# Chapter Meetings



## pamtienter (Dec 12, 2008)

I am my local chapter's New Member Development Officer for 2009. I'm excited to get more people involved with our chapter, as well as getting more involved myself. I'm wondering if anyone has any advice or tips they'd like to share, ideas for getting people more involved with the local chapter, etc. I'm also thinking of getting a newsletter together with the meeting dates, seminars coming up, classes, etc plus coding info on different topics. If you have a newsletter you'd like to share so I can get some ideas, that would be great! I'd love for the current members to be excited about it so they tell others about it too.
 

Thanks!


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## FTessaBartels (Dec 16, 2008)

*Your enthusiasm is infectious*

Your enthusiasm is infectious ... I don't have any brilliant ideas for you, but reading between the lines I see a born leader. Your chapter is lucky to have you.

F Tessa Bartels, CPC, CPC-E/M


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## jmoravecz (Jan 13, 2009)

Pam, hi!  I'd love to share what my chapter is doing to get people involved and to keep them informed.  

For about the past year, we've been giving handouts at our monthly meetings that highlight: 
- the next meeting's date/topic & speaker, 
- other important dates (i.e. national conference, our local workshop, exam dates, etc...) to remember, 
- the mentoring program (my Secretary for 2009 is a member that took advantage of being a mentoree in 2008 which is way cool!  Actually, when she introduced herself to the chapter at January's monthly meeting, she put a plug in for the mentoring program by sharing that she took advantage of it and encouraged others to do so, too - I was so pleased she did this!)  
- We also list the aapc.com website and encourage folks to register on there (if they have not done so already) so they can begin taking advantage of all the goodies on there.  We're planning to have our laptop set up for February's meeting so that if a member has a question about her member profile, or about anything on the aapc.com website, we can try to field those questions on-the-spot.  

- We also provide index cards that members can use for submitting coding questions to be answered by the Board (they can either do this anonymously or by identifying themselves - it's up to them).  We then publish the Q/A on the following month's handout so all can benefit from it. 


Hope this helps!


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## mmorningstarcpc (Jan 14, 2009)

Hey Pam,

We do a newsletter for our chapter members, it has officer info, next meetings, spekers, leadins on our seminar, etc.  It also has a feature "who's that coder" which features one of our members.  If you send my your email privately, I will forward you an old copy.


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## fredabrinson (Jan 14, 2009)

*Newletter*

I started a newsletter for our chapter last January.  I email it to all chapter members who have email addresses.  As President last year, I started each newsletter with "A note from the President", but I also encouraged all officers to submit articles.  I ALWAYS list all members who passed the certification exam!  There is a section devoted to upcoming seminars, workshops, etc.  I list any known job openings or jobs wanted.  There is a section on the next chapter meeting with info on the speaker, topic, anything you might need to bring with you, date, time, location.  Depending on space, I may give an unusual medical term with the definition.  I've tried to start a community section, to list anything coming up in the community that others may be interested in, such as support groups.  This year I added a coding section.  I listed 5 diangoses and will print the correct ICD-9 codes in the February issue, along with a new coding challenge.  I also added a "positive thought for the month" to the newsletter.  As President, I ended each meeting with a positive moment.  I don't want to miss an opportunity of sharing anything positive, so I added this to the newsletter for 2009!

I try to keep the newsletter under 3 pages, so what goes into each one depends on how much info I have received throughout the month.  I would like to have a "coder spotlight" where an interview with a member can be shared.  I think that would be very interesting.

I do know that members who cannot or do not attend chapter meetings will read the newsletter!  I received positive comments all throughout last year!  A newsletter is a great way to keep members informed, and you never know when a member will attend a meeting for the first time, based on what they read in the newsletter!

I'm happy to share our newsletter with you.  If you are still interested, feel free to email me at brinsonfr@sjchs.org

Good Luck!
Freda


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## Teresa Collins (Jan 14, 2009)

Freda-

That sounds like a great idea!  I guess your members really enjoy the newsletter.  Approximately how many members do you have in your Local Chapter?  Also, are you located in a large city?  

Thanks!

Teresa Collins, CPC


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## fredabrinson (Jan 16, 2009)

Teresa,

We are the Savannah, GA chapter, and I consider us a small chapter.  We have about 130 members assigned to our chapter.  For 2008, attendance for each meeting ranged between 19-33.  Since we are located on the coast, we have many members in South Carolina, and we are the closest chapter for many members over 50 miles away.

