Angie Comfort, RHIA, CDIP, CCS, is senior director of HIM Practice Excellence for AHIMA. In her role she provides professional practice expertise to AHIMA members, the media and outside organizations on coding practice issues. She authors material for and supports AHIMA online ICD-10 coding education platforms. She also serves as faculty for the AHIMA ICD-10-CM/PCS Academies and CDIP Exam Preps. In addition, Ms. Comfort is a technical advisor for the Association on ICD-10-CM/PCS, CPT coding and clinical documentation improvement (CDI) publications.
Ms. Comfort received her bachelor of science in health information management from Stephens College is Columbia, MO. Prior to joining AHIMA in 2011, Ms. Comfort served as the senior director of the corporate office of a large operator of general acute-care facilities. She was responsible for overseeing the centralized remote coding functions, coding compliance audits, and company-wide coding education, which included ICD-10 training of more than 600 coders. Over the past 25 years, she has worked in several different roles within the health information management industry including HIM director, coding consultant, and HIM management consulting for several hospitals. She has been a frequent presenter on coding, CDI and HIM-related issues both locally and nationally.
Executive Senior Consultant, eHealth Management HEARTCOM INC (USA). Later as a renowned World Expert in Medical Records and Healthcare Management travelled worldwide, participated and presented papers in 18 world congress held all over the world, worked as WHO Consultant and 9 countries as Senior Medical Records Consultants and Advisor to the Ministries of Health, India, Afghanistan, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar and UAE. During his period of 4 decades he established and organized countless HIM departments and also established professional educational institutions and educated hundreds of personnel in HIM certificate, diploma and degree programs and guided PhD students. Conducted several conferences, workshops, seminars on ICD, HIM policies, morbidity and mortality statistics, and implemented electronic health records systems in many nations.
He is an active member of AHIMA (USA), IHRIM (UK), IFHIMA (world) and serving as academic advisory board to educational institutions. As a dean of Oman institute of technology he had collaborated with university of Loma Linda, Duquesne University, state university of Chicago, USA. During his course of work, involved in service, academic and scientific research and published 11 books, and 5 under publication, 120 articles in national and international journals of repute. He is a President of Health Information Management Association (HIMA) of India, and well-known as “Father of Medical Records of India and Middle East. As a President and Organizing Chairman of HIMA-India, continuously conducting national and international conferences, workshops since 2014.
Hussein Albishi is a certified Health Information Manager (CHIM) with 27 years of experience in health information management (HIM). Graduated from Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Australia with a Health Sciences degree majoring in HIM.
Hussein is currently working with the HSTC leaders and other government stakeholders to achieve the Saudi 2020 National Transformation Program objectives and the Saudi 2030 Vision. The main goal is to establish a national HIM Strategy to support the Healthcare transformation activities. He also has lead the ICD-10 implementation in all MOH hospitals and PHCs.
Hussein is also working as a HIM consultant at the Saudi Central Board for Accreditation of Healthcare Institutions (CBAHI). He is the president of the Saudi Health Information Management Associates (SHIMA).
Hussein has been working as the coordinator for the East Mediterranean Region in the International Federation for Health Information Management Associations (IFHIMA) for many years. He is currently a member of the Global Health Workforce Council (GHWC) since 2014.
Dr Leila R. Kalankesh is associate professor of medical informatics in School of Management and Medical Informatics at Tabriz University of Medical Sciences. She is also a member of research committee in Tabriz Health Services Research Center. She received her PhD in Medical Informatics from University of Manchester. She has a background in health information technology and management with more than fifteen years experience in teaching and conducting research in these fields. Her research interests include examining nature of structured and encoded data in health information systems especially through development of computational methods for measuring the quality of clinical documentation and coding practice, discovering data patterns as well as making information residing in electronic patient records more reusable and interpretable for different purposes. She is also working on establishment of the web-based registry systems for diseases.
Maria N. Ward, MEd, RHIT, CCS, CCS-P is a director of HIM Practice Excellence for AHIMA. In her role she provides professional practice expertise to AHIMA members, the media and outside organizations on coding practice issues. She authors and supports AHIMA online ICD-10-CM/PCS and CPT coding education and serves as faculty for AHIMA coding workshops, including ICD-10-CM/PCS Academies and Crack the Codes. In addition, she is a technical advisor for the Association on ICD-10-CM/PCS and CPT coding publications.
