SHRP Associate Professor Named To National Accrediting Commission

Ann Peden, the editor of a widely adopted health information management textbook and a member of the University of Mississippi Medical Center faculty, will serve as a board member on a national accrediting commission starting in January.

Peden, an associate professor of health information management in the School of Health Related Professions, will serve on the Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management Education (CAHIIM) for a minimum of three years. The Clinton resident, who was elected to the post earlier this year, will have the option of serving a fourth year.

“Ms. Peden brings a wealth of experience as a forward-thinking educator who pioneered interactive communication among HIM educators in the early days of listserves and email, a committed volunteer and an effective communicator to articulate accreditation standards for evaluation and compliance,” said Claire Dixon Lee, executive director for CAHIIM.

Peden will be a member of an 11-member commission that accredits health informatics and health information management degree granting programs across the country, including the Health Information Management Depart-ment at the Medical Center.

“Ann’s election to the CAHIIM board is a reflection of her well-deserved national reputation as an authority in health information management,” said Dr. Ben Mitchell, dean of SHRP.

Peden is beginning her term as a commissioner during an important transitional period for the organization.

“This commission used to be a council that was part of the American Health Information Management Association,” she said. “Now, it’s being sponsored by the Health Information Management Association.

“We are transitioning from being a council where the accreditation was granted through another body to being our own commission where we are granting the accreditation. It is a challenging time, and I think I can make a difference for our profession as far as helping to get that off to a good start.”

Peden, who earned a bachelor’s degree in English at the University of Mississippi and a master’s degree in business administration at Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, La., has had a career in health information management for 30 years.

She received a certificate in medical record administration in 1974 at the Medical Center and landed her first job in the field a few months later. She was director of the Medical Record Department at St. Francis Medical Center in Monroe, La. from 1975-77.

Peden taught for 11 years at Louisiana Tech University beginning in 1977. During her tenure at the school, Peden served as assistant director of the Medical Record Administration Program and director of the Medical Record Technology Program.

Editor of Comparative Health Information Management, Peden joined the Medical Center faculty in 1989 as an assistant professor.

Peden has been active in national and state health information management organizations throughout her career. She has served on several American Health Information Management Association committees. Peden was president of the Louisiana Medical Record Association from 1983-84, the Northeast Louisiana Medical Record Association from 1987-88 and the Mississippi Health Information Management Association from 1995-96.

Peden, the School of Health Related Professions' Teacher of the Year in 1997, said serving on the Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management Education will be a learning experience she and her department will benefit from.

“I thought that it would be good for our program here for me to be more intimately acquainted with the standards that we are judged by,” said Peden, who also is a doctoral candidate in the clinical health sciences program at the Medical Center.

-Thyrie Bland (12-5-05)

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