GHIMA Poll
AHIMA's Proposed Bylaws Amendment:
Inclusive Membership

Let the GHIMA Delegates hear from you!

Number of Responses

72

What Is Your Opinion On the Proposed Amendment?

How Should the GHIMA Delegates Vote?

Comments

Region:
Comment:	Superb! (I wrote something else and then I read below that I aint supposed ter. So I deleted it.)

Region:
Comment:	Bonjour! What a super websight! Very refreshing to peruse from where we live in Paris (France). I eat frogs and drink wine. Woold like more informatons on this. Best regards! Mikael.

Region:
Comment:	Bonjour! What a super websight! Very refreshing to peruse from where we live in Paris (France). I eat frogs and drink wine. Woold like more informatons on this. Best regards! Mikael.

Region:
Comment:	Superb! (I wrote something else and then I read below that I aint supposed ter. So I deleted it.)

Region:

Augusta Area

Comment:

Now that I am an Associate member fpr the first time this year, but still pay the same dues as active and am still interested in the HIM profession from which I am retired, I would like to be able to vote. I still know a lot of the people in the profession who are running for office and would like to be able to cast a vote. Retiring at age 50 instead of age 65 put me in the middle of an awkward time period. If I had waited to retire at 65, I could be a senior member, not have to get CEs and still could vote. So why should "my retirement" be any different just because I'm younger. If you can't pass this amendment, then change the senior category to "retired" no matter what the age. As long as I declare myself retired why does it matter how old I am. Especially when I'm not looking for a discount in fees. I just want to vote. Jeri Whitworth

Region:

Augusta Area

Comment:

I gave up my credentials and am now an Associate member. I don't mind the dues because I hope GHIMA gets the same rebate from me now as they did when I was an active member last year. I'd like to be able to vote since I still know a lot of people who are running at state and national levels. I'm not interested in running for office at any level. I'm a different animal in that I "once was" a credentialed HIMer, unlike others who never had an AHIMA credential. The solution to my particular problem and I know it is rare and I may be the only individual who retired so early but still keep up with the profession, is to have a "retired membership category" that is the same as the current "senior membership" without the age requirement of 65. People are retiring at younger ages these days. Just because we are retired doesn't me we don't care about our profession. Age should not be a factor. I don't mind paying the same dues so that is not a factor either. The only thing keeping me from doing what I want to do is my younger than 65 age. I'm 56. I don't want to get CEs because I don't need them. I did keep mine for 5 of the 6 years I have been retired though just because I wanted to vote. I would love it if GHIMA would introduce an amendment to change the age limits of senior membership even if you have to have two - one retired 65 and older or retired under 65. Don't care how the dues are handled.

Region:

Greater Atlanta

Comment:

I don't see this proposal as "watering down" the credentials. I am not threatened by having non certified members vote or hold office. I see it as enabling the association to learn from other professional opinions of people who are very knowledgble and supportive of the industry, but not credentialed. Most notably are the hundreds of vendor employees who have been in the field a long time and have good ideas and will be excellent voting members. What is the administrative expense to keep it separate? It probably takes more administrative money to continue to keep things separate then to just combine and offer the same privileges.

Region:	Greater Atlanta
Comment:	educate GHIMA members as soon as possible regarding the "informed" outcome including information obtained from hearing all arguments at the House of Delegates. I expect my representatives to have a broad enough scope of the Association to vote and act on what is best for the viability of AHIMA in the long run...not just a personal opinion.

Region:

Greater Atlanta

Comment:

For those of us that have worked hard to earn our two or four year HIM certification I don't see how combining the two is in our best interest. We have already tried a program to "lessen" the requirements to allow the RHIT's an opportunity to become RHIA. Now that that opportunity has expired it seems we are working on another concept to increase membership. I agree with the other respondents that this idea may seem like a good one to increase membership numbers but it does not do anything to the effort of increasing the need/job opportunities for our certifications. By having our RHIA/RHIT's and being an active member of AHIMA says something in the world of healthcare. I am not in favor of continuing to water down our membership and the meaning of my credentials.

Region:	Greater Atlanta
Comment:	I trust your judgment, just please send feedback (condensed) of what was discussed and led to the decision.