Prior to joining AHIMA, Ms. Ward served as HIM Director and Compliance Officer for a small chain of acute care hospitals specializing in inpatient physical rehabilitation and inpatient geriatric psychiatry. She has over 20 years of HIM experience in various roles, including inpatient and physician coding, and medical transcription. As an educator, she was an adjunct faculty member at South Plains College in Lubbock, Texas, and has provided coder training across the country. Additionally, she spent over ten years working in the long-term care industry in HIM and administration.
Ms. Ward holds a Master of Education and a Bachelor in Healthcare Administration from Wayland Baptist University in Lubbock, Texas, as well as an Associate in Health Information Management from South Plains College in Lubbock, Texas. She is a Registered Health Information Technician (RHIT), a Certified Coding Specialist (CCS) and a Certified Coding Specialist for Physicians (CCS-P).
Melanie Endicott is a Senior Director of HIM Practice Excellence at AHIMA. In her role she provides professional practice expertise to AHIMA members, the media and outside organizations on coding and clinical documentation improvement (CDI) practice issues. Melanie also serves as faculty for the AHIMA ICD-10-CM/PCS Academies, CDIP Exam Preps, CDI Academies, and numerous other workshops. In addition, she is a technical advisor for the Association on ICD-10-CM/PCS, CPT coding and CDI publications.
Prior to joining AHIMA in 2004, Melanie worked in academia at several colleges and universities and also did both inpatient and outpatient coding at multiple acute care hospitals. Over the past 17 years, she has been a frequent presenter on coding, CDI and HIM-related issues locally, nationally, and internationally.
She is a certified Health Information Manager with a seven years experience in the profession, a graduate from the University of Ilorin teaching Hospital Kwara State in Nigeria with a Higher National Diploma (HND) in Health Information Management in 2009. She proceeded for a Master in Business Administration (MBA) in Human Resources Management from Ladoke Akintola University of Technology Ogbomosho Oyo State 2013. She also completed a Bachelor Science (BSC) in Health Information Management from Houdegbe North American University Benin Republic in 2016.
Presently Ms. Patience work in Maitama district Hospital of Health and Human Service Secretariat Abuja with the responsibility of clinical coding and diseases surveillance notification officer. During the 18th Ifhima International Congress in Tokyo, and won a scholarship on a summit Mortality to present the current conditions of mortality in Nigeria.
MDr. Rajesh Kumar Sinha is Head of Department of Health Information Management at School of Allied Health Sciences, Manipal University, Manipal, Karnataka, INDIA. He also Coordinate the M.Sc. Health Informatics Program and Certificate Program in Medical Records Management under the Department of Health Information Management. Being a health information practitioner, academician and core researcher in the field of health information management and informatics, Rajesh have 2 years of administration and more than 13 years of experience in academia and research. As a practitioner, Rajesh has serve as an Officer In-charge of Health Information Department of a Central Referral Hospital and played a key role in standardizing the health information system and training the health information staff towards the best practice in health information management. As an academician and researcher, he has developed various modules for health information/informatics education and mentor the undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral research scholar for various short term and long term research project in the domain of health information management and health informatics. His area of specialization includes big data analytics, cloud computing, designing and modeling health informatics application, developing application to support health information documentation, behavioral and usability assessment etc. As a certified ISO auditor, has served the Manipal University as a Quality Management Representative and supported the institution in streamlining the quality and environment management system. His research publications in well-repute national and international journals are mainly in the area of medical records, electronic health records, eHealth, public health information system, clinical decision support system, health information education etc. Rajesh frequently participate in various national and international professional events as an invited speaker, chairperson and scientific committee members. Presently, he is leading a project funded by WHO as a Principle Investigator to assess the quality performance of hospitals in State of Kerala, India.
Sunelle’s HIM career started when she joined Mediclinic in 2004 coordinating coding for Mediclinic Southern Africa (MCSA) and providing clinical and coding support to analytics.
She started the MCSA Coding Department during which she established coding training and auditing programmes and develop, implement and maintain clinical outcomes databases for MCSA and Mediclinic Middle East (MCME).
In 2012, Lubbe moved to Mediclinic International (MCI) and established the HIM department which takes responsibility for Group-wide classification and master data management of health and administrative data, coordinating international coding activities, developing and maintaining groupers, algorithms and provides data analytics support.
