OkHIMA President's Message - 2007-2008

Welcome to the Oklahoma Health Information Management Association website. The OkHIMA is an association of HIM practitioners from the state of Oklahoma serving in diverse roles from large metro University Facilities to stand alone physician clinics in rural settings. We are Directors, Managers and Supervisors of HIM Departments of all sizes, Coders, Transcriptionists, Data Quality and Integrity, Privacy Officers, Tumor Registrars, Medical Staff Services, Performance Improvement and IT professionals.

For 60 Years, HIM professionals in Oklahoma have looked to OkHIMA to provide education and leadership. Issues directly related to HIM knowledge and practices have never been more challenging. The OkHIMA is here to provide leadership, education, networking and best practice solutions to assist you. The association is run by a voluntary Board of Directors. You can find these volunteers under “Meet our Leaders” on the webpage menu on the left side.

The vision of OkHIMA is to provide innovative resources that empower HIM professionals to be recognized as leaders in Oklahoma and the healthcare industry. We provide this through our educational offerings, networking and support to our membership. In August, the Board of Directors established the strategic objectives and priorities for 2007-08 identifying 4 key priority areas. From these KPAs, we created strategic teams as well as specific objectives we want to accomplish for the association this year. We set goals for each of these initiatives and will summarize our accomplishments to the membership at our Annual Business meeting in August 2008. You can find our strategic framework on our home page under Vision, Mission and Values. Our strategic plans for 2007-08 are outlined below:

One significant event for this year is the change in our educational offerings. Instead of having a spring and fall workshop, we have moved to one 3-day Annual State Conference and Vendor Show. As noted above, we have a board team dedicated to the success of this strategy. We have many, many exciting events planned for this inaugural event that is being held in conjunction with our 60th Anniversary. Our speaker line up is outstanding and timely to the needs of our members. We are also planning for a bigger and better vendor show with unique opportunities to showcase products and services. Make plans now to attend this show on August 27-29 in Norman.

Lastly, I would like to encourage you to get involved in the leadership of the association. The benefits and knowledge gained from this networking opportunity are invaluable. Thank you for allowing me this opportunity to serve the association. It is a great experience. We have a great group of professionals on the Board this year and they are working very hard for you. Please contact me or any of the other board members directly if you have ideas or want to volunteer to serve the association.