We meet monthly, and there was only a couple of months in 2008 that we did not have a first time member attend.  I really believe the communication helped get current members attending.

In addition to a monthly newsletter, we email a meeting summary within a few days following the meeting, and an RSVP request is sent out about a week prior to each meeting.  All of this is also posted on the AAPC website under our chapter, just in case those without email visit the website.

It really doesn't take a lot to get a newsletter together, and it really does make a difference!

Good luck!
Freda


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## TerryFletcherCPC (Jan 27, 2009)

These are all excellent suggestions! It makes me very happy to see local chapters sharing ideas all over the country. Also, a big welcome to Freda Brinson who was elected into the AAPCCA (Local Chapters Board of Directors) this past week and will join us at the end of the National Conference in April. 

We are happy to have you aboard!
Terry


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## fredabrinson (Jan 29, 2009)

*Thank you!*

Thank you Terry, and all other board members and AAPC members! 

I am so excited to be chosen to serve AAPC and other chapter members!  It's so easy to get into a rut and think you are the only person having this or that probem or going through a certain situation, but amazingly enough in a group the size of AAPC, there are others struggling with the same issues, and they are WILLING to help!

When we changed our name from "Procedural" to "Professional", that really describes who and how we are!

I am very thankful to be a part of this organization, and look forward to helping in every way I can!

See ya in April in Vegas!
Freda


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## gardnerp20 (Jan 29, 2009)

*Great Newsletter*

Hello, my name is Persephine.  I am a member of the Savannah Chapter.  I think that the newsletter is great.  I would just like to confirm that reading the newsletter is why I decided to come to some of the meetings regardless of the distance.  I live about 60 miles away from Savannah, so it's a 2 hour commute to and from there.  The meetings that I have attended were really beneficial, and thanks to a lot of great information I was able to combine it with the coding knowledge and experience that I already had to pass my certification exam.  I encourage anyone who have not attended any of the meetings to do so, because each meeting that I attended was beneficial and a lot of fun.  I would also like to share with everyone that I was having a little trouble with E&M coding.  One meeting that I attended was pertaining to E&M coding.  The speaker gave some great notes and tips on E&M coding, and she gave out handouts with different situations, and we were able to see if we could choose the correct E&M code.  If there were any questions, we could all give our opinion.  It was awesome!  

Congratulations Freda!


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## msboyce (Mar 14, 2009)

Could you send me a copy....msware@bellsouth.net...I am the New Business Development Officer for a new chapter in Locust Grove, GA...Thanking you in advance


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## sdeaton (Mar 14, 2009)

TerryFletcherCPC said:


> These are all excellent suggestions! It makes me very happy to see local chapters sharing ideas all over the country. Also, a big welcome to Freda Brinson who was elected into the AAPCCA (Local Chapters Board of Directors) this past week and will join us at the end of the National Conference in April.
> 
> We are happy to have you aboard!
> Terry



Congrats Freda!
I'll see you in Las Vegas also.


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## rthames052006 (Mar 14, 2009)

fredabrinson said:


> I started a newsletter for our chapter last January.  I email it to all chapter members who have email addresses.  As President last year, I started each newsletter with "A note from the President", but I also encouraged all officers to submit articles.  I ALWAYS list all members who passed the certification exam!  There is a section devoted to upcoming seminars, workshops, etc.  I list any known job openings or jobs wanted.  There is a section on the next chapter meeting with info on the speaker, topic, anything you might need to bring with you, date, time, location.  Depending on space, I may give an unusual medical term with the definition.  I've tried to start a community section, to list anything coming up in the community that others may be interested in, such as support groups.  This year I added a coding section.  I listed 5 diangoses and will print the correct ICD-9 codes in the February issue, along with a new coding challenge.  I also added a "positive thought for the month" to the newsletter.  As President, I ended each meeting with a positive moment.  I don't want to miss an opportunity of sharing anything positive, so I added this to the newsletter for 2009!
> 
> I try to keep the newsletter under 3 pages, so what goes into each one depends on how much info I have received throughout the month.  I would like to have a "coder spotlight" where an interview with a member can be shared.  I think that would be very interesting.
> 
> ...



Sounds like a wonderful newsletter full of info... just wish my chapter had things of this nature.  We do have monthly meetings but it's hard to attend and they are always in the morning on Tuesdays.  I wish they would make differant days and times, some of us cannot get off during work time on a regular basis.  I had asked my local chapter about the New Member Development officer position but they were not interested.


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