She have been involved in implementing ICD-10 in SA and setting national coding standards. Sunnelle is a member of AHIMA and IFHIMA and have developed and implemented various coding and auditing programmes in MCSA, MCME and Switzerland.
Currently, she is establishing a MCI HIM development programme to train HIM professionals for Mediclinic platforms.
Thilo Koepfer is responsible for the overall execution of business operations, strategy and technical development in 3M Health Information Systems’ international markets.
Best known for its market-leading coding system and diagnosis related groups, 3M Health Information Systems delivers innovative software and consulting services designed to raise the bar for clinical documentation improvement, computer-assisted coding, patient classification systems and quality outcomes reporting in more than twenty countries.
Thilo Koepfer began his career in healthcare as a medical doctor in Germany and is a board certified surgeon. After acquiring additional qualification in healthcare management he became the head of the Medical Controlling Department at the Unfallkrankenhaus Berlin, one of the largest trauma centers in Europe.
In 2002 Thilo Koepfer started with 3M Health Information Systems where he helped with the successful implementation of diagnosis related groups (DRGs) in Germany. He joined the international business unit in 2007 and relocated to Wallingford, Connecticut. Out of the U.S. he now leads the fast growing international business and is involved in DRG pilot and introduction projects in several countries, most recently in Chile, Brazil and the Middle East.
Thilo Koepfer holds a medical doctor’s degree from the University of Hamburg, Germany.
Wilbur Lo, MD, CDIP, CCA, AHIMA-Approved ICD-10-CM/PCS Trainer, is faculty for AHIMA World Congress (AWC), consultant for AHIMA domestic clinical documentation improvement (CDI) initiatives, CDI consultant for Jzanus and CDI Physician Advisor for ICDLogic. He obtained his medical degree from the University of Toledo College of Medicine and completed residency training in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology at Allegheny University Hospitals. During his postd0ctoral fellowship at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, he conducted research in Renal Pathology and published in a peer-reviewed journal, Kidney International.
As a CDI content and curriculum expert for AWC, he has traveled to Qatar and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to facilitate CDI Workshops for esteemed healthcare professionals and was a speaker during the 2016 Saudi-American Healthcare Forum in Riyadh. He has provided insight about the international interest and demand for CDI in articles appearing in the Journal of AHIMA and the AHIMA Advantage newsletter.
Zakieh Piri is a faculty member with a 20-years history of academic activities. Piri has played a critical role in establishing HIM departments in two important medical centers and experienced in health information management near to 25 years.
Health Informatics Manager
Dr. Benjamin Poku is a member of the AHIMA WC UAE Steering Committee and Assistant Professor at Higher Colleges of Technology (Abu Dhabi Women’s Campus). Dr. Benjamin has over 20 years of industry and Academic experience in the field of public health informatics.
She is a passionate clinician who worked as a registered nurse for the past 10 years and till date. After getting her BScN degree and 7 years of clinical practice, she furthered her education to MSc of Leadership in Health Professions Education to complement her passion for education.
Adding another twist to her career was the transition she made into clinical informatics 2 years ago. Working in the Information Technology department as a support and project Clinical Systems Analyst has helped Dina understand in depth all the non-clinical aspects that influence clinical care and patient outcomes. She learned that creative and smart use of our current information systems can be a tool that transforms healthcare beyond our expectations.
Currently working as Corporate Health Information Management & Clinical Coding Manager at SEHA Abu Dhabi Health Services Company (SEHA). Active member of AHIMA with credentials of RHIA, CCS & AHIMA Approved ICD 10 CM/PCS Trainer.
With more than 23 years of HIM experience, established HIM & Coding functions for SEHA Healthcare Facilities. Actively engaged in JCIA Accreditation for Hospitals & Ambulatory Healthcare Services. Helped organization for highest EHR standards and demonstrated various levels of HIMSS to continue progressing SEHA towards the EHR objectives.
Successfully trained 500+ Clinical Coders across different facilities in United Arab Emirates for various topics of HIM & Clinical Coding as well as ICD 10 CM and implemented ICD 10 CM across public sector hospitals of Emirates of Abu Dhabi from 1st January 2017 onwards, and continuously monitoring for clinical coding & documentation improvements.
