What Does the Fox Say?

By David R. Fox, CRA, FAHRA

Surely by now, you too have heard the catchy little electronic dance song and viral video by Norwegian comedy duo Ylvis, “What Does the Fox Say?” During each chorus, the song offers several increasingly absurd possibilities for the fox’s sound. It was the top trending video of 2013 on YouTube, with over 430 million views as of July 12, 2014. “The Fox” peaked at number 6 for three consecutive weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, and was before the US release of “Am I Wrong” by Nico & Vinz, the highest-ranked song by a Norwegian artist on the chart since a-ha’s number-one song “Take on Me” in 1985.¹ While I’m not a musical aficionado, my friend and immediate AHRA past-president, Ed Yoder, certainly is. That opening was for Yoder, as my way of thanking him for providing each of us with his dedicated leadership and direction for the AHRA membership this past year, while enlightening us with his many musical abilities (ie, air guitar on stage). Thank you once again, Ed; your leadership was an appreciated delight.

When I returned home to Little Rock, Arkansas after a vibrant week at AHRA’s 42nd Annual Meeting in Washington, DC, I began to reminisce about what we accomplished as an association at this year’s meeting: both the Advanced and Basic Track educational sessions were fully operational, successful, and well attended. The Lean Six Sigma white belt training was outrageously successful! Also,  following the May 2014 CRA class there are currently 1098 CRAs, and the RACC has rolled out an ambitious goal of hitting 1200 CRAs by the end of my term. By the look of the attendees in the CRA Exam Workshop, they ought to have no trouble achieving that milestone. I also was delighted to see so many attendees at the Physician Track, the vendor symposiums, and the many other educational events committed to improving our profession. There were new friends made, old friendships rekindled, with folks just like you – lead techs, supervisors, managers, directors, VPs, presidents and CEOs – all in attendance. What a great meeting! Well done, 2014 Design Team led by Chair, Scott Cummins. You guys rocked it.

I’ve had the great fortune during my 25 year career in healthcare to work and interact with exceptional staff, executives, physicians, community leaders, and civic volunteers. From each of them I have learned that it is our humanity that leads us to healthcare, where we experience great rewards and occasionally significant challenges. We are leaders in our own right, providing guidance and direction for many people, projects, and things. By holding firm to our purpose of saving and improving the lives of others, because of our common identity as humans, we take part in some of the most purposeful and worthwhile work there is: helping our common man.

As you come to better know me, you will be quick to learn I feel that LEADERSHIP MATTERS!! If we are to continue as an association that develops and educates leaders in our industry, we need the vision to drive our mission, and to ascertain and accomplish our goals. The vision our board has established for the year ahead is to build on the existing foundation, improve our core competency for educating the association’s membership, and to have irrefutable relevance in a crowded marketplace for competing educational opportunities. Relevance in this sense means that AHRA is top-of-mind. How is relevance achieved? We have some lofty goals this year, including pushing our membership total to new heights and, as mentioned earlier, driving the CRA total up. We will foster alliances, remove barriers, and work to forge new collaborations with other associations and organizations to accomplish our goals.

So, what does the Fox say? This will be a bold and exciting year for the AHRA, and I look forward to many outstanding events, whether it’s a local meeting, the Fall Conference, the Spring Conference, or the highly anticipated 2015 Annual Meeting in Las Vegas (psst – early bird registration is now open!).

Reference:

1. The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?). Wikipedia. www. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fox_(What_Does_the_Fox_Say%3F). Accessed 8/28/2014.

David R. Fox, CRA, FAHRA is president of the 2014-2015 AHRA Board of Directors. He is the president of Saint Vincent Health-North Hospital in Sherwood, AR and can be reached at Dfox@stvincenthealth.com.