2019 ahima ballot candidates president/chair-elect · 2019 ahima ballot candidates 1 | p a g e...

2019 AHIMA Ballot Candidates

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President/Chair-Elect

Katherine G. Lusk, MHSM, RHIA, FAHIMA, is the chief health information management and exchange officer for Children’s Health System of Texas. As an active AHIMA member Lusk’s attention is focused on patient identity, health information exchange, standards development, and information governance. Lusk has received the 2012 AHIMA Pioneer Triumph Award, and her organization has received HIMSS Level 7 Analytics and HIMSS Davies Awards as well as the AHIMA Grace Award. She has served as the president of the Texas Health Information Management Association (TxHIMA), on AHIMA’s House of Delegates, and in multiple workgroups. Lusk has represented HIM by speaking at the national and local levels on interoperability, clinical documentation improvement, patient identity, and the importance of HIM professionals.

Position Statement Question AHIMA’s long-term vision for transformation is: Lay the foundation for innovation and greater impact within the healthcare ecosystem by 2022. How will you leverage your industry experience, governance expertise, and understanding of organizational turnaround to support achievement of AHIMA’s long-term strategic vision? Position Statement Answer As we work alongside our peers in changing healthcare delivery, the challenges faced are mitigated with knowledge, determination, and a nimble mind. Participation in national forums serving as an HIM expert, have provided me the confidence to openly share and participate in setting strategic direction. I understand the value HIM brings to health care regardless of the setting and how to create opportunity. Assuring all members are afforded the opportunity to learn and grow is important for this transition. This challenge is resolved with local, regional, state and national volunteer involvement. There is so much to learn from one another and increasing our volunteerism is pivotal to assuring our members are ready for the future and healthcare continues to improve. As a pioneer with health information exchange, I leveraged information governance, standards, and content knowledge in working with other disciplines. All endeavors were more successful due to this sharing. I would bring this experience to AHIMA's members.


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Director Brenda K. Beckham, RHIA is executive director of HIM at Baptist Health in Louisville, Kentucky. She began her career as a file clerk in the “medical records” department and has performed every job role within (HIM). The last ten years have consisted of standardizing the HIM and coding departments in a total of eight facilities and over 300 physician practices, which includes the implementation of a system wide EMR. With Beckham’s oversight, her team is currently creating an ambulatory CDI department. Beckham has served as president and treasurer of the KHIMA where she was presented with the Distinguished Member Award. She has presented locally and nationally on topics covering CDI, change management, HIM operations and IT collaboration.

Position Statement Question AHIMA’s long-term vision for transformation is: Lay the foundation for innovation and greater impact within the healthcare ecosystem by 2022. How will you leverage your industry experience, governance expertise, and understanding of organizational turnaround to support achievement of AHIMA’s long-term strategic vision? Position Statement Answer My career started in the days of “all-paper” processes at a single, large hospital. Over the years,

we successfully transitioned to a nearly “all-electronic” medical record in an integrated delivery

system including eight hospitals as well as over 300 physician practices. While technology is

extremely important, we found the knowledge and experience provided by HIM professionals

enhances both the collection of accurate data as well as system and workflow design. HIM

professionals understand processes and workflows for capturing documentation, how

documentation becomes data, and how data is reported which is crucial to the success of any

organization. HIM professionals understand processes and workflows for data capture,

documentation, and reporting. Other healthcare professionals may not realize the skills that are

taught, learned on the job and/or gained by experience that make HIM professionals the ideal

resource for “thinking outside of the box” to drive innovation to move the healthcare

ecosystem into the next generation. We must often invite ourselves to meetings and insert

ourselves into discussions regarding the content of the legal medical record and how it is

created to ensure that a complete and accurate picture of the acuity of the patient is

represented in the EMR. Promoting quality documentation assures patient safety as well as

supports the integrity of the coded data that is submitted for payment, regulatory

requirements, quality measures, financial assessments, statistical purposes, strategic planning

and many other uses. My decades of firsthand experience being present at the discussions and

providing HIM knowledge and expertise in implementing innovations provides me insight that I

would love to use to support AHIMA’s strategic vision and promote our professionals.


