Introducing the 2020–2021 Board of Directors for the Canadian College of Health Information Management and CHIMA
The Canadian College of Health Information Management and CHIMA, Canada’s health information management association, held its joint annual general meeting virtually on June 11, 2020 with its members from across Canada electing 12 board members to its national board of directors.
We are continuously analyzing how health information connects around a person to inform policy and funding decisions, along with the care that Canadians receive. Health information professionals are vital contributors to health systems across the country. With this in mind, we are pleased to introduce our board as they continue advancing the health information profession in Canada.
“I am pleased to welcome new directors to our national board,” said Monique Rasmussen, chair of the board of directors. “This has been a challenging year for all Canadians and our profession has stepped up to help in this time of need. I am confident that our board’s breadth of expertise, experience, and skills will ensure health information professionals are at the forefront of the collection, protection, and access of a person’s health data. The board will be continuing the bold strategic direction of the organization to ensure we advance the profession. We are dedicated to a healthier Canada, enabled by quality health information.”
