Medical Transcription: A Week of Big Association News
It’s only Tuesday and it’s already been an interesting week in the world of association news with AHDI and MTIA, who now is CDIA.
The first notice came yesterday, when MTIA announced their new name, CDIA, Clinical Documentation Industry Association. They define their new scope as encompassing all of healthcare documentation, very similar to the AHDI mission statement. I will be interested to see how the new mission is perceived by other organizations since it’s always seemed to me that assuring the quality of all healthcare documentation fell under the auspices of AHIMA. I did note with interest that the CDIA press release specifically mentioned scribes as an area they plan to oversee as well.
The next news came just today in an email to the membership as well as a letter online from AHDI’s CEO, Peter Preziosi, where the presidents of both AHDI and CDIA (formerly MTIA) announced today that CEO Peter Preziosi has resigned, effective March 31.
You can read the letter from Peter here.
It’s definitely challenging times for a major change like this. As I understand it, per AHDI bylaws, a steering committee has been formed to begin a search for a new CEO.
Some have asked in separate emails if the announcement of the new name doesn’t mean we’re headed to more of a merged, single association. I really have no idea. In many ways, since both are clearly making a statement that their intent is to advocate for quality of the healthcare record, that might make sense.
One thing I will say is that both boards have their hands full now. This is a huge undertaking, one I’ve participated in before when I was on the board, and it’s no easy task. From the posted job description, it’s clear that both organizations have increased membership as a goal through “new program initiatives taking hold.”
It really isn’t all that unusual to see a CEO leave after 7-8 years. That seems to be pretty standard in the industry. From the press release, it appears Peter is moving to something related to healthcare technology. Peter does have a very dynamic personality and I wish him well in his new venture.
How about you? Any thoughts?
Related posts:
- Online Association of AHDI Announces Student Week
- AHDI Meeting is This Week
- Medical Transcription: More Industry Changes
- Big Brother (Or Sister) May Be Watching
- Medical Transcription and Mandatory Credentialing
Tagged with: AHDI • medical transcription
Filed under: Industry Updates
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This seems like awkward timing for the loss of the CEO while the organization is undertaking such dramatic changes already.
Kathy, what is the difference in the CEO and the president? The CEO is hired thus receives a salary of course, but what about the president? The president is elected and is a volunteer? Is the CEO there to handle the business side of it while the president is there more to meet the needs of the members? This is probably a stupid question!
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Kathy Reply:
February 22nd, 2011 at 11:14 pm
i agree that the timing is awkward. With major reorganization coming about if this vote passes, the MTIA/CDIA annual meeting in April, and so many things happening like Advocacy Day, it’s a tough time to have someone in that role leave. The two organizations will do a joint search for a new CEO so this will be different than when Peter was brought on as CDIA will also have a say in who that new person is this time around.
And Sarah, you KNOW there’s no such thing as a stupid question! The CEO is the chief staff person and the President is the chief elected person. The CEO is hired by the board, President elected by the board from among board members, all of whom are volunteers. The president does receive a monthly stipend (when I was the president in 1998 it was $1,000) because they are expected to put so much time into the role and are away from home and thus work so often. The CEO is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the business. Both are responsible for meeting the needs of the membership, as those are the stakeholders of the organization. When AHDI created the partnership with MTIA, the staff all also work for MTIA and the CEO now reports to both boards.
Hope that helps clarify it a bit!
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With AHDI struggling to remain relevant, this does seem like a very inopportune time for the CEO to leave. That said, perhaps it is time for someone with new, fresh ideas who can steer our industry in the right direction. At least we know the industry will have another “outside” advocate with Peter.
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Kathy Reply:
February 22nd, 2011 at 11:42 pm
Deb, sometimes fresh ideas do help. I think Peter will advocate for the record, as is the mission of AHDI, and not necessarily for the MTs. He’s been really clear that that is the mission and what counts. Of course, we all hope that means MTs benefit somewhere in that mix. I think the timing is tough, and with CDIA’s new name and mission wonder if we won’t see more than just a partnership. This may be a good time to really be serious about merging the two organizations and with both using the same CEO and staff it just might make sense now. Otherwise it seems a duplication of mission for the two.
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So, what if AHDI and CDIA don’t agree on who the new CEO should be?
Just how much influence on that decision does CDIA have on this decision? How many of their members will be on the search committee and the voting decision for this one? Does the AHDI by-laws even allow for that kind of joint hiring/voting process? Always before the search committee has only had to look for a candidate to run 1 organization, not 2 … or does that cooperative management deal go out the door with Peter as well?
Nae
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Kathy Reply:
February 23rd, 2011 at 8:35 am
The bylaws say that the CEO is selected by the board “or by a duly appointed committee” so the steering committee, or the oversight committee (which is a joint committee of the two associations executive boards) can make the decision. That committee should have equal representation on it since it’s comprised of people from both organizations. It says the executive committee (in this case, that means AHDI officers) sets the salary and benefits, subject to review by the board. It really doesn’t say what happens if the committee doesn’t agree. As I understand it from what I’ve read the two organizations will be making the decision together.
It’s a tough time. In the job description it lists annual revenue for both groups, AHDI at 2.1 million and CDIA at $450,000. The thing that struck me there is that I can remember the time when I was on the board that we celebrated hitting that $2 million mark in our budget and it shows we really haven’t grown the business much in the last ten years. A sign of the times for many associations I imagine.
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