CHICAGO – The CEO and COO at the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) have left the organization that represents more than 61,000 health information management professionals.
While Craig May, AHIMA’s director of public relations, confirmed Tuesday that CEO Alan Dowling and COO Sandra Fuller, had left the organization “recently – within the past month,” he said he could not comment further.
Asked why AHIMA could not discuss the departure, May said, "that is also something that is not disclosable at this time, except to say that we think this is in everybody's best interest at this point."
He declined to say whether the two were fired. Former AHIMA board member Rose Dunn will serve as interim CEO while AHIMA launches a search for a new CEO, which May says it expects to have in place by the organization’s annual convention in October.
Alan Dowling took the helm at AHIMA on Jan. 13, 2010, succeeding Linda Kloss, who had served as CEO since 1995 and gained recognition for her leadership at a time when the profession was experiencing unprecedented change and accompanying challenges, including the healthcare industry's conversion to ICD-10 coding.
[See also: NewsMaker Interview: Alan Dowling.]
Dowling told Healthcare IT News, in an interview shortly after his assuming the post, that AHIMA ‘s greatest challenge over the next five years would be “helping to lead the transformation into the global, electronic-based health information management universe that is already evolving.”
[See also: AHIMA convention has its focus on digital issues.]
Before joining AHIMA, Dowling was adjunct professor of information systems at Case Western Reserve University and has lectured at Georgetown University, the American University of Beirut, Simmons College and the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Sandra Fuller served as executive vice president and chief of operations for AHIMA.
May said Dunn is "a strong and experienced and capable leader, who has the full confidence of the staff and the membership and the board."
Dunn has served twice on the AHIMA board of directors in the past, and has run her own consulting business in St. Louis, Mo. for the past two decades.
"We are looking forward to moving forward as an association under her leadership," May said.
