CHICAGO – January 2, 2020 – American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) members elected Ginna Evans, MBA, RHIA, CPC, CRC, FAHIMA, as president/chair of the 2020 Board of Directors. Her one-year term began Jan. 1.

Ginna Evans is a coding educator with the internal medicine specialties division of Emory Clinic, Emory Healthcare in Atlanta. She has been a committed and active member of AHIMA and an advocate for health information management (HIM) for more than 30 years.

Evans has served/chaired a variety of AHIMA committee roles including Board Governance, Triumph Awards, Nominating, Fellowship and Bylaws, AHIMA Board of Directors and the AHIMA Foundation Board of Directors.

Evans is a former president of the Georgia Health Information Management Association (GHIMA). Evans has served on the HIM Advisory Boards for DeVry University, Augusta University (formerly MCG) and Dalton State College. Prior to her role at Emory Healthcare, Evans was assistant director of medical records at Dekalb Medical Center in Decatur, Georgia.

Evans received a Master’s of Business Administration degree from Mercer University, Bachelor of Medical Records Administration from Emory University, and Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Emory College; Emory University. She is a Fellow of AHIMA.

Evans is the recipient of the Trust HCS Trust Builder Award, the AHIMA Mentor Award, and the Georgia HIMA’s Distinguished Member Award, Mentor Award and Clinical Site Award.

“I’m so proud that our board is committed to serving the needs of our members as we grow and impact the world,” said AHIMA CEO Wylecia Wiggs Harris, PhD, CAE. “As AHIMA continues to influence the healthcare ecosystem, we can be assured that we have leaders in place to help represent the needs of the HIM profession.”

“I look forward to serving as president, working with the board, the AHIMA staff, and serving our members as we move forward with our AHIMA transformation,” said Evans. “I am excited to continue on our journey.”

In addition to Evans’ appointment, members selected 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: Katherine G. Lusk, MHSM, RHIA, FAHIMA, serves as the chief health information management and exchange officer for Children’s Health, Dallas, TX. Her focus is on patient identity, interoperability, clinical documentation improvement, standards development and innovative uses of technology. She has served as the president of the Texas HIMA, as a member of the AHIMA House of Delegates, and on multiple workgroups. Lusk received the Texas HIMA’s Legacy Award in 2018 and AHIMA’s Pioneer Triumph Award in 2012. Her organization has received the AHIMA Grace Award, Most Wired, and the HIMSS Level 7 Analytics and Davies Awards. She is a recognized HIM subject matter expert and speaker.

Speaker of House: Christine Williams, RHIA, is the document integrity manager for UW Health in Madison, WI. She serves as a multi-state leader for the Illinois and Wisconsin UW Health hospitals in the expertise of documentation completion, documentation solutions and oversight of compliance auditing the record of care. She has made an investment in the HIM profession through her volunteerism within Wisconsin Health Information Management Association (WHIMA) serving as president, director, delegate, nominating committee member and team leader. She has served as interim executive director for WHIMA.

Director: Brenda K. Beckham, RHIA, is executive director of HIM at Baptist Health in Louisville, KY. In the last 10 years, she has standardized the HIM and coding departments in a total of eight facilities and more than 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 Kentucky HIMA, where she received the Distinguished Member Award. She has presented locally and nationally on CDI, change management, HIM operations and IT collaboration.

Director: Terri Eichelmann, MBA, RHIA, has over 30 years of experience as a leader in health information management. She is currently a director at BJC HealthCare in Saint Louis, MO. Eichelmann has responsibility for coding and HIM application support. She has held HIM leadership roles in academic, community and rural hospitals. Eichelmann is an adjunct faculty member in the Health Information Management program at Saint Louis University. She has served as a volunteer 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.

Director: Jami Woebkenberg, MHIM, RHIA, CPHI, FAHIMA, is senior director of HIM operations at Banner Health in Phoenix, AZ. She has served on the Board of Directors for the Arizona HIMA in various volunteer capacities, including two terms as president and a term as director. Woebkenberg is currently the 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. She is currently the chair of the advisory council for the HIM program at Phoenix College. Woebkenberg has contributed to articles, toolkits and Practice Briefs through AHIMA.

The AHIMA Board is responsible for setting long-term strategy and direction, governing the association’s activities, and fulfilling the organization’s fiduciary responsibility.

The AHIMA Board is composed of 13 elected members, including the president/chair, president/chair-elect, past president/chair, speaker of the house and nine directors at large; the CEO serves ex officio. A Board advisor also will continue to serve in 2020. The newly elected members join the following current AHIMA Board Directors:

Sharon Easterling, MHA, RHIA, CCS, CDIP, CRC, FAHIMA, president, DocBytes

John P. Hoyt, FACHE, FHIMSS, executive vice president emeritus, HIMSS, serves without vote as Advisor to the Board

Seth J. Katz, MPH, RHIA, FAHIMA, associate chief information officer, Truman Medical Center

Jennifer Mueller, MBA, RHIA, FACHE, FAHIMA, vice president & privacy officer, Wisconsin Hospital Association, Information Center

Godwin I. Okafor, MSHI, RHIA, FAC-P/PM, program manager, US Department of Veterans Affairs

Kim D. Theodos, JD, MS, RHIA, assistant professor of health studies, University of Louisiana Monroe

Valerie Watzlaf, PhD, MPH, RHIA, FAHIMA, vice department chair of education and associate professor, University of Pittsburgh, will serve as 2020 past president/chair

Melinda A. Wilkins, PhD, RHIA, FAHIMA, professor and program director, health informatics and health information management

Wylecia Wiggs Harris, PhD, CAE, chief executive officer, AHIMA, serves as an ex-officio member of the Board without vote

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About AHIMA
AHIMA is a global nonprofit association of health information (HI) professionals. AHIMA represents professionals who work with health data for more than one billion patient visits each year. AHIMA’s mission of empowering people to impact health drives our members and credentialed HI professionals to ensure that health information is accurate, complete, and available to patients and providers. Our leaders work at the intersection of healthcare, technology, and business, and are found in data integrity and information privacy job functions worldwide.