Patience Hoag, RHIT, CCS, CCS-P, CHCA, is a project manager with Health Services
Advisory Group where she serves as lead auditor for HEDIS, pay-for-performance, and performance measure validation audits. She has worked in acute care and ambulatory settings, third-party billing, long-term care, and a multispecialty group practice. Hoag’s current professional
volunteer work includes serving on the HEDIS Expert Coding Panel for the National Committee for Quality Assurance, as well as AHIMA’s Practice Council: Quality Initiatives and Secondary Data. She has also served on multiple AHIMA committees and volunteer groups throughout the years. Hoag has served as president of AzHIMA and headed the Arizona state coding
roundtable for ;ve years.
Position Statement Question: How should HIM professionals who have not been directly
involved in health IT initiatives prepare for the demand for interconnected health information
technology expertise in their organizations?
Karl J. Koob, MMIS, RHIA, FAHIMA, CPEHR, is a clinical assistant professor and department chair at the University of Kansas, School of Allied Health, Health Information Management Department. Koob has served on various practice councils and is currently serving on
the Practice Council: e-HIM, as an accreditation surveyor for CAHIIM, and as co-chair of the
House Team: Higher Education and Workforce. He also cowrote the “Data Integrity in the Electronic Health Record Toolkit.” Koob has served on the Kansas CSA board since 2004 in positions from director to president. He serves on several university-associated boards, including
Kansas University Health Partners, Kansas University Center for Health Informatics, and Student Union Corporation. Koob has served several Kansas state government committees dealing with HIPAA, PHRs, HIE, and EHRs. He also served as a representative to HISPC for the
Kansas CSA. He has presented to state government and local professional associations on the
HIM profession and the knowledge base of the students graduating from the HIM Baccalaureate Degree Program at the University of Kansas.
Position Statement Question: How can we improve the number of new HIM program
graduates taking the HIM registry exams?
Deborah L. Linehan, RHIT, PCS, CPC-I, CPC, CCP-P, has been the manager of coding and compliance for physician administrative services at Denver Health Medical Center in
Denver, CO, for over 10 years. Prior to joining Denver Health, Linehan was a senior consultant
in QuadraMed’s coding, compliance, and education division and an auditor/consultant for
Cabot Marsh’s physician services department for over ;ve years. Linehan has developed, presented, and instituted educational training programs covering documentation, coding, billing,
and compliance in many teaching hospitals and universities, academic practices, independent
physician practices, and clinics across the US and Canada. She was also a contributor to the
AHIMA publication Procedural Coding and Reimbursement for Physician Services by Lynn Kuehn, MS, RHIA, CCS-P, FAHIMA.
Position Statement Question: ;ere is a great deal of discussion in all HIM departments
regarding the use of computer-assisted coding. What is your opinion of this technology?
April Robertson, MPA, RHIA, CHPS, FAHIMA, is visiting professor for DeVry University. Robertson was vice president of customer advocacy for a major healthcare industry vendor and moderated monthly Webinars providing continuing education topics pertinent to the
health informatics industry. She has been a compliance o;cer for a national electronic health
record software company for 10 years and is presently a member of AHIMA’s CHPS Examination Development Committee, a current delegate to AHIMA for the California Health Information Association (CHIA), and co-chair of the House Team: Operations. She was a three-year
member of AHIMA’s Board of Directors and member of the HIMSS/AHIMA Privacy and Security of HIEs Collaborative Workgroup and is a current AHIMA ACE member. Robertson has
served as president of CHIA, receiving its Distinguished Member Award and Literary Award.
She also received Maine’s HIMA’s Outstanding Service Award. She is a widely published author
and speaker on national privacy and security regulations and best practices.
