Career Profile – Minute with a Member – 2020

Kathleen Heringer

Meet Long-Time WSHIMA Member Kathleen Heringer, RHIA

Kathleen Heringer has been a WSHIMA member for over 45 years. Kathleen shares more about her HIM career and the opportunities it has presented below.

Tell me about your professional background – How did you get started in HIM? How did your HIM career evolve over time?

My mother and sister both chose Nursing as a profession and my small, all-girls high school offered few options for learning a foreign language; most popular being Latin. We were told that if you wanted to go into the medical field, you needed to take Latin, since anatomical medical terminology is based on Latin and clinical is based on Greek!

I preferred reading about conditions/procedures/patient care rather than seeing it or providing it, so discovered HIM. The pathway at Seattle University aligned with Pre-Med students as well as primary functions performed in and management of a medical record department but had not progressed much in statistical analysis. The degree was a Bachelor of Science in HIM.

My first job was as Assistant Director of HIM, for what is now called Oregon Health & Sciences University Hospital. The director for that department happened to be a past President of AHIMA (Sally Mount). Under her mentorship, I learned a great deal about the profession. During my four years there, I took a 6-month sabbatical to work for the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on a research team that required medical record practitioners for collecting data for the Study on the Efficacy of Nosocomial Infection Control (SENIC) Project. I didn’t realize at the time, but later found out this project was the cornerstone for hospital nosocomial infection care. Having a degree in health information management, opened this door for me to participate.

Through my years in HIM, I became director of one small hospital in the East Bay, CA area and a mid-size hospital in the Seattle area, taught medical terminology to emergency medical technician (EMT) students, participated on the Legislative Committee for the Seattle Health Information Management Association (SHIMA) and was subsequently contracted by them to write the first Washington State Release of Information Guide for medical record departments, and participated in other local HIM committees. Over the past 20+ years, I have used my knowledge and skills outside of an HIM department, in hospital-based settings, as a springboard to other opportunities.

How did your HIM education/training/credentials benefit you in your career?

As mentioned above, my HIM education/training/credentials not only provided a pathway to various positions within an HIM department, but also was a pre-requisite for the CDC Study, and roles I had in utilization management, Medical Staff Quality Assurance, quality-related data collection, research, analysis and presentations and finally regulatory compliance in the hospital setting. Having knowledge of terminology, clinical practice care and outcomes and the ability to navigate through records in an organized manner as is done when care is provided, gave me an advantage over other disciplines. One additional benefit as I started my working career in the hospital setting, The Joint Commission had a regulatory requirement that an RHIA (RRA at the time) be the only credential to direct a medical record department. That requirement no longer exists, but what a Kudos for the profession! I see HIM as one element of the infrastructure for patient care, from pre-admission, intra-hospital care, post-discharge care, (of course) billing and data analysis. All of this can provide improvements in patient care going forward.

What are three of the biggest changes to HIM that you saw during your career?

Conversion from paper medical records, including Master Patient Index, to electronic documentation
Enhancement/creation of laws related to release of information and confidentiality of protected health information – HIPAA, HITECH for example
Conversion from ICD-9 CM to ICD-10 CM/PCS

What prompted your interest in joining WSHIMA? What do you see as the value in participating in a professional association?

WSHIMA provides the networking needed to have contacts with those who work in multiple types of settings, specialties and skills. I personally chose the Legislative Committee since legal aspects and regulatory compliance were my fields of interest, but there are various other areas available for learning or teaching others.

What advice do you have for people just starting out their careers in HIM?

Think universally about the knowledge you are receiving, the skills you are attaining and the opportunities available, that your credential will offer in opening doors. Learn the basics well and build on them with work experience, and in doing so you will discover where your interests and abilities lie that will take you into the future. Don’t hesitate to get involved with projects and like everything else, think ‘outside the box’.

Anything else you would like to share? Future plans?

I retired from fulltime work in mid-2019 but couldn’t go from 40+ hours per week to zero, so with the contacts I had made, have been able to work per diem on projects of personal interest and of benefit to the organization. I also participate in taking classes at Edmonds Community College, as offered by the Creative Retirement Institute program. I am sad to say, but after 45 years I am giving up my HIM credential. It’s been a GREAT ride!