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Director Theresa A. Eichelmann, MBA, RHIA has over 30 years of experience as a leader in health information management. She is currently the director of health information management at BJC HealthCare in Saint Louis, MO. Eichelmann is adjunct faculty in the health information management program at Saint Louis University. She sits on the advisory boards for the HIM program at Saint Louis University and HIT program at St. Charles Community College. She currently volunteers on the AHIMA Triumph Awards Committee. She has served as collaborator on articles, served on the Southern Illinois HIM Association Planning Committee, and been a speaker at various events.

Position Statement Question AHIMA’s long-term vision for transformation is: Lay the foundation for innovation and greater impact within the healthcare ecosystem by 2022. How will you leverage your industry experience, governance expertise, and understanding of organizational turnaround to support achievement of AHIMA’s long-term strategic vision? Position Statement Answer To achieve the AHIMA long-term vision for transformation by laying the foundation for

innovation and greater impact within the healthcare ecosystem by 2022, HIM professionals

must be willing to take the lead. To be successful we must be willing to take risks, be open to

new and different ways of doing things and be willing to take on areas that we may not have

always seen as traditional HIM roles. My experience in the hospital and health care system

settings has allowed me to experience hospitals in different types of settings. As an HIM

professional, I have experienced the ever-changing healthcare environment and the need to

constantly learn, reengineer and adapt. As an AHIMA director, I would leverage my experiences

in my career to understand the changing healthcare landscape and act to overcome the

obstacles and challenges. To be successful we must clearly understand the healthcare

landscape, identify where we have opportunities to rise above and tackle those challenges and

develop clear strategy to achieve our goals. Culture is important for us to be able to achieve our

strategic direction and our culture must foster our goals for this strategy to come to life. AHIMA

and HIM professionals must be nimble and willing to take risks to achieve our desired outcome.

We must also look for innovative ways to tackle the challenges. Innovation may be technology

driven but may also mean taking on areas that are not historically HIM led and expanding our

scope throughout the healthcare arena. With innovation and change comes the fear of change.

We must create an environment that fosters change and supports our colleagues for successful

change. Lastly, we must be collaborative, and this collaboration must be within our profession

but also with related professions. To meet the AHIMA long-term vision we must develop a

culture that allows us to grow, innovate and take risks that will allow us to achieve this strategy.


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Director Elisa R. Gorton, MAHSM, RHIA, CHPS, CHC is regional compliance /privacy officer for the Northeast for Ascension. Prior positions were director of corporate responsibility, assist. Director of heath information/privacy officer, Dir. of Revenue Cycle and chairperson for the health information technology certificate program at St. Vincent’s College. She has served on the BOD for CTHIMA; is an AHIMA mentor and advisory board member for Stratford Public School for Health Careers. She is a contributing author to practice briefs, toolkits, is on the Privacy and Security Council; was on the IG Practice Council, Standards Task Force, Job Analysis Task Force and taskforce for the ONC’s Roadmap to the Interoperability of Health Information and has spoken nationally on privacy.

Position Statement Question AHIMA’s long-term vision for transformation is: Lay the foundation for innovation and greater impact within the healthcare ecosystem by 2022. How will you leverage your industry experience, governance expertise, and understanding of organizational turnaround to support achievement of AHIMA’s long-term strategic vision? Position Statement Answer In order to effectively work toward the long-term and transformation vision for laying the

foundation for innovation and greater impact within the healthcare ecosystem, my experience

throughout the revenue cycle in healthcare has afforded me an expansive view of the impact

that quality and affordable healthcare have on our society. In order to advance health

information practices as this transformation occurs, we need to recognize the rapid changes to

how and where healthcare is delivered so that a patient's health information is accessible to all

healthcare providers regardless of where it occurs and ensure that there are no barriers for an

individual’s right to access their health information regardless of where that care is delivered.