With over 30 years in IT design and business consulting, Jim has a wealth of international experience to bring to his clients in everything he does. Having worked for major systems integrators such as IBM he has led the design, implementation and support of enterprise systems in Europe and the Middle East. With executives from clients in most business sectors he has worked to enable a smooth transition to new complex systems through the management of change to ensure that the implementation is painless and the adoption as smooth as possible. Committed to health care in the Middle East, Jim has worked with Cerner clients such as the MoHAP in the UAE to improve the quality and patient experience of their health care delivery through data analysis and implementing courses of action which have measurable outcomes.
Prior to joining Cerner in 2011, Jim was Practice Leader for IBM with a proven track record of success, leading the delivery of market leading strategic solutions across EU, USA, and MEA regions. Specialties include Programme Management, Business and Strategy Development, Business and Organizational Change.
Jim has been awarded two worldwide patents and has been recognized in the industry for his programme management skills. In the dynamic environment of health care in the Middle East, Jim is passionate about how we can leverage people, organizations, technology and infrastructure to move beyond eHR implementation to create life changing programs to improve people’s wellbeing.
Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow (FRCP – Glasgow). Hold a Doctorate degree in Public Health and Epidemiology, Master degree in Clinical Epidemiology (MSc), Master degree in Public Health (MPH), all from The Netherlands Universities with broad experience driving Research and Development (R&D) strategies and operations.
Worked in Public Health since 1999 at different levels such as:
Registered as Epidemiologist Grade A with The Netherlands Epidemiological Society. Has numerous publications in the UK in mental illnesses, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, Dementia, Autism, COPD, population health, road casualties and others.
Dr. Jawad Hashim, an associate professor and a consultant physician at the College of Medicine and Health Sciences of the UAE University, obtained his medical degree from The Aga Khan University, Pakistan and completed residency training in family medicine at the University of Rochester/Strong Memorial Hospital, New York. As an American Board certified physician, he practiced pediatric, neonatal and adult ambulatory as well as inpatient/ intensive care at the Bremerton Memorial Hospital, near Seattle for several years. Winning several competitive grants, he leads research in health systems improvement and is invited to speak on emerging trends internationally. With over 50 published articles, abstracts and textbook chapters, Dr. Hashim is well cited. Apart from being a Fellow at a regional Center for Excellence, he has been recognized for his dedication with several distinguished awards. His recent work led to the development of a new framework in eHealth.
Najla Fadhl Hassan completed Bachelor in nursing in 2012 from Fatima College of Health Science. Has 20 years in nursing including 6 years in case management. Ms. Najla areas of interest are case management and care coordination, home care, health management, Quality management, Health information management (HIM), process improvement, and Documentation improvement. She is member of medical record review committee, member in JCI IPSG chapter team in the hospital, furthermore conducting presentations for physicians in documentation improvement and to the new nurses as part of the nursing orientation program about case management.
Achieved Maser in Quality Management (MQM) from Wollongong University in Dubai in 2016, and obtained certification in Lean Six Sigma (Yellow belt) in 2016.
Dr. Riaz Akseer is an MD-PhD and Chair and Professor of Health Science Division, Abu Dhabi Women’s College, Higher Colleges of Technology. He is also an adjunct Professor at Health Sciences Department, Brock University St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. Dr. Akseer’s research is focused on patient centeredness and evidence based medicine. In addition to teaching and research, Dr. Akseer also has several years of clinical and healthcare management experiences in national and international levels.
Dr. Sanu Asokan Puthankatil is Founder and Managing Director of Aariya Health Consultancy LLC in Abu Dhabi, UAE. He brings together extensive experience in clinical medicine, healthcare quality, revenue cycle management and data analytics. He has been able to synergize his diverse experience of systems and cultures into his passion for quality healthcare. He has been engaged for the past 4 years in bringing innovative solutions to the GCC region.
He did his undergraduate studies in Economics at Stanford University and went on to qualify as a physician at Manipal University. He completed his post graduate studies in Healthcare Management at the Manchester Business School. Further he has also completed an intensive Hospital Management Program from Indian Institute of Management- Ahmedabad.
Dr Sanu has led several teams that successfully integrated technology and business rules to provide viable business solutions for healthcare organizations. His core expertise is in healthcare operations consulting with a focus on revenue cycle management practice. He is passionate about helping healthcare organizations optimize their operational efficiency while they focus on their core mission of patient care.
Sunil Raj N.K is the Corporate Insurance Manager for Mediclinic Middle East (MCME). Post graduate in Microbiology, Sunil Raj has around 15 years’ experience in HIM and Revenue Cycle Management. Sunil Raj is the President for American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC) Abu Dhabi Local Chapter 2016 and 2017.