Sheila Green-Shook

We recently interviewed WSHIMA long-time member, Sheila Green-Shook, MHA, RHIA, CHP, FAHIMA, Compliance Specialist, Patient Privacy, UW Medicine. Sheila joined WSHMA in 1974 and has been a member ever since.

Here is a summary of Sheila’s responses.

Tell me about your professional background – how did you get started in HIM? How did your HIM career evolve over time?

I was one of very few people who knew what I wanted to study after high school. A longtime school friend of mine had an older sister who was going to Shoreline for her RHIT (ART at that time). I started researching the program when I was a senior in high school and the program seemed to be just what I was looking for; I wanted a career in the medical field, but did not want to be involved in direct clinical care (no blood or needles please!). This seemed like a perfect match for me and it was. Because of my HIM education, I have spent the last 40 years working in healthcare in a variety of HIM leadership roles and have had invaluable learning opportunities along the way.

How did your HIM education/training/credentials benefit you in your career?

I was fortunate after getting my two-year degree at Shoreline I could continue my educational journey. At the time, Central Washington State University had an affiliation program with Seattle U; student went to Central the first three years and then went to Seattle U for their senior year so the student could participate in local practicums and get firsthand experience working in an HIM department. I entered the program as a junior and the only student in the newly started program (one way to be the top of the class!). After graduation, I worked at Virginia Mason Medical Center in Radiology managing all the non-tech staff (scheduling, front desk, transcriptionists, film room) and also managed the radiologists call schedule and then transferred to the HIM department. In 1990 I started working at Group Health (now Kaiser) and after a few years of experience and promotions, I reached a standstill in my promotional salary opportunities so was able to negotiate GHC financing my master’s degree with a commitment to stay at GHC a minimum of three years after graduating. Having my RHIA and several years of experience in healthcare, made me eligible to apply for and be accepted in the University of Minnesota MHA independent study program in 2000 and I graduated in 2003.

In my last position at GHC, I was the Corporate Director of HIM and Chief Privacy Officer. I left GHC in 2006 due to a leadership restructure and became the Director of HIM at Evergreen Health. After a few years I also became the Privacy Officer. In 2017, my position was eliminated for financial reasons so I started my own LLC and managed the Seattle Children’s Hospital HIM Department move off campus to an administrative building north of the main campus on Sandpoint Way. In October 2019, after completion of the SCH move, I started at UW Medicine as an Internal Consultant for Enterprise Records and Health Information (ERHI; formerly called HIM). Currently, I am a Compliance Specialist focusing on patient privacy in the UW Medicine Compliance Department.

In 2018, I became a Clinical Instructor in Health Services at the University of Washington and teach master’s level Law, Policy, and Ethics in Health Informatics and Health Care.

What are three of the biggest changes to HIM that you saw during your career?

In my early years in HIM, job opportunities were pretty much limited to abstraction, release of information and facility coding in a hospital HIM Department (late 70’s through the 80’s – current)
Opportunities to participate in planning for implementation/transition to an electronic health record (EHR) including enhancements to the application (Group Health, Evergreen Health and UW Medicine) (early 1990’s – current)

Diverse opportunities for HIHIM educational background and experiences outside of HIM departments over the past several years; examples include risk management, medical staff office, quality, data analytics, population health, clinical informatics, research, professional and facility/professional fee coding/education, revenue cycle, and privacy, security and IT (early 2000’s – current).

What prompted your interest in joining WSHIMA? What do you see as the value in participating in a professional association?

Networking is one of the most important professional activities in which to participate. It is invaluable to be able to reach out to colleagues who have had similar experiences to discuss issues, concerns, share ideas, successes and lessons learned. I have found the HIM community not only locally but nationwide is a welcoming group of people willing to share experiences in a safe, confidential manner. The best way to build a strong network is to join and participate in volunteer opportunities in WSHIMA and AHIMA. My networking experiences have introduced me to colleagues and have provided job opportunities I would not have known about except for my networking relationships. I have met incredible colleagues across the country; many of them I am fortunate to also call my friend.

