It ’s Celebration Time! By Madelon Berger, CHBME, Editor Congratulations to HBMA on celebrating 20 years! As with any fledgling business, HBMA had many bumps in the road through the early years. This was compounded by other factors that you will read about. We are fortunate that our past presidents contributed to this issue by writing about their experiences. Thank you to past President Bing Herald who wrote on behalf of the late past President Tim Maher. We would not be here today if not for the tenacity and dedication of our past presidents, board of directors, committee members and other volunteers. our management team has worked closely with membership to ensure growth and longevity. thank you to brad and your team at isam! there is no way to adequately thank all of our vendors for their ongoing support as well. most importantly, we thank the membership for your continued support, attendance at conferences, and sustained membership. if you look at this issue’s sound off!, you will read a handful of consistently positive comments about hbma. Keep in mind, you can only get out of an organization what you put into it. think about joining a committee, attending conferences and becoming more active. You will see a difference in your business success. We look forward to celebrating together in orlando! HBMA: The Beginning By J. Dennis Mock (recognized as “The Father of HBMA”) the past twenty years of memory about hbma are preceded by the period of time that caused its beginning. two seemingly unconnected factors came together between 1989 and 1990. Kathy canny and i had, for a period of time, tried to bring thirdparty medical billers together to meet with various hmo payors. our hope was that we could collectively bring about some serious communication on the ills of their industry. We quickly learned it was not difficult to bring them to the table individually, but getting two billers into the same room was next to impossible. When it did occur, little to nothing was shared about their hmo problems or their individual businesses. at the same time, i was trying to purchase errors and omissions (e&o) insurance for my company and getting nowhere. it was clear that we were not recognized as an industry, let alone a cottage industry. however, the american collectors association (aca) was facing the opposite of my challenge. they had extensive e&o for their members, and since it was the only place for aca members to purchase it, aca had significant purchasing power. the reverse was that they had members who had also become billers and who were using that insurance for their new venture. as a result, they launched a study to see what could be done. ms. sam henry, aca risk manager, began that process. When she had a grasp of how large the problem was, she went to john johnson, executive director of aca. shortly thereafter, john went to chicago and, thanks to Kathy, met with several billers. a meeting was then held at aca headquarters, and the international billing association (iba) was born. it was to be a separate trade association administered by aca. john assigned bill ryden, an aca staff member, to oversee what was assumed to be its humble beginning. bill and i agreed that the first formational meeting should be in chicago. thinking this would be of limited attendance, the small ballroom was booked at the ambassador West hotel. suddenly, the problem of billers not wanting to share and the perception of medical billing as a cottage industry disappeared. at best, the room was too small, as well over a hundred billers gathered at that meeting. We moved on to Phoenix, arizona for our first annual meeting. We were overwhelmed with vendors and had a very successful meeting. at the same time, we began to see the challenges of our association with aca. it was a beginning with many challenges, and leaving the management of aca did not end the problems for a growing trade association born out of a cottage industry where some of its members needed to learn to communicate and work with a competitor. twenty years later, it is satisfying to look back, forgetting the challenges the saga took and remembering the friendships and successes that have been made. 10 hbma billing • march.aPril.2013
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