Dr Scott Weber currently serves as a faculty member in Health Information Management and Health Sciences at Abu Dhabi Women’s College, a campus of Higher Colleges of Technology, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. He has been teaching in HIM and Nursing educational programs for nearly thirty years. He received a doctor of education degree from Boston University School of Education in 1986, completing dissertation research in HIM faculty-role development.
Dr Weber’s career in Health Information Management began in 1978 when we worked part-time in a medical record department in his hometown of Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, while attending college. He graduated from the Medical Record Administration bachelor’s degree program at the University of Texas Medical Branch in 1980. He served as a director of medical records, health information management, and institution-wide quality assurance, in hospitals in Monterey County, Northern California, during the 1980s, just as the prospective payment system and many new information technology applications were transforming the field of HIM. During the 1990s, Dr Weber served on the very first board of directors of the AHIMA Assembly on Education (AOE); on AHIMA’s Council on Certification as a nationally-elected member; and as an appointed member of the expert panel that oversaw content and psychometric design of the very first Certified Coding Specialist (CCS) certification exam. He also served as an accreditation site visitor for AHIMA-accredited educational programs.
Dr Weber is a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives, and a fellow of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society.
Dr Weber’s permanent residence is in Lake in the Hills, Illinois, USA, in suburban Chicago.
Dr. Simon Grange is working as a surgeon for over 20 years and a PhD in computer science has led to explore the potential of digital technologies to augment our reality both in training and clinical practice. The opportunity to work as a co-designer for software has led to the formation of an incubator and accelerator (Pale Blue Dot) which builds on an academic career by focusing on start-up and acceleration of new Small & Medium Enterprises. Building new technologies and translating them to clinical practice also creates opportunities for novel analysis, synthesis and evaluation techniques for information, creating new ways to process medical information and associated metadata.
Dr Nigel Umar Beejay is a Physician Executive and Consultant Physician, Gastroenterologist and Hepatologist with over 20 years experience of global health care systems. He currently works at Advanced Center for Daycare Surgery in Abu Dhabi. Previously Dr Beejay has worked in London, Boston, Toronto, Cape Town. Dr Beejay is an accomplished leader and an expert in advanced communication, team building and medical operations. Dr Beejay is an acknowledged expert in Gastroenterology, Health IT, Quality and Patient Safety. Dr Beejay was formerly Chairman of the Health Information Management Committee at Sheikh Khalifa Medical City, Abu Dhabi (managed by Cleveland Clinic). He qualified in medicine at Cambridge University and completed postgraduate studies internationally in London and Boston and Toronto. He is a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives and Fellow of the American College of Physicians. In addition, Dr Beejay has a Masters degree in Social and Political sciences from Cambridge University, degrees in Biomedical Informatics from Oregon Health Science University and in Medical Hypnosis from University College London. Dr Beejay teaches and lectures internationally on Gastroenterology, Health IT, Quality and and Advanced Endoscopy. Dr Beejay is part of the Health Authority of Abu Dhabi Colo-Rectal Cancer Taskforce and has been a stakeholder in the development of NICE guidelines for the NHS.
Vasintha Veeran, (PhD) is an Associate Professor in Social Work. She was appointed as the International Consultant for United Nations Development Program on the Professionalization of Social Work in Mauritius. She has held several international positions in various countries for example, Dept. of Social Work, Faculty of Business and Law, University of Seychelles, Seychelles; Program Director, MSW, Dept. of Social Work, Faculty of Regional and Professional Studies, Edith Cowan University, Western Australia; Associate Professor, Dept. of Social Work, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, United Arab Emirates; Director of the MSW, Dept. of Political Science and Sociology, National University of Ireland Galway, Republic of Ireland and Senior Lecturer in the Dept. Of Social Work, Kwa Zulu Natal, South Africa. Dr Veeran has been extensively involved internationally in developing undergraduate and postgraduate social work programmes to accredited status. In addition, she has actively participated in professional and academic structures to promote the professionalization of social work. She has worked on collaborative projects with colleagues from the University of Ulster-Jordan town, Belfast, UK and University of Houston, Texas, USA, University of Goethe, Germany and many more. She is a member of the International Childhood and Youth Research Network. Dr Veeran has published in peer reviewed journals and chapters in edited books. She has undertaken research on her special interest areas on youth and children and more recently on social work programme development.