Please share more about your work as a WSHIMA board member. How did you become a fellow (FAHIMA)?

As a WSHIMA board member, I have served in many positions; delegate, president-elect, president for two consecutive terms, past president and advocacy chair. I also worked with other professional organizations on behalf of WSHIMA and created and co-hosted ‘The Future of Healthcare’ with HIMSS, HFMA, WSHEF and WSNA for five years.

Fellowship is open to active members of AHIMA who meet the following eligibility requirements:

Minimum of 10 years full-time professional experience in HI or related field
Minimum of 10 years continuous AHIMA membership at time of application (not including years as a student member)
Minimum of master’s degree
CCHIIM credential designation in good standing
Evidence of sustained and substantial professional achievement that demonstrates professional growth and use of innovative and creative solutions

Over my many years in working in HIM, I have participated in several events which made me eligible to apply for FAHIMA:

Presentations at WSHIMA and AHIMA conferences
Written articles that have been published in the AHIMA journal
Member of the AHIMA Program Committee (reviews all submitted abstracts for the AHIMA annual conference and create the program agenda)
Served as the Program Chair for the AHIMA National Conference in Seattle, 2008
Served in multiple positions on WSHIMA Board
Chair, HIHIM Advisory Committee, Shoreline Community College
Co-Chair HIHIM Masters Advisory Committee, University of Washington
Member of HIHIM Bachelors Advisory Committee, University of Washington
Participant in UW HIHIM mentorship program
Co-created Privacy Officer Forum in the Puget Sound area

What advice do you have for people just starting out their careers in HIM?

I encourage all HIM professionals to get involved and become an active participant with WSHIMA, AHIMA and network. Members of WSHIMA and AHIMA are dedicated professionals who are more than willing to share their experiences including successes and lessons learned. If you are a new member, reach out to the WSHIMA board with questions – we are always willing to help new and existing members.

Anything else you would like to share? Future plans?

I would remind HIM professionals looking for employment to not limit yourself to positions in HIM departments. Our educational background and skillset (depending on your experiences) may really broaden your job opportunities to other areas already described. If you need guidance, or just want to talk to someone about their experiences, reach out to an HIM colleague – we are a great resource and are willing to help our fellow HIM professional colleagues!

Beverly Roberts, RHIA

Meet Long-Time WSHIMA Member Beverly Roberts, RHIA

Beverly Roberts is a long time WSHIMA member having joined AHIMA in 1972. We recently interviewed Bev to find out more about her HIM career and her perspective on industry changes over the years. Here is a summary of Bev’s responses to our interview questions.

Tell us about your professional background – how did you get started in HIM? How did your HIM career evolve over time?

I worked in a nursing home the summer after graduating from high school in 1970. At that time, the facility had a Medical Record Consultant (Registered Record Librarian) oversee the documentation and assure the doctors had visited, written their progress note and signed their orders. I was the clerk to carry out her recommendations. She suggested I look into the Medical Records career as it was wide open for jobs. I took her up on that and shared this with my sister who had just completed her two-year secretarial degree. She immediately applied to Loma Linda and was accepted for that fall. I went to Portland Community College Medical Record Technician program which I completed in 1972. I decided to get my Bachelor’s degree in Medical Record Administration and completed the Loma Linda University program in 1975, taking the RHIA exam shortly thereafter. I worked in the hospital setting as Director of Medical Records in Grants Pass, OR, where I grew up, then was invited to a temporary one-year hospital Medical Records Director position in Madison, TN, a suburb of Nashville. I finished my hospital stent as Director of Medical Records at Walla Walla General Hospital in 1983. My husband, Dan has his Doctorate of Physical Therapy and we moved to Deer Park, WA in 1983 to be part of and become owner of Deer Park Physical Therapy. We have three grown children and three grandchildren. Our oldest son is also a Physical Therapist, our daughter is a Massage Therapist being a big part of our family business and our younger son is in Nashville having toured as a lead guitarist and is transitioning to real estate. Over the years I have been the Administrative Assistant, Compliance, & Marketing Director for Deer Park Physical Therapy & Fitness Center. The health information field has been a big asset to our outpatient physical therapy clinic. We continue to see how we can use technology to lessen the paper shuffling and record our health information in one spot for accuracy and retrieval.