The cost of rising health care should not include a delay or access to health information. The

integrity of health information must be preserved. Health information professionals have the

unique opportunity to ‘step up’ and ensure that as the healthcare ecosystem is changing the

foundation for health information is even more important. Our systems are more complex and

health information professionals must be recognized for their expertise. As a Director, I will

encourage and support the growth of our profession by advocating for AHIMA to ensure that

we provide to you the resources that you need to continue to have a positive impact on

transforming healthcare and more importantly health information.


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Director

Julie R. Hatesohl, MBA, RHIA, CPHQ, FAHIMA, FHFMA is the director of coding appeals management for R1RCM. She has served on the AHIMA House of Delegates for five years from 2011-2015. Hatesohl has served as president for the Kansas CSA (KHIMA) in 2015 as well as other positions at the association. Hatesohl has been a guest speaker at the KHIMA Annual meetings and has done webinar presentations for KHIMA Kansas CSA as well as the Sunflower Chapter of HFMA. Her passion is revenue cycle management and process improvements.

Position Statement Question AHIMA’s long-term vision for transformation is: Lay the foundation for innovation and greater impact within the healthcare ecosystem by 2022. How will you leverage your industry experience, governance expertise, and understanding of organizational turnaround to support achievement of AHIMA’s long-term strategic vision?

Position Statement Answer I have learned through the years that healthcare is constantly evolving and, you either move with it or you will get left behind. To survive in healthcare today, one must have a clear vision of where they are going; have ample resources and talent; and be prepared for just about anything to happen along the way. In my current job, I have embarked on a project of building a new coding appeals department. It has been a year now and I am proud to say that the original foundation for this team remains intact. Has it been easy? No. Are we there yet? No. Am I willing to turn my back on this project? Absolutely not. What I have learned through this experience is that there must be passion. I have spent my whole career as an HIM professional. I’m proud of that. My profession has allowed me to do things I never thought I could or would ever do. I have met so many skilled and talented individuals. I have seen the transformation of our profession transition to the electronic health record and ICD-10. I have learned about advocating and strategic planning. As a Director, I would use my skills and passion to help lead AHIMA’s long-term vision by utilizing my knowledge of healthcare and current industry trends to use innovation and our professional proficiencies to improve patient care. I will do this through listening, asking appropriate questions and leading our AHIMA members through the next phase of our profession’s journey.


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Director

Marcia F. Matthias, MJ, RHIA, CHPC is the corporate director of HIM and privacy officer at Southern Illinois Healthcare. Marcia oversees hospital-based and practice management services for HIPAA privacy, coding, transcription, ROI, HIM Operations, CDI & patient portal management. Marcia has served most recently as president of ILHIMA. She is currently serving on the HIMR Marketing/Messaging Work Group. She's been a member of the AHIMA Standards Task Force, AHIMA practice councils and was a member of the state of Illinois HIE Patient Choice & Meaningful Disclosure Work Group. She has presented at the AHIMA Annual Convention and Exhibits, State and regional meetings on a variety of topics including EHR’s, LMR's, HIPAA Privacy and Patient Portals.

