A Message from the President

May 2008

I am writing this message on 1st May or “May Day” which is celebrated here in the UK and in other countries around the world. The May Day festivals are celebrations, which in the UK, have their origins in the Roman festival of Flora (goddess of fruit and flowers), which marked the coming of summer. It is a time of optimism and hope after the winter and a good time for everyone to look forward with enthusiasm to the rest of the year. I have taken the opportunity to look forward to IFHRO activities and events for 2008 and I thought that I would share them with you.

I mentioned in my last message that the IFHRO Executive Committee (EC) has been ‘meeting’ regularly by means of telephone conferencing to keep in touch with one another and to maintain momentum in our work. We are now preparing for our first face-to-face meeting since we met during the 15th International Health Records Congress in Seoul last May. It is going to be a busy few days for all of us! We will meet in Amsterdam on 11th June at the VU Medical Centre and the Dutch national association (NVMA) is generously providing a meeting room and sponsoring lunch and dinner. The following day there will be a national Electronic Health Records (EHR) Conference organised by NVMA and members of the IFHRO EC have been invited to make presentations on EHR development in their respective countries during an international session in the afternoon. On the 13th June the European Regional Team will meet to discuss and agree a work programme for the forthcoming twelve months and once again NVMA is providing a meeting room and sponsoring lunch. Grateful thanks are extended to NVMA for their generosity in supporting these two IFHRO meetings.

The Italian national association (AIDOS) is working on the 16th International Health Records Congress, which will be held at the Milan International Congress Centre in 2010. Please keep your eyes on the IFHRO website as there will be information posted about this congress as it becomes available to enable delegates to start making plans to attend what I know will be a memorable conference in a stylish and beautiful city.

Margaret Skurka, President Elect of IFHRO, continues to Co-Chair the IFHRO/WHO FIC Joint Collaboration to produce an international certification programme for mortality and morbidity coders with Sue Walker from Australia. Margaret keeps the IFHRO EC fully updated on progress with this very important initiative. A second pilot test for mortality coders and trainers were conducted in Korea and USA and the next face-to-face meeting of the collaboration will be held in Washington DC in May 2008. Training materials have been received from Sri Lanka and these have undergone two reviews. The next phase of work relating to morbidity coders will commence later this year this phase will present significant challenges for the Collaboration. Work is now almost complete on an on-line training tool and this should be helpful to all countries where there is access to the Internet. Margaret also manned an IFHRO booth at the AHIMA convention in Philadelphia in October 2007.

Other members of the EC are also working very hard for IFHRO in addition to their day-to-day work. Marci McDonald, IFHRO Regional Director for The Americas, is a member of the Joint Collaboration representing IFHRO, Angelika Haendel, IFHRO Regional Director for Europe has produced an excellent first edition of the Global News newsletter and she will be producing an edition every six months in future. Gemala Hatta, IFHRO Regional Director for South East Asia is working hard with WHO in the Region to deliver the first South East Asia regional IFHRO conference at the Patra Bali Resort and Villas in Bali 21st –24th October. The conference theme will be “Consolidation and Strengthening in Health Information Management (HIM) among IFHRO SEAR Countries in the 21st Century”. Robert Wamalwa, IFHRO Regional Director for Africa is working to establish a national African Network by joining up contacts in East Africa and then doing the same in West Africa. Keneti Vaigafa, IFHRO Regional Director for the Western Pacific is following up contacts with the World Health Organization in the Western Pacific to secure training resources for the region for health information management staff and coders and is also working with other contacts in the Pacific Islands. As a team we have agreed that we will work to strengthen our valued and important links with WHO during our term of office and we will be working on plans to achieve this when we meet in Amsterdam next month.

I am delighted that IFHRO Past Presidents continue to support the work of the Federation and we are very grateful to them for their efforts. I have been working with Phyllis Watson, Ulli Hoffmann and Carol Lewis to produce an information pack for national associations organising IFHRO Congresses and it will be used to support the organisation of the Congress in Milan in 2010. Phyllis and Ulli have also produced a CD on the History of IFHRO and Jean Clark took on the role of Webmaster for IFHRO in May 2007 and the website is looking great and showing real benefits from her efforts.

The work of IFHRO really is a team effort and so many other people and organisations make invaluable contributions; national IFHRO Directors and the national associations that support them are crucial to the continued success of IFHRO and keeping its profile high around the world. There are the individual associate members in many countries, including those countries that do not have a national association or are not a member nation of the Federation, and these individuals provide a valuable presence for IFHRO. The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) has given IFHRO EC members honorary membership of the association during their term of office and has offered free registration for the 2008 AHIMA convention in Seattle to make this valuable educational event more accessible to us and to help facilitate a face-to-face meeting. I would like to thank Linda Kloss and AHIMA for these generous gestures to support the work of IFHRO.

As you will see from this message there are lots of good things happening for IFHRO in 2008 and I hope that you will take the opportunity to become involved in IFHRO’s activities. Please contact the IFHRO Director in your region or your national IFHRO Director if you want to discuss how you can help to contribute to the enhancement and promotion Health Records and Health Information Management around the world.

With my very best wishes to you all,

Lorraine Nicholson
President of IFHRO