How did your HIM education/training/credentials benefit you in your career?

I was able to work for great hospital administrators who encouraged continuing education. I kept up on Joint Commission standards, state regs, medical staff meetings as well as what is now named Health Information. It was interesting to bring my health information skills to an outpatient setting. I found the provider focus to be patient-centered treatment with little time for procedure manuals, compliance details, documentation and coding. My HIM skills filled that gap nicely and contributed to the team.

What are three of the biggest changes to HIM that you saw during your career?

The biggest change was paper, handwritten charts to IBM Selectric transcription departments and now the electronic medical record.

Another change was the title for the four year or Bachelor of Science degree: Registered Record Librarian to Registered Record Administrator to Registered Health Information Administrator.

Patient access to records has been a big change. Historically, it seemed like it was almost impossible for patients to obtain their own records. Now we log in to a patient portal and see our visit notes.

Yet another is the privacy and security and the evolution of HIPAA.

What prompted your interest in joining WSHIMA? What do you see as the value in participating in a professional association?

I have always been a member of AHIMA and the membership of the state association where I was working since graduating. I find the annual meetings to be so informative with choices of topics. I have always learned most from interaction with other professionals and value the resources and suggestions that come when visiting during our WSHIMA meetings. One example was listening to a webinar recently on HIPAA that brought home some areas that need to be addressed in my local setting. By making the educational component a priority, I was able to reflect on my clinic and do a self-assessment of changes that need to be made.

What advice do you have for people just starting out their careers in HIM?

HIM is an ever-changing world. Stay current on your skills and be ready for change.

Bev has certainly had an interesting HIM career. We appreciate her sharing her background and experience!

Kay Hicks, RHIT, CTR

Meet Long-Time WSHIMA Member Kay Hicks, RHIT, CTR

We recently interviewed WSHIMA member, Kay Hicks. Kay joined WSHIMA in 1973 and has been a member throughout her career, for over 47 years. Kay recently retired and is looking forward to this next phase in her life.

Here is a summary of Kay’s responses to our interview questions.

Tell us about your professional background – how did you get started in HIM? How did your HIM career evolve over time?

I started my HIM career after graduating from the Accredited Record Technician (ART) program at Spokane Community College (SCC). My interest in HIM was sparked while I was a candy striper at Deaconess Medical Center in Spokane where I was assigned to work in the medical record department. The Director at that time informed me of the Medical Record Technology Program at SCC and I subsequently enrolled where I obtained my Associate Science Degree in 1974 and became accredited in 1973. My first job after graduation was setting up a medical record department at a brand new convalescent center in Coeur d’Alene, ID. My next job was setting up the medical record department at a brand new Family Medicine Clinic in Coeur d’Alene using the Problem Oriented Medical Record System! Due to my husband’s job transfer, we moved to Walla Walla, WA where I started as a follow-up clerk for a Regional Tumor Registry known as the Blue Mountain Oncology Program (BMOP). BMOP is a 10-facility consortium consisting of hospitals and cancer centers in Southeastern Washington and Northeastern Oregon that provides all cancer registry services to the participating institutions. After working at BMOP for two years, I was promoted to Executive Director where I stayed for 37 years.

As an Executive Director, I managed every aspect of running a non-profit corporation. A shortlist of some of my key responsibilities is below:

Management and administration duties included overseeing and securing all contracts with the participating institutions and governmental agencies on an annual basis, ordering equipment and supplies, handling confidential matters concerning release of information policies and practices and HIPAA compliance, and attending required meetings and participated in committees as requested by participating institutions.
Fiscal duties included preparing the annual budget, approving expenditures and paying bills, providing proper fiscal record-keeping and reporting and creating monthly financial statements for Board of Directors.
Personnel duties include hiring, training, performance appraisals, preparing job descriptions and maintaining compliance with governmental regulations.
Board of Director Relations duties included developing policies and procedures related to the Board, developing strategic long-range plans to support BMOP’s philosophy and goals, training new board members and preparing agendas and taking minutes of Board meetings.
Public relations duties included representing BMOP in its relationships with other health care facilities and organizations and preparing an annual report depicting cancer trends in the region.