Position Statement Question AHIMA’s long-term vision for transformation is: Lay the foundation for innovation and greater impact within the healthcare ecosystem by 2022. How will you leverage your industry experience, governance expertise, and understanding of organizational turnaround to support achievement of AHIMA’s long-term strategic vision? Position Statement Answer I have been privileged to have a solid HIM professional career at a small, but mighty integrated healthcare delivery system. Through my tenure I have been on the journey with our leadership to invest in the workforce, raise our expectation of quality, support and expand the needs of our community, improve transparent and timely communication, and be fiscally responsible with our resources. Rapid advancements in technology, such as AI and consumer-driven expectation of instantaneous, convenient and value for healthcare is forcing re-invention of traditional healthcare delivery- all driven by data/information. Just as the actors in the delivery systems are changing, the method and payment for the delivery of healthcare are making radical changes. At the federal level, there is an awareness that the investment to proliferate the medical community with certified EHRs in some way has failed the vision for the integration of data to improve safe and affordable delivery of patient care. Healthcare organizations, such as mine, and HHS are regrouping, learning from mistakes made in the past, and changing course for relevancy in the future. What a great time to be in healthcare as things are “shaking up”; AHIMA professionals are the subject matter experts in the complex revenue cycle of healthcare and in understanding data for building input and translating the output for decision making. I will advocate leadership that proactively and responds timely to changing technologies, consumer expectations, and regulatory requirements so that our membership is successful beyond 2022. To achieve the strategic vision will require: 1) timely and transparent communication that is effective and impactful to the audience (not only our membership but the healthcare influencers); 2) investment in the educators and competencies of the membership; 3) raising the expectation of the trust and relevance of AHIMA; 4) fiscal responsibility to remain an organization committed to our mission and vision.


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Director

Jami R. Woebkenberg, MHIM, RHIA, CPHI, FAHIMA, is senior director of HIM operations at Banner Health in Phoenix, Arizona, which includes supporting acute care hospitals, urgent care centers, and ambulatory health centers. Woebkenberg has served on the board of directors for the Arizona HIMA (AzHIMA) in various volunteer capacities, most recently as the AzHIMA president. She is co-chair for AHIMA’s EHR Documentation Integrity Practice Council and a member of the LGBT Workgroup. She previously served as the co-lead for the Informatics Practice Council and was a member of the Information Governance Practice Council. Woebkenberg is currently the chairperson of the advisory Council for the HIM program at Phoenix College.

Position Statement Question AHIMA’s long-term vision for transformation is: Lay the foundation for innovation and greater impact within the healthcare ecosystem by 2022. How will you leverage your industry experience, governance expertise, and understanding of organizational turnaround to support achievement of AHIMA’s long-term strategic vision?

Position Statement Answer My experience serving on the Board of Directors for the Arizona HIMA (AzHIMA) and working for Banner Health, one of the nation’s largest not-for-profit integrated delivery networks, has provided me the opportunity to be involved in growth, development, and change management activities that I can use to leverage the transformation work that AHIMA is undergoing. I have been able to network with other professionals, as well as to research industry challenges and solutions and grow my knowledge by serving and leading AHIMA practice councils and workgroups, completing speaking engagements, and contributing to articles, toolkits, and practice briefs. As the senior director of operations for HIM Services at Banner Health, I am involved in strategic planning in HIM as well as other areas of the organization, including privacy, security, compliance, and clinical informatics. My expertise with the EHR, clinical documentation, privacy and security, information governance, and change management has been recognized not only within my organization but also by others in healthcare as evidenced through requests for speaking engagements. I had the unique experience of helping Banner Health to open their first hospital with a fully implemented EHR in 2005, which included developing workflows, processes, training materials, and policies and procedures which are still used as foundations for the work being done today. I have taken teams who were not performing to par, created action plans, worked with staff using change management tools and techniques, and enabled the teams to not only reach a goal but to also achieve stretch goals. I lead by example and with humility, which has in turn, helped me to gain respect from my peers, staff, and other leaders. My leadership experience with Banner, AzHIMA, and AHIMA will be strengths that I can use to help AHIMA achieve their long-term strategic vision.


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Commission on Certification for Health Informatics and Information Management (CCHIIM)

Commissioner

Misty Neal, MBA, RHIA, is the HIM program director/assistant professor at Albany State University in Albany, GA. She has been a member of AHIMA’s Student Honor Society Taskforce, HIM Reimagined Market Assessment-Technology Subgroup, CEE HIM Reimagined Workgroup, CEE Curricula Workgroup, CEE HIMR Baccalaureate Revision Group and has served as an AHIMA textbook reviewer. Neal is currently a CAHIIM Peer Reviewer for HIM. She has served on the Georgia HIMA (GHIMA) Board of Directors and Nominating Committee since 2013 and is the incoming 1st Year Delegate for GHIMA. Neal is also the co-chair of the GHIMA Student Outreach Committee. She has served as the WGHIMA Treasurer since 2009.

