CHICAGO – January 4, 2022 – American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) members elected Tim J. Keough, MPA, RHIA, FAHIMA, as president/chair of the 2022 Board of Directors. His one-year term began January 1.

Known across the industry as a health information expert, Keough is the vice president of health information services for the New Jersey Hospital Association, where he identifies organizational needs, oversees the creation of innovative services, and offers solutions to clients. Keough is on the association’s executive team, participating in strategic planning and financial management.

Keough has twice served as the president of the New Jersey Health Information Management Association and also recently served as the finance chair of the AHIMA Foundation. He previously served on the AHIMA Board of Directors from 2016 to 2018 and has volunteered in numerous other roles for AHIMA.

“I’m excited to begin my term as president and chair of an organization that has a real impact in the healthcare ecosystem,” Keough said. “Health information professionals help improve the quality of patient care around the world and it’s an honor to lead AHIMA through this challenging and exciting time.”

AHIMA CEO Wylecia Wiggs Harris, PhD, CAE, said she is looking forward to working with Keough and AHIMA’s other new leaders.

“Tim is a person of commitment, and I’ve long respected his dedication to AHIMA and his fellow health information professionals,” Harris said. “2022 will be an important year for AHIMA and I know Tim will provide insightful, important leadership at this pivotal time.”

In addition to Keough’s appointment, AHIMA members selected a president/chair-elect, three members of the Board of Directors (who each will serve a three-year term), and speaker-elect of the House of Delegates.

Jennifer Mueller, MBA, RHIA, FACHE, FAHIMA, will serve as the 2022 president/chair-elect. Mueller is the vice president and privacy officer at the Wisconsin Hospital Association Information Center in Madison, Wisconsin. Previously she was the vice president and chief information officer at Watertown Regional Medical Center in Watertown, WI. She has served as president of the Wisconsin Health Information Management Association (WHIMA) and is active in the Wisconsin chapter of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society and the HIPAA Collaborative of Wisconsin. She has received numerous awards during her career, including WHIMA’s Rising Star Award, Motivator Award, and Distinguished Member Award.

Jeannine Pugh Cain, MSHI, RHIA, CPHI, is the 2022 speaker of AHIMA's House of Delegates. She is a senior business analyst at Across Healthcare and is a part-time evaluator for Western Governors University. Cain has participated on AHIMA’s Data Analytics Practice Council, Advocacy and Policy Practice Council, Envisioning Collaborative workgroup, Consumer Engagement Task Force, Governance Task Force, and the House Leadership Team.

Nancy Andersen, MS, RHIA, CCS, CHC, will join AHIMA’s Board of Directors. She is the director of revenue management compliance, risk adjustment coding, for the Kaiser Permanente National Compliance, Ethics & Integrity Office in Oakland, CA. In her role, she is responsible for enterprise-wide compliance for risk adjustment-related coding issues. Andersen has served as past president of the California Health Information Association and past president of the North Coast Health Information Association, and she is a member of the Health Care Compliance Association.

Thea Campbell, MBA, RHIA, will join AHIMA’s Board of Directors. Over the course of her career, she has worked with multiple consulting firms that specialized in healthcare-related revenue cycle improvement and health information management. Campbell is an expert in the implementation and optimization of electronic health records, the ICD-10 code set, focused regulatory compliance, and computer-assisted coding. Campbell, of Los Angeles, CA, is a vice president on the executive board and council commissioner for her local Boy Scouts of America’s (BSA) council and serves as a diversity, equity, and inclusion lead on a national level for the BSA.

Ryan Heath Sandefer, PhD, will join AHIMA’s Board of Directors. He is the vice president for academic affairs at the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, MN. Sandefer is also an associate professor in the department of health informatics and information management where he teaches research methods and data analytics. He has served as the chair of the AHIMA Council for Excellence in Education, as a presenter for the AHIMA data analytics workshops, and an instructor for the Certified Health Data Analytics exam prep workshops. He co-edited the textbook Data Analytics in Healthcare Research: Tools and Strategies through AHIMA Press.

Vishal Desai will join AHIMA’s Board of Directors as a non-voting advisor. As the senior vice president of revenue cycle, managed care and financial planning at Westchester Medical Center in New York, he is responsible for evaluating and enhancing revenue opportunities through managed care contracting and many revenue cycle operations across all the WMCHealth hospitals. Desai is a seasoned leader with more than 20 years of progressive leadership experience in the healthcare industry.

Cesar M. Limjoco, MD, will join AHIMA’s Board of Directors as a non-voting advisor. For more than 30 years, Dr. Limjoco has delivered clinical documentation integrity services to hospitals across the country. His career path has brought him to work for a regional hospital association, a large consulting firm, and a quality improvement organization.

The AHIMA Board of Directors is responsible for setting long-term strategy and direction, governing the association’s activities, and fulfilling the organization’s fiduciary responsibility. It 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. The newly elected members join the following current AHIMA Board Directors:

• Katherine G. Lusk, MHSM, RHIA, FAHIMA, AHIMA past president/chair and senior director for strategic relations, Texas Health Services Authority in Oak Point, TX
• Brenda K. Beckham, RHIA, AHIMA secretary, and executive director of health information management at Baptist Health in Louisville, KY
• Maria A. Caban Alizondo, PhD, MOL, MLC, RHIT, FAHIMA, director of health information management services at UCLA Health System in Los Angeles, CA
• Sue Clarke-Kendrick, MHA, RHIA, FAHIMA, AVP of network revenue integrity at Taylor Pavilion in Valhalla, NY
• Terri Eichelmann, MBA, RHIA, AHIMA treasurer and vice president and director at BJC HealthCare in St. Louis, MO
• Susan P. Scully, MS, RHIA, CCS, CCS-P, FAHIMA, speaker-elect of the AHIMA House of Delegates, director of the health information management department at Rowan College in Burlington County, NJ (serves as board guest without vote)
• Christine Williams, RHIA, document integrity leader for UW Health in Madison, WI
• Jami Woebkenberg, MHIM, RHIA, CPHI, FAHIMA, senior director of health information management operations at Banner Health in Phoenix, AZ
• Wylecia Wiggs Harris, PhD, CAE, chief executive officer of AHIMA in Chicago, IL (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.