I supervised from 5-15 staff members during my time as Executive Director. In addition to the regional tumor registry in SE Washington/NE Oregon, I established a central tumor registry in Spokane in 1984 where patient data was merged to create a central database of cancer cases seen in the Spokane hospitals. This is the same concept we created for the regional registry. In 1991, BMOP negotiated a contract with the Washington State Department of Health to staff the Washington State Cancer Registry. At one time I supervised four offices located in Walla Walla, Spokane, Kennewick and Olympia which is why staffing varied. The Spokane Central Tumor Registry was disbanded in 2008 and the contract with Washington State Cancer Registry was also terminated in 2004.

How did your HIM education/training/credentials benefit you in your career?

My HIM education/training/credentials was invaluable to my success in the Executive Director position. The Executive Director job initially required ART credentials and I subsequently obtained my Certified Tumor Registrar (CTR) credentials the first year the test was offered. Though I considered myself a “nontraditional HIM professional” having never worked in a hospital medical record department, my education allowed me to adapt to any situation I was presented in each of the various HIM positions I held.

What are three of the biggest changes to HIM that you saw during your career?

Three biggest changes to HIM that come to mind are 1) privacy and security advances, 2) adapting to the massive changes by standard setters (primarily the Commission on Cancer of the American College of Surgeons) and 3) the importance and uses of data collection and analysis.

Regarding privacy and security advances, BMOP went from handwritten paper abstracts of each newly diagnosed cancer case to a computerized system to remote abstracting. Coordinating virtual private networks (VPNs) and linkage to various healthcare facilities required a vast knowledge of their privacy and security and that changed on a regular basis throughout the years. We also had to ensure privacy and security of BMOP’s data.

Regarding adapting to standard setters, a tumor registry has to comply with standards set by the Commission on Cancer, the SEER (Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results) program, the WHO coding classification system, the AJCC (American Joint Committee on Cancer) staging system and the NAACCR (North American Association of Central Cancer Registries) who constantly change data collection requirements. This takes retraining, redesign of cancer registry abstracts and conversion of old data to comply with new data requirements. This was the most challenging part of my job!

Regarding data collection and analysis, our data was constantly being analyzed at a local, state and national level. Consequently, the amount of data analyzed increased on a regular basis and the accuracy of our data was a primary focus. I had to ensure that the right data elements were collected, stored and retrieved to meet the requirements of whoever analyzed the data.

What prompted your interest in joining WSHIMA? What do you see as the value in participating in a professional association?

I joined WSHIMA and the Washington State Tumor Registrars Association because I believe continuing education is essential. Networking at each of those levels has been invaluable to me and I have maintained wonderful relationships with my peers. I have always volunteered on committees and held offices which is not always easy to do but I felt it was essential for my professional growth.

What advice do you have for people just starting out their careers in HIM?

My advice to people just starting out their careers in HIM is to not be afraid to apply for positions that may be out of their comfort zones. Setting up medical record systems right out of college was a challenge but my education laid the groundwork for me to be a success. I knew nothing about tumor registries when I started my job at BMOP and would cry when I got home because I had no clue what I was doing! But that field of HIM became my passion. A second piece of advice is to become a mentor. Promoting our profession is important and rewarding.

Kay’s unique career path is a great example of the options available to HIM professionals given their expertise with health information and data. A BIG thank you to Kay for sharing her background and experience with us!

Linda Harrison, RHIT

Meet Long-Time WSHIMA Member Linda Harrison, RHIT

We recently interviewed WSHIMA member, Linda Harrison, RHIT. Linda joined WSHIMA in 1967 and has been a member for over 53 years; her entire HIM career. Linda recently retired but plans to keep busy with some special projects in her areas of interest.

