It was a great turnout for the NSW Branch event on 26 April 2023 at Gosford Hospital presented by Kerrie McGufficke from ACT Health. Kerrie commented on her experiences with implementing Epic (picture below). The National Office is speaking with Kerrie to see if she can deliver some of this content as a lunchtime webinar so the people who could not attend have an opportunity to hear the presentation. Watch out for our announcement via social posts and email.

We have two upcoming Branch events:
- 26 May 2023 – Digital Transformation Half-Day Seminar with James Muller and Gihan Ranatunga (Digital Metro North), Kirsten Hinze and Simon Foster (Gold Coast Health), and Trudy Stone (Queensland DoH) with the QLD Branch.
- 2 June 2023 – Microsoft 365 E5 in Health with the WA Branch.
Our national webinar series continues:
- 25 May 2023 – Amanda Blesing with Webinar 22: Invisible to Invincible – Seven critical components to subtly powerful self-promotion.
- 22 June 2023 – The much anticipated second Unpacking ICD-10-AM/ACHI/ACS 12th Edition Changes webinar with iMedX covering sepsis, drug resistance and COVID. Please go to the event page for registration details.
Catherine Garvey and I will be participating in a half-day focus group with the Victoria DoH on Victoria’s 10 Year Health Workforce Strategy with their Workforce Strategy and Wellbeing Unit on 20 June 2023. We highlighted our concern for the declining workforce in the HIM profession and the need to open traineeships for HIM and Clinical Coder positions. We extended our invitation to a few HIMAA members to join us in this workshop to brainstorm how to open opportunities to get more people into these roles.
We held similar conversations with the Tasmania and ACT DoHs about the challenges in the workforce. We are also in close contact with the Queensland DoH and will be meeting the SA Health Minister, Hon. Chris Picton, on 10 July 2023. HIMAA is keen to be actively involved and facilitate the discussion on workforce to garner state government support.
LMIC Sponsorship Support for 2023 IFHIMA/HIMAA Congress Attendance
IFHIMA and HIMAA are inviting companies and individuals to sponsor presenters/delegates from Low and Middle Income Countries (LMIC) to attend the 2023 IFHIMA/HIMAA Congress. One of these presenters is Teddie Chima from Malawi Africa who has written to us with this plea:
“As a researcher in field of Health information management, I am excited for the opportunity to present my work and connect with colleagues in my field. The grant I am seeking would cover the cost of conference… The cost of is beyond my personal financial means. Attending this conference would be a valuable opportunity for me to present my research titled “The need for Health Information Management professionals in Malawi Health facilities” which the research organisers have already included it on their program and receive feedback from experts in my field. Additionally, I will have the opportunity to learn about the latest developments in my area of research and connect with colleagues who share similar interests. This experience will be instrumental in advancing my research and contributing to the scientific community. Additionally, this is an emerging field and in my country no study of this nature has ever been conducted. From the results of this study, we have developed a Curriculum in Bachelor of Science in Health Information Management, which will be first of its kind in my country, Malawi…Thank you for considering my request for funding.”
Details on how you can contribute can be found in this issue. We are accepting contributions from individuals and organisations. Any support from $30 onwards would contribute towards funding our colleagues to share this experience.
I would like to flag the Independent Health and Aged Care Pricing Authority (IHACPA) who will publish its Consultation Paper on the Pricing Framework for Australian Public Hospital Services 2024–25 on 14 June 2023. The consultation seeks feedback on IHACPA’s proposed policy approach for the pricing and funding of public services in Australia for 2024–25. The public consultation is open for comment for 30 days, closing 14 July 2023. Please keep a lookout on the IHACPA website for this announcement.
As usual, please feel free to reach out to me to chat.
Jae Redden
Chief Executive Officer
ceo@himaa.org.au