Position Statement Question “The recognition of CCHIIM-certified professionals’ role in maintaining and enhancing quality health information for the safety of the public and the improvement of health care” is a core CCHIIM value. How do you see the Commission supporting this value in the rapidly changing healthcare environment? Position Statement Answer In a time where technology and healthcare are rapidly changing, it is our responsibility to the

HIM profession to ensure the maintenance, quality, and integrity of information and that all

data remains consistent and reliable. We as HIM professionals must be prepared and be able to

adapt quickly. The CCHIIM Commission can support this core value by making sure that proper

educational tools are available to credentialed members. This is key to ensuring that HIM

professionals are the driving force in future changes within the healthcare environment. With

HIM Reimagined establishing the future evolution of the HIM profession, the CCHIIM

Commission can support this vision by evaluating what changes will be needed, introducing

new pathways for education, and defining relevant credentials to support the changing

environment. Without the CCHIIM Commission’s support of this value, the current and future

demand for qualified HIM professionals will not be met. Identifying the skills and credentials

that will be required by employers in the future is critical to the success of the HIM profession.


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Commission on Certification for Health Informatics and Information Management (CCHIIM)

Commissioner

Lynette M. Williamson, EdD, MBA, RHIA, CCS, CPC, FAHIMA is a professor in the HIT/CIM department at Santa Barbara City College. She has been a member of the CAHIIM Board of Directors and currently serves on the HIM Accreditation Council of CAHIIM. In 2017, Dr. Williamson received an AHIMA Merit Scholarship for Leadership.

Position Statement Question “The recognition of CCHIIM-certified professionals’ role in maintaining and enhancing quality health information for the safety of the public and the improvement of health care” is a core CCHIIM value. How do you see the Commission supporting this value in the rapidly changing healthcare environment? Position Statement Answer The Commission is a body of individuals who must be cognizant of the current and upcoming

trends in the healthcare environment to be able to provide a strategic vision for the AHIMA

certifications. Additionally, those serving on the Commission, should be aware of the current

educational landscape and the balance required between academic program foci, workforce

needs, and expertise levels needed for the HIM and healthcare industry.


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Council for Excellence in Education (CEE) Member

Jeanne M. (Donnelly) Freeman, PhD, RHIA (located in St Louis MO,) is the program director for the Master of Science in HIIM program at Davenport University in Grand Rapids, MI. Freeman taught for over 25 years in the HIM program at St. Louis University. She served as an administrator for HIM at the Washington University School of Medicine and St. Louis University Hospital. She is a peer reviewer for Perspectives in Health Information Management and served as a member of the AHIMA CEE Graduate Resource Alliance Workgroup. She has served in various roles in MoHIMA including president and has served on the Board for the local HIMSS chapter as student liaison. Freeman has given presentations at the state and national level.

Position Statement Question How do you feel about the current state of education in HIM and where do you see the state of HIM in the future? Position Statement Answer HIM professionals are nothing if not adaptable. The profession has seen many iterations over

the years and HIM educators have had to ensure that the students we prepare are ready to

meet these transformations. The HIM Reimagined initiative has provided programs with a

roadmap to meet the existing and future needs of the industry. Currently, programs are

incorporating the new competencies. Course content and learning outcomes will be redesigned

to build on the diversity of our skills and expertise in order to provide our graduates with an

expanded scope of practice. This takes time and resources. AHIMA will need to continue to

develop resources to assist programs in meeting these goals. Real life case studies should be

developed that could be utilized across the various educational levels. Educators must continue

their own professional development to maintain currency in the field. Programs need to take

advantage of the ability to use technology to bring experts working in the field into the course

experience. In addition, practitioners must realize that to advance in the field, they, too, must

consider getting an advanced degree or a specialty certificate. As to the state of HIM in the

future? From an educator perspective, more programs will move to an on-line format to reach

out to a changing demographic. We need to provide opportunities for students to work in a

group setting via on-line formats. The HIM professional of the future must be technologically

savvy. Our role is to be the conduit in these three areas--clinical, business and technology. We

hold the key to linking these three components in a way that no other profession can. While we

cannot be all things to all people, data analysis, information governance, privacy and security,

and revenue cycle management are four key areas in which we, as a profession, must be

viewed as the experts. We cannot let this opportunity slip through our fingers.


