AHIMA Announces 2014 Board President/Chair, Members

AHIMA members elected Angela Kennedy, EdD, MBA, RHIA, as president/chair of the 2014 board of directors. Her official one-year term began Jan. 1, 2014. Kennedy has been serving in this role since June 29, 2013, following the passing of president/chair Kathleen A. Frawley, JD, MS, RHIA, FAHIMA.

In her role, Kennedy will work with the board and CEO Lynne Thomas Gordon, MBA, RHIA, CAE, FACHE, FAHIMA, to provide strategic direction to AHIMA.

Kennedy is a professor and chair of the department of health informatics and information management at Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, Louisiana. Her professional experience includes working in health information, cancer registry, medical staff services as well as quality management and quality and project management consulting for rural health information systems implementation. She has 14 years of higher education experience in areas of instruction, administration, and research.

Kennedy served two terms as president of the Louisiana Health Information Management Association and most recently as chair of the Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management Education. Kennedy previously served on the AHIMA board of directors and in 2007 chaired its business and audit team. She is a recipient of an AHIMA Triumph Award for mentoring.

In addition to Kennedy’s appointment, members elected a president/chair-elect, speaker of the house, and three members of the board of directors (who each will serve a three-year term):

• President/Chair Elect: Cassi Birnbaum, MS, RHIA, CPHQ, FAHIMA, San Diego, vice president of HIM at Peak Health Solutions Inc. Birnbaum specializes in providing remote coding, auditing, data collection and analysis, clinical documentation improvement, ICD-10 transition, and HIM resource planning services. An adjunct faculty member at San Diego Mesa College since 1993, Birnbaum developed its ONC Workforce Program and its online quality management course. Birnbaum served as a director of the AHIMA board from 2009–2012. She is the past president for California Health Information Association from 2006–2008, and received its prestigious Distinguished Member Award in 2009. She was the cochair of the CCHIT Privacy and Compliance Workgroup, and cochair of the California Healthcare Association’s Health Care Informatics and Information Technology Group.
• Speaker of the House: Jennifer McManis, RHIT, Bozeman, Montana, consultant in the Healthcare Practice Division of Crowley Fleck Attorneys, PLLP. McManis has more than 19 years of experience in the health care industry, including acute care hospital and private physician practice settings. She is an AHIMA-certified ICD-10-CM/PCS trainer, and an American Institute of Healthcare Compliance Certified HIPAA Compliance Officer. McManis is also a published author and speaker regarding compliance, privacy, and coding issues. As Speaker of the House, she serves one year on the AHIMA board.
• Director: Zinethia Clemmons, MBA, MHA, RHIA, PMP, Washington, D.C. senior health information privacy specialist for Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights. Clemmons is the advocacy project manager for the District of Columbia Health Information Management Association and serves on the mayoral-appointed Statewide Health Coordinating Council for the District of Columbia. She is an adjunct professor at University of Maryland University College, in the health informatics administration and an advisory committee member in the HIM division at the Northern Virginia Community College. Clemmons is a past member of the Florida Health Information Management Association and the Greater Atlanta Health Information Management Association.
• Director: Virginia Evans, MBA, RHIA, FAHIMA, Atlanta, business analyst, revenue cycle development at Emory Healthcare. Evans has more than 30 years of experience in the HIM profession. Evans served on the Georgia Health Information Management Association (GHIMA) board of directors, including two terms as president. Evans also served in the AHIMA House of Delegates, chair of the AHIMA Nominating Committee, and most recently the Fellowship Committee and AHIMA Foundation Board of Directors. She received the 2011 AHIMA Mentor Award and earned several honors from the GHIMA including the 1996 and 2008 Distinguished Member Awards.
• Director: Colleen Goethals, MS, RHIA, FAHIMA, Belvidere, Illinois, HIM consultant for Midwest Medical Records Association, Inc and Cardone Record Services, Inc. Goethals served as AHIMA’s State Advocacy Workgroup chair and was a member of the Consumer Practice Council, Personal Health Record Practice Council, House of Delegates Work Group, CSA Task Force, and Consumer Education Committee. She served as Illinois Health Information Management Association President, Delegate, Director of Legislation and Advocacy and Community Education Coordinator. Goethals is the recipient of the Chicago Area HIMA Distinguished Member, Illinois HIMA Professional Achievement Award and Literary Award. She is National Archives and Records Administration certified in federal records management and is a frequent lecturer and author on topics related to HIM.
  

Source: AHIMA