The International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) is a not-for-profit international network of professionals committed to improving the effectiveness of organizations through strategic interactive and integrated business communication management. Its focus is on supporting the highest professional standards of quality and innovation in organizational communication.

The Oregon Columbia chapter of IABC is centered in the Portland-Southwest Washington area, with a service area including all of Oregon and Southwest Washington. Judges for the newsletter and other categories were professional communicators in Hawaii and Silicon Valley.

“The newsletter, which will publish its first anniversary issue next month, helps staff learn about changes in products and services, and keep apprised of company goals and developments,” said Vice President of Business Development Todd McLean, who oversees Corporate Communications. “Even more importantly, it helps staff get to know each other. We’ve doubled in size over the last year, and features about our staff and their lives—both in and outside of Qmedtrix—give us a greater sense of community. We want to bridge the gap between offices in different states and teams in different departments, and Qnews helps us stay in touch with each other.”

The newsletter was one of the first publications of the fledgling Corporate Communications department, which was created only a year ago. According to one IABC judge, “The five newsletters—from first issue to fifth issue over eight months—show a steep and continuous wonderful progress—an excellent example of an answer to a daunting challenge.”

“Maileen Hamto, our communications coordinator and the primary writer of Qnews, and Felicity Mackay, our graphics artist, who designs it, have done a great job with this project,” said Jeanie Lunsford, manager of Corporate Communications and Qnews editor. “They are both incredibly creative and are constantly striving to improve Qnews and to make it more useful to employees. Crystal Wallen, our administrative assistant, is a contributor and does a great job of providing production assistance.”

The Communications Department will be sending out a Qnews survey to employees on July 1. “We want feedback from staff about what we can do to make it even better,” said Lunsford. “The input that we’ve received from staff willing to contribute stories, information and ideas to Qnews has been great this year, but we believe in continuous improvement.”

About Qmedtrix
Qmedtrix is one of the nation's leading decision software firms specializing in health care cost-containment solutions. By reviewing, validating and correcting medical bills, Qmedtrix identified $270 million in billing errors in 2003 alone. Qmedtrix offers a complete spectrum of systems and services to support the efforts of its clients, which include self-insured corporations, health care companies, third-party administrators and insurance companies. The company's rules engine and proprietary database set the industry standard.

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