Here is a summary of Linda’s responses to our interview questions:

Tell us about your professional background – how did you get started in HIM? How did your HIM career evolve over time?

I had a history teacher in high school who inspired me; I found I excelled in science but did not want to be a nurse. There was a 9-month Accredited Record Technician (ART) program at Spokane Community College at that time so I signed up. I also took additional business classes when I was in college. Upon completing the program, the Program Director knew of some positions with Kaiser Permanente in Portland that were focused on research with the Office of Economic Opportunity. There were 11 students that applied and took these positions; we focused on patient record coding as well as data analysis. I also passed the ART exam in September of 1967.

Next, I moved to working at a skilled nursing facility, Riverview Care Center that served dementia patients, for a few years. At Riverview Care, I assisted with medical records, admissions and discharges, and updated physician 30-day medication and therapy orders to meet Medicare requirements. After this, I took a position at the University of Washington Primate Field Station where I worked in research for over 24 years. When I started there were 429 monkeys; by the time I left over 1800! My scope of work was very broad: I transcribed autopsy reports, assisted in surgeries, pulled data from medical records and coded, and helped with research such as genetic market tracking. During this time, I really developed my computer skills, learning over five different computer programming languages. I also sponsored practicum students from Spokane Community College. There were many networking opportunities with the National Institutes for Health and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) as well as opportunities to travel with the USDA team to Russia, Jakarta, Germany, and Nairobi to capture monkeys and perform tuberculosis (TB) testing.

How did your HIM education/training/credentials benefit you in your career?

My HIM education and training provided the foundation for all my roles. I also continued to learn new skills along the way, for example, we used SNOMED for coding at the Primate Center and I learned Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) once it was released by taking classes at the community college. I took anatomy and physiology refresher classes online, nursing classes to learn how to interpret lab results, and learned ICD-10 once it was released.

What are three of the biggest changes to HIM that you saw during your career?

ICD-10 and its coding expansion. This was very important for research.
Release of CPT and billing codes including specific rules for Medicare and Medicaid insurance billing. Also, DSM-4 for mental health coding was released during this time.
HIPAA. HIPAA made people pay more attention to privacy and security issues though many times folks still don’t think about the implications of sharing personal health information even today.

What prompted your interest in joining WSHIMA? What do you see as the value in participating in a professional association?

Networking has always been key to the HIM profession. It has been very important to keep abreast of the changes in the field and participating in professional associations such as AHIMA and WSHIMA has been a good way to stay connected. I had opportunities to attend AHIMA national meetings when working at St. Luke’s Rehabilitation Hospital. I have always tried to attend INHIMA meetings and encouraged other HIM professionals and students to do so as well.

What advice do you have for people just starting out their careers in HIM?

Don’t limit yourself to working in acute care hospitals and physician practices. There are so many more opportunities for HIM professionals! There is a broad spectrum of jobs across the continuum of care as well as in research, pharmacy groups, and pharmaceutical companies. HIM professionals can work any place where health data or documentation is collected – for example, attorneys who need medical record reviews. I have worked for a rehabilitation facility, multiple long-term care facilities, respiratory care, outpatient care, a mental hospital, a health maintenance organization (HMO), and skill nursing facilities. I really liked coding and continued to learn new coding systems over time – therefore, many doors were open to me.

Linda’s career path and experiences are great examples of the opportunities available to HIM professionals and the importance of continuing education. A BIG thank you to Linda for sharing her perspective and experience with us!

David Boyce, CHDA
Application Systems Consultant
Kaiser Permanente

Tell us about your professional background. What is your current role/responsibilities, and how did you get to where you are today?

I’ve been working at Kaiser Permanente for 12 years, and my current role is Systems Administrator for an application that supports Health Plan activity (enrollment, disenrollment, member materials, etc.) for both the Medicare and Individual & Family lines of business. Our admin team is small, so each member is tasked with a combination of application configuration, reporting & analytics, data interface setup/monitoring, vendor liaison and user support. I really enjoy the variety of tasks that we do.