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Council for Excellence in Education (CEE) Member Pamela S. Greenstone, MEd, RHIA is an associate professor, educator within the University of Cincinnati online health information management program. She has served as the program director since 2014 and is also the vice chair, Department of Clinical and Health Information Sciences Department. Pam is a member of the CEE Curriculum Committee (2 years) and was a member of the AHIMA Master’s in Health Informatics Work Group (2016). She is an active member in the Ohio Health Information Management Association where she has held the following positions: project lead, delegate, president-elect, president and past president. Pam is president of the Greater Cincinnati Health Information Management Association.

Position Statement Question How do you feel about the current state of education in HIM and where do you see the state of HIM in the future? Position Statement Answer The top three skills that an HIM Professional should possess upon graduation from an HIM Program in order advance to a leadership role are to: 1) Demonstrate critical thinking skills. The graduate should be able to perform a deep dive into daily operations and apply current and relevant skills to resolve workflow, data integrity, and employee challenges. 2) Depict a versatile personality that is able to meet the changing needs of healthcare and assist others within the healthcare organization to embrace job roles changes. 3) Emanate confidence in the basic health information management competencies learned within the academic program and be able to apply this knowledge within the workplace. The first job after graduation is an important milestone for all HIM professionals and positive initial experiences in the workforce will guide these individuals into a successful career path. Real world experiences and mentorship opportunities are ways that graduates can continue developing these three attributes early on in their careers. Profession practical learning experiences should be provided that allows students to perform tasks that are current and relevant to what is happening in the workplace. Seasoned HIM professionals should be: 1) Mentors for new graduates and 2) be willing to listen to and accept ideas that new graduates provide to the profession. HIM professionals should encourage new graduates to develop a “toolkit” of information that provide resources for the workplace. HIM professionals who have been in the HIM field for a significant amount of time need to keep current with their own skills and be amenable to learning how to do things differently from new graduates. New HIM graduates need to continue to have the enthusiasm for the profession and share this enthusiasm within their workplaces. The HIM leaders of the future need to be encouraged to grow and flourish within healthcare organizations.


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Council for Excellence in Education (CEE) Member Debra L. Hamada, EDd, MA, RHIA is an assistant professor and chair at Loma Linda University’s HIIM department. She completed her baccalaureate studies at the College of Saint Scholastica, her master’s from the University of Redlands, and a doctoral degree from the University of Southern California. Hamada began her career in academia in 1992. She has volunteered for national, state, and local component associations and was a CCHIIM commissioner. Currently, she serves on the Health Informatics Curriculum Taskforce, on the CEE Graduate Resource Alliance Workgroup, and as a CAHIIM peer reviewer. For CHIA she was a director and a local component association president. Hamada has published and offered educational presentations.

Position Statement Question How do you feel about the current state of education in HIM and where do you see the state of HIM in the future? Position Statement Answer “Information is the lifeblood of the health care delivery system. The medical record, in manual or automated form, houses the medical information that describes all aspects of patient care” (Huffman, 1994). This first line quoted from Edna Huffman’s historic textbook, while brief in character count, lays the foundation and framework of the health information management profession. The sentences that follow this quote articulate the unique, and much needed, skill set that health information management professionals bring to the health care workforce. But today it is as if the intangibleness of electronic records has led to a questioning of the legitimacy of the health information management profession. I argue that nothing could be further from the truth, and in fact, the abstract nature of the electronic information management escalates the need for competent HIM professional. As described by Huffman (1994), HIM professionals understand information management, systems theory, storage and retrieval systems, statistics and research methods, privacy, confidentiality, and security – these are all core competencies embedded in today’s HIM curriculums. As led by AHIMA since 1928, HIM professionals have fulfilled a critical function in the health care industry and as a collective group, we need to strengthen and better illuminate the valuation of the profession. Our future depends on anchoring the profession in our long-term strengths (core competencies) while harnessing agility to adapt curriculums that meet the demands of an ever-changing workplace.


