge ahead in whatever is to come.  They are very simply:

1. Patients first (their best interest has to be at the core of everything we do)
2. Use world class processes (why re-invent the wheel, look to align with colleagues who have established best practices)
3. Teamwork (our best strength is found when we unite wisely & effectively)
4. Growth (both personally and professionally)
5. Uses Resources Wisely (be conscientious and efficient)

If we focus on these simple rules in the coming year our decisions and actions should be good ones, whether we sit on the vendor or provider side of the delivery of health care.

There are so many volunteers who have given freely of their time and talents to see LIHIMA flourish and grow over the past 30 years.    It will be my privilege to follow in their footsteps and work collaboratively with all the other volunteers, colleagues and trusted vendors to move forward with a positive attitude into the challenging year ahead. 

Christine Edwards, RHIA, CHP
LIHIMA President