With the extended lockdown directive from the NSW government HIMAA staff continues to work remotely from home. We have minimum coverage in the office to attend to mail and educational enquiries, and it would best if you contact us via email during this time. I hope you and your loved ones are keeping safe.
Despite the uncertainty, we are continuing with our plan to hold the National Conference face-to-face at the Crown Melbourne on 25-27 October 2021. Most of us are tired of sitting through a long virtual conference and seek to network in person. By the end of October 2021 we trust this Delta variant of COVID-19 will be under control. We are, however, seeking to live stream selected sessions, or provide a full virtual conference in the case of a lockdown. Excitingly, the program is being finalised and speakers confirmed. We are pleased to announce our first speakers, Dr Stephen Parnis, Consultant Emergency Physician, St Vincent’s Hospital, the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital and Werribee Mercy Hospital in Melbourne, and Karen Cusack, Health Complaints Commissioner, Victoria. EAlerts are being sent to members to keep you updated on the progress. We will soon release a FAQ to address any questions. In the meantime please follow our LinkedIn and Facebook pages for regular news and to register for the conference.
We had a record number of attendees for our Operational CDI webinar on 23 July 2021, which is part of an overall professional development plan. You can expect more webinars in CDI, HIM, Clinical Coding and Clinical Updates in the next 12 months, as well as other resources. This is part of the strategic directive from the Board to expand our member services and increase the value of membership. If you are yet to renew your membership, or are thinking of re-joining HIMAA, this is the time. Please feel free to view the benefits of membership, including the opportunity for organisational membership, and contact membership@himaa.org.au with any questions you may have.
I would like to congratulate the hard-working members of the HIM Journal who have achieved an incredible result in 2020 Impact Factors. HIMJ had a great showing of 3.185, which is the highest result the journal has received to date. It is ranked 29/88 in the Health Policy & Services category, and 15/30 in Medical Informatics, moving the journal from the third to the second quartile in both categories. You can read more about the significance of the result in this issue of the HIMAA Matters.
In the Education News, you will see we have featured one of our graduating students, Sandhya Chavan from South Australia. I hope this will be a regular monthly feature where we highlight one our high-achieving students. We are happy to connect potential employers to our students who have completed, or soon will be completing, our rigorous Certificate IV in Clinical Classification course, and who are actively seeking entry- level coding positions or internships.
Finally, I would like to advise the Expression of Interest process for the Accreditation Council has been completed. We welcome Sally McIntosh (NSW), Sharon Campbell (WA) and Stella Rowlands (QLD) to join our existing members Elizabeth Moss, Jenni Shepherd, Joy Smith, Julie Brophy and Julie Newland. Stella has been nominated to the Chair, with Sharon as Deputy Chair. We are pleased to include such experienced members and thank all Council members for their time in undertaking this work on the behalf of HIMAA.
I would also like to congratulate Danica Jong for her appointment as the Queensland Branch Convenor. She will work alongside Grant Duffill, who is acting as an Interim Convenor. Danica will assume this position officially following the AGM in late October 2021. I look forward to supporting Danica and our membership in Queensland.
I remain keen to work with you in leading HIMAA to serve the health information profession. Please feel free to reach out to me to chat.
Jae Redden, CEO
ceo@himaa.org.au