Vol. 18 •Issue 5
• Page 7
AHDI Track
AHDI Focuses on the Next Generation
Recruitment campaign encourages everyone to get involved.
By Trudi Griffith, BSBM, CMT, FAAMT
Several factors have impacted the next generation of MTs and as a result, work force development and recruitment methods of the past may no longer be effective. The Board of Directors (BOD) for the Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI) is taking the transitory state of the industry to the forefront during National Medical Transcription Week, May 18-24.
The largest sector of the U.S. population includes retiring baby boomers. This fact affects not only an aging MT work force, but an ever-expanding health care crisis that is overloading the health care system. Skyrocketing medical costs have turned the transcription industry into a commodity, or a service whose wide availability typically leads to smaller profit margins and dimin-ishes the importance of factors other than price. The high volume of health care documentation delivery demands alternate remedies, which include technological evolution into the industry, addressing the second factor affecting this industry–technology. Out of necessity, the AHDI BOD is focusing on the next generation with a campaign titled "Connecting to our Next Generation Work Force" or "NextGen."
"NextGen" addresses the technology-driven documentation picture of the very near future that will require a different kind of knowledge worker. As a result, the work-at-home moms may no longer be the ideal candidates to fill these roles. The evolving needs of the industry are demanding that industry stake-holders step away from outdated recruitment and retention models and face the dilemma of promoting the career to a new generation worker—one whose career needs and expectations may be significantly different than generations before them and one who may be more technologically equipped to step into the new roles emerging in data capture.
The NextGen Campaign for 2008 is seeking to engage every sector of the industry in "NextGen" recruiting. This means engaging MTs in active career recruiting, educating business owners about the need for a new recruitment model, engaging educators and schools in innovative candidate recruiting and teaching association leaders to deploy new member recruitment concepts at the local level. AHDI is encouraging seeking new ways to get the word out and offers suggestions for recruitment events throughout 2008:
Host an open informational event for the general public to educate them about the profession and the career.
Participate in a local high school or community college career fair to recruit interested candidates into the profession and guide them to the right career information and selection of an approved-school program.
Host a military spouse informational meeting at a local military institution or military base.
Host a reception, preferably during National Medical Transcriptionist Week, for all local students, recent graduates and new MTs to encourage their membership and involvement in AHDI.
AHDI is partnering with the Medical Transcription Industry Association (MTIA) to encourage all sectors of the industry to get involved in this recruitment effort. To that end, MTIA business owners are being encouraged to partner with an AHDI component to host and sponsor one of these recruiting events. Anyone seeking information on how to connect with a MTIA business owner in your area to co-host an event, please contact Bethany Twist at btwist@ahdionline.org.
AHDI is encouraging its members and other interested MTs in the industry to participate in personal recruitment by wearing our eye-catching recruitment button "I Love My Career — Ask Me Why?" to educate the general public about a career in health care documentation and to point interested individuals to the career information found at the AHDI Web site. It is so important to the future viability of the industry and our work force to make sure interested candidates get plugged in to the right information and select a credible, approved educational program.
Buttons will be sponsored by our AHDI approved schools and will be available in March by contacting Kelly Kappmeier at kkappmeier@ahdionline.org.
Trudi Griffith sits on the AHDI BOD and is president and CEO of AccuScribe Transcription Services, LLC in Charleston, SC.
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