Taking a step back, my first job out of college was at a major logistics company (ocean cargo) as front-line staff processing daily work. I did well, and from there got my first IT job supporting the application that I had used as an end-user. From there, I was promoted to a position in the corporate data warehouse where I had my first real exposure to data and (SQL Server) databases. I really enjoyed working with the data and creating useful information from the data. Around this time, I decided to shift focus and specialize in healthcare IT/ informatics, which is something I believe is inherently important and useful. That’s why I enrolled in the U of Washington Health Informatics certificate program.

During the certificate program itself, I made some great contacts with other mid-career professionals, and from one of those contacts I got a consulting position at West Seattle Psychiatric Hospital (now NAVOS). That was my first healthcare IT position, and from there I got my job at Group Health Cooperative (now Kaiser). So, it really is true that relationships and your contacts are super important.

What are the top three projects you are working on this year?

Currently, my # 1 project is a process-improvement effort looking at ways to improve timeliness of member materials. I recently completed a Six Sigma Green Belt training in December, so this is the first project I’m on where I get to use my new Six Sigma tools & skills. There are a lot of moving pieces in this particular process, both upstream and downstream, so it’s a good candidate for Six Sigma, as Six Sigma is all about identifying the “vital few” upstream inputs that you can tweak to get the downstream effects you want.

Second, we just finished wrapping up Medicare open enrollment (AEP), and that is a perennial top 3 project in terms of effort. From updating our systems with next year’s plan options and premiums to configuring the system to account for service area changes, to responding to new Medicare requirements, this is always an intensive effort and this AEP was no exception.

Last on my list of top 3 projects for the year is ongoing efforts to integrate Kaiser Washington systems with Kaiser National systems. As mentioned, Group Health Cooperative was recently acquired by Kaiser Permanente, and there is a multi-year effort underway to integrate our systems. This is a huge project, and for us on the Washington side, the work translates to a lot of information gathering meetings, acting as subject matter experts, and setting up new data interfaces with National so it can see exactly what we are seeing regionally.

How did you learn SQL, Crystal Reports, Oracle PL/SQL? Any suggestions to others who may want to build skills in working with data and databases?

When I was working at the logistics company, I was sent to off-site training centers to take courses in SQL Server and Visual Basic. When I was working at UW-Bothell, I was sent to a Crystal Reports training course since Crystal Reports was a part of the facilities maintenance application I was installing and supporting.

By the time I got to my current job, I had already had quite a bit of experience with SQL Server and MS Access, so I was able to teach myself Oracle PL/SQL mostly with books. In addition, my senior colleague was already an Oracle expert, so he was able to coach me and answer questions, which was also very helpful.

It can be challenging to learn technical skills by yourself, especially if you don’t have a background in it. Therefore, I encourage those who are interested to either take a class themselves or convince their organization/manager to send them to a course. I’m a fan of intensive/immersion style training courses rather than semester-long courses, so if at all possible, try to take an intensive/immersion style course. Of course, that’s just my personal preference.

How has your HIM training/credentials benefited you in your career and current job/role?

Having my Certified Health Data Analyst (CHDA) credential has been useful as a way to demonstrate my commitment to the field of healthcare analytics and it has helped position me for further opportunities. For example, having my CHDA was key to my securing corporate funding to take the Six Sigma Green Belt course. Studying for and passing certification exams demonstrates initiative and follow-through. When people see that, I think they are more likely to invest in you.

How did your HIM educational background prepare you for your role today?

The U of Washington certificate program was useful in the general sense of exposing me to healthcare issues and topics that I hadn’t been exposed to yet, since I was coming from a different industry (logistics). I already had some IT and data experience, but had no real knowledge of healthcare or how those areas connected, so the classes were good in that they helped me fill in gaps in knowledge for me.

What advice do you have for people just starting out their careers in HIM?

Figure out what you want to do in this field and specialize in that as early as possible. Whether that be regulatory compliance, data analysis, privacy, diagnosis/procedural coding, whatever that is for you. Figure out what you want to do, then get the training and certification for that specialty ASAP.

Thank you to David for sharing his background and experience with us!