Precyse Solutions Manager Elected President of SePHIMA

WAYNE, Pa., July 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Precyse Solutions, a leader in Health Information Management (HIM) services and technologies, announced that Wannetta Edwards, MS, RHIA, Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) Operations Manager, was elected President of Southeastern Pennsylvania Health Information Management Association (SePHIMA). In her second year holding elected offices for SePHIMA, as President, Ms. Edwards will oversee activities focused on preparing the HIM workforce and advancing best practices for evolving electronic heath record (EHR) environments resulting from American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (ARRA-HITECH), heightened compliance measures including the RACs, and changing industry standards, such as ICD-10.  

"I am very pleased for the opportunity to help support SePHIMA in addressing the unique regulatory and legislative challenges and technological opportunities facing the health information management industry," said Edwards. "I look forward to helping the organization deliver on its mission to support and promote HIM professionals."

SePHIMA's new leadership will take their offices starting July 1, 2010. This year, Ms. Edwards and her SePHIMA colleagues will focus on advancing strategic initiatives to meet aggressive annual milestones including heightened advocacy for and awareness of the HIM profession and playing a leadership role in the area of emerging Health Information Technology (HIT). Under the new administration, SePHIMA's four strategic pillars include Industry Leadership, Workforce Readiness, Membership Value and Grow and Strengthen the regional organization.

"Requirements of the ARRA to invest in rapid implementation and meaningful use of EHRs have accelerated the demand for awareness and advocacy for the HIM profession," said Linda McLinden, RHIA, Executive Director, PHIMA. "Recruiting, educating and developing qualified HIM professionals to facilitate the transition, implementation, and management of health information systems that support an effective and efficient healthcare system and maintain health data integrity is a top priority of our organization. I am pleased to have Ms. Edwards spearheading this charge for the Southeastern Pennsylvania region chapter."

Ms. Edwards has been committed to the HIM profession for more than 25 years.  She has been involved with various forms of HIT since the early 1990s, with firsthand experience for electronic medical record planning, development, implementation, and support. She is a frequent presenter on topics related to the transition to the EHR and e-HIM environments and the legal EHR. Ms. Edwards is also a contributor to the Journal of AHIMA and other industry publications.  

Ms. Edwards' focus on HIM advocacy has helped PHIMA increase its presence and voice at recent Hill Day events and through related national lobbying efforts.  Additionally, she was appointed by PHIMA President, Chris Patrfitt, RHIT, as the PHIMA Legislative Committee Chairperson for 2010-2011 with the objective of advancing advocacy in Pennsylvania.  

She has served many voluntary roles with AHIMA including active participation in the EHR Practice Council, the AHIMA Technical Advisory Committee,  Action Community for e-HIM® Excellence, the AHIMA Legal EHR Program Committee, the Technology and Nominating committees, and the Meaningful Use Response team.  She holds a Master of Science, HIM Systems and Certificate, HIM from University of Pittsburgh and earned RHIA Certification from AHIMA.

About SePHIMA and PHIMA

Southeastern Pennsylvania Health Information Management (SePHIMA) is an Association of individuals who are organized to improve the art and science of health information management and to improve the quality of comprehensive health services for the welfare of the public. SePHIMA is the local association of the Pennsylvania Health Information Management Association (PHIMA). PHIMA members are committed to maintenance and improvement in the quality of health information for the benefit of patients and providers. This is accomplished by coordinating exchange of information for clinical, research, and financial reimbursement purposes, seeking constantly to protect confidentiality of health care information and provide continuing education for health professionals.

About Precyse Solutions

Precyse Solutions has enabled more than 850 hospitals and health systems nationwide to improve efficiency and deliver tangible outcomes through its advanced proprietary software and services for more than a decade.  Precyse Solutions accelerates the capture and utilization of the patient story and advances the agenda of transforming clinical data directly into meaningful health information. With products ranging from an integrated transcription and coding platform with advanced speech recognition, expert workflow technologies and natural language processing tools to HIM consulting and services, Precyse Solutions flexible software can be delivered standalone or complemented by a professional staff of more than 1,200 experts.

Now more than ever, hospitals are challenged to achieve meaningful use of the legal health record. Precyse Solutions is the partner hospitals across the country choose to achieve this goal. To learn more, visit www.precysesolutions.com and follow www.twitter.com/precysetweets.

Extraordinary results. Exceptional tools. Precyse Solutions.

SOURCE Precyse Solutions