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Council for Excellence in Education (CEE) Member Christina Manley, MAEd, RHIT has three years’ experience as program director at an educational institution and has been a fulltime faculty for five years. Manley believes collaboration with both professionals in academia and professional fields is crucial to success as educator. She has been involved in AHIMA and OHIMA as a member since 2010 and has been an active volunteer, serving as an AHIMA RHIT certification exam item writer and the RHIA Certification Exam Development Committee, taking part in advocacy with OHIMA, and serving on the CEE Educational Programming Workgroup. Manley is also on the Ohio Department of Higher Education Health Pathway Committee and is Quality Matters Certified and a Certified Quality Matters Course Reviewer.

Position Statement Question How do you feel about the current state of education in HIM and where do you see the state of HIM in the future? Position Statement Answer I believe the current state of education is created for the health information management (HIM) practices of today rather than being taught in a five-year future forecast. I see HIM moving toward more evidence-based practices within facilities and communities in data analytics and cyber security due to the internet and health information exchange. I see HIM professionals filling the roles in insurance companies as claim processors, benefit specialists, and more if a greater number of companies begin to offer their own health insurance plans and contract with hospitals, similar to what Chase Bank is considering. The HIM profession needs to be forward-thinking and move quickly in areas of technology, data management, data analysis, and cyber security as information technology and various informatics specialists are crossing over into health information management.


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Council for Excellence in Education (CEE) Member

Dasantila (Tila) Sherifi, PhD, MBA, RHIA, is a professor at DeVry University online. She also teaches graduate health administration courses at Pennsylvania College of Health Sciences, Lancaster, PA. Sherifi’s prior experiences include HIT Program chair at DeVry Fort Washington, PA, data analyst at Holy Redeemer Hospital, research assistant at Merck & Co, Inc., and business professor and director of business assistance center at Shkodra University, Albania. As a volunteer, she has served as PHIMA Education Committee chair and PA eHealth Liaison, and SePHIMA president, treasurer, finance, and nominating committee chair. During the last two years, Sherifi has been serving as a Curricular Workgroup member under AHIMA's CEE.

Position Statement Question How do you feel about the current state of education in HIM and where do you see the state of HIM in the future? Position Statement Answer The current state of education in HIM offers students a great foundation in terms of typical

health information functions, data management, information systems, coding, legal aspects in

health information, and more. While this is a great academic platform, there is potential for

more. The future of healthcare services and population health activities will be data driven.

Healthcare will also continue to face pressures pertaining to efficiency and effectiveness.

Furthermore, as the technology and the structure to support health information exchange

strengthens, we will see much more activity pertaining to mobility and portability of health

information. Future HIM grads would benefit from further enhancements in the curriculum that

prepare them to be at the forefront of data analytics, revenue cycle management, and

optimization of health information available from internal and external resources.


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Council for Excellence in Education (CEE) Member Lynn I. Ward, EDD, MS-HA, RHIA, CPHIMS, CPC, COI is an associate dean at Southern New Hampshire University. She has been the associate dean of the undergraduate and graduate HIM programs for over 3 years. She has served on the AHIMA Council on Education Curricular Workgroup for 2 years. Ward has also been a member of the Associate Education Coalition, CEE HIM Reimagined Workgroup, the AHIMA Foundation Research Network, the AFRN Privacy and Security Foundation subgroup, and the HIM Education Foundation subgroup. She was recently elected to serve on the NHHIMA Nominating Committee. Ward also serves as a peer reviewer for the Perspectives in Health Information Management and on the New England HIMSS Student and Mentor workgroups.

