Blumenthal, Chassin among AHIMA keynote speakers

The lineup of keynote speakers at the 2009 AHIMA Convention and Exhibit reflects the changing times in health IT. A late addition to the agenda is Dr. David Blumenthal, the Obama administration's national coordinator for health information technology, who takes the podium Tuesday, Oct. 6 at 8:30 a.m. Blumenthal will give an update on the administration's plans for building the Nationwide Health Information Network, and, likely, address the subject on everyone's minds these days: "meaningful use" of electronic health records.

Also delivering a keynote address is Dr. Mark Chassin, president of the Joint Commission, an organization that's the inspiration for so many hospitals' quality-improvement initiatives. Chassin, who speaks during the 1 p.m. general session on Wednesday, Oct. 7, will discuss the role of health information management in fostering a culture of quality and patient safety. He shares top billing in that session with Wall Street Journal columnist Jeffrey Zaslow, co-author of "The Last Lecture," the best-seller about the untimely demise of computer-science professor Randy Pausch. And continuing the tradition of AHIMA kicking off with a speaker not necessarily related to HIM, the conference opens Monday, Oct. 5, at 8:30 a.m. with a multimedia presentation from leadership guru Doug Keeley.

Immediately following the opening general session on Monday is a new concept called AHIMA Prime Time. The hour-long program features central figures in three key issues facing the HIM profession today: Dr. Mark Leavitt, chairman of the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology; Gail Graham, director of health data and informatics at hospital alliance VHA; and Harry Reynolds, Jr., vice president of IS planning and information compliance at BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina. Reynolds will explain how strong leadership is necessary to make the transition to ICD-10 coding worth all the trouble.

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