Region:	Greater Atlanta
Comment:	Many people are unhappy with the lack of support that AHIMA provides and the fact that many issues are sold to the membership rather than provided. GHIMA is more appropriate in its relationship to members and a person who appreciates GHIMA's stance may desire not to support the National Organization. That person is quite likely to be very effective in holding office in GHIMA.

Region:	Greater Atlanta
Comment:	l do not feel that the memberships should be combined we work hard to maintain active membership and pay the appropriate dues. We also maintain a higher level of knownledge and participation in keeping the association in the fore front.

Region:	Greater Atlanta
Comment:	I'd like to see more background information on this proposed amendment.

Region:

Greater Atlanta

Comment:

Associate membership serves as an adequate vehicle to broaden AHIMA resources and incorporate professionals with other backgrounds. Voting rights should be limited to those credentialed professionals within the organization currently deemed as active status. In the long term, expanding this as proposed will dilute our professional organization with over-diversification and compromise its value to credentialed members.

Region:

Greater Atlanta

Comment:

The real issue comes from within, i.e. do you want your organization to grow and gather more momentum or do you want it to be only a professional certification based organization. those organizations that live to serve for certification alone, are tight knit and very specific. Those that incorporate larger visions in its mission and membership, can grow to be any size. I understand the issues of both sides of the arugment. But i think it would be better to create a certification board that takes care of the knowledge, testing and recertification types of things and then have the association where all members can come, discuss, share, grow together with equal thoughts. I believe that you don't want to make your organization too small. I see this as very much like NAHQ and the CPHQ board. they are together, yet separate. the cphq is the exam and certification, but the association is made up of many different types of professionals. that are my thoughts.

Region:

Greater Atlanta

Comment:

I appreciate my status as an credentialed, active member because of the sacrifices made to achieve this status. This is why I feel that if we were to allow associate members to have the same privilieges it could become a situation where some may be able to "buy" privileges instead of earning them and use their privileges for their own personal agendas instead of for the overall good of the AHIMA community.

Region:

Greater Atlanta

Comment:

It is my impression, based on my membership of one year, that preventing a vote ("they do not have OTHER voting privileges") might inhibit the direction of AHIMA as an organization. I believe developing of professionals who are not yet credentialed, but who bring a broader range of experience and educational background, might help rather than hurt the decision making process, and cause some to dig a bit deeper into the issues. Thank you.

Region:	Greater Atlanta
Comment:	I am somewhat ambivalent and did read the national web site up until a few weeks ago. I agree with Margaret Stewart that we need to be united. In the end, this change will come and is for the best . After all, the great majority of current members do not vote. Maybe they will in the future if we pass the amendment. Thanks for asking my opinion.

Region:	Middle Georgia
Comment:	Are our vendors going to let us sit on their Boards and vote as though we were stockholders? I think not. Let's not open a can of worms.

Region:

Middle Georgia

Comment:

Inclusive membership only serves to increase the total number of AHIMA members. Increasing that membership with people from other disciplines does bring new perspectives and skills to our professional organization, but it does nothing to increase the numbers of HIM professionals that are needed to meet future demand. I understand that the intent of inclusive membership is to increase our numbers to meet that demand. So, this proposal, in my opinion, does nothing to address that goal. And, finally, I believe that we should only open our doors to active membership for those willing to go to the time and effort to become credentialed. If we want to create new credentials for new skills, I wouldn't object to that.

Region:	Middle Georgia
Comment:	My personal opinion is that the "inclusive" membership would destroy the profession.

Region:

South Georgia

Comment:

If someone is an associate member and wants to vote, hold office then they should be educated in our profession, pass a credentialing exam and BE an HIM professional. If they don't value the credential enough to earn one then they do not value the profession and will only take jobs away from those of us who have worked long and hard to be known as the "go to" person in our organizations when it come to HIT, PHI and the security of the records.

Region:	South Georgia
Comment:	We have allowed so many of the functions of the profession to slip through our fingers, we should not waver on this issue. If we continue this way, it is possible for an entire board of noncredentialed individuals to have leadership in the organization. This is our professional association.

Region:	Southeast Georgia
Comment:	lessens the value of the certification, if all have the same rights whether credentialed or not

Region:	Southeast Georgia
Comment:	Personally I work hard to maintain my credential and my membership in AHIMA. What would be the point in maintaining a credential-or striving to get a credential if this is opened up to anyone who wants to pay dues. If that is the case, then reduce the amount of dues. I believe this would diminish the value of being Credentialed. Thank you