Position Statement Question How do you feel about the current state of education in HIM and where do you see the state of HIM in the future? Position Statement Answer The HIM landscape is always changing. Historically, medical record librarians protected and maintained paper records. Document management systems evolved to elaborate electronic systems. Today HIM professionals play critical roles in selecting, implementing and managing systems like computer assisted coding, health information exchange, and patient portals. Coders are now becoming clinical documentation specialists. Most healthcare facilities utilize electronic health records (EHR). With an EHR, robust data is available. The HIM professional plays a critical role in data analytics. Data is utilized in many ways, from quality initiatives to big data and research. With the many government incentive programs, the HIM professional is at the forefront of managing data for these initiatives. Due to the fast-paced changing environment, an HIM program should be constantly evaluating its curriculum to ensure the content is always relevant. The CEE curricular workgroup revised the HIM curriculum. As part of this workgroup, I had the opportunity to help shape the curriculum of the future. There was a need to revise the curricula to keep up with the changes. Students now need more project management, statistics and data analytics skills. In the past, it was important for HIM students to learn about the different medical record systems in a paper environment. Today HIM students not only need to learn about these different systems, but also be adaptable to change. Educators need to look towards the future and prepare students to work in a world where artificial intelligence is becoming commonplace. Students need to work with disparate systems utilizing sophisticated software to protect, manipulate and analyze data.


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The 2019-20 Delegates will elect the Speaker-elect of the House and the 2020 Nominating Committee. Voting will take place August 5, 2019 – 8:00 a.m. CT through August 16, 2019 – 5:00 p.m. CT.

Speaker-Elect of the House of Delegates

Aurae Beidler, MHA, RHIA, CHPS, CHC, is the compliance and privacy officer at Linn County Department of Health Services where she oversees the compliance and privacy program. Prior to working at the county, she served as the Oregon Health Authority’s privacy officer and an assistant professor and program director for the healthcare compliance graduate certificate program at Pacific University. Her experience includes auditing and monitoring coordination, investigations, education and HIPAA privacy officer duties. She has published several articles in Compliance Today and the Journal of AHIMA. She currently serves as the co-chair of the AHIMA House of Delegates Envisioning Collaborative and past president of the Oregon HIMA.

Position Statement Question AHIMA’s long-term vision for transformation is: Lay the foundation for innovation and greater impact within the healthcare ecosystem by 2022. How will you leverage your industry experience, governance expertise, and understanding of organizational turnaround to support achievement of AHIMA’s long-term strategic vision? Position Statement Answer My professional experience and personality are a great match for the challenges and opportunities that the AHIMA Board of Directors and House of Delegates face in the near future. My experience in evaluating risk through environmental scanning and ongoing risk assessment, designing systems to meet the goals and objectives set forth by my organization and success in communicating those initiatives to stakeholders are a good match for the role of Speaker-Elect. By attentively listening to the valuable ideas our members bring to AHIMA, we will be able to accomplish our goals and mission into the coming years. My experience teaching graduate students in healthcare administration trained me to be more forward-thinking, in preparing curriculum, especially as it pertained to strategic planning and future scanning in healthcare. In teaching and speaking engagements, I’ve researched and prepared presentations on emerging trends in healthcare. As I engage in our organization’s ongoing risk assessment activities, I am always on the lookout for new risks and emerging trends, to ensure our organization is mitigating and preparing for upcoming risks. Co-chairing the HoD’s Envisioning Collaborative has also improved my environmental scanning techniques, as we aim to have robust discussions surrounding environmental scanning and improving tools used.


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I’ve implemented several compliance and privacy programs in my career. Along with implementing any new program, comes change management. Changing an organization’s culture, changing an electronic health record system, or a training system or requiring a change in behavior can be a challenge. One key aspect for me is empathy. I began my career as a radiology tech aide working in the film library. I know what it’s like to be asked to do something, without context or questioning and just to do it. I also know without guidance and open communication the majority won’t understand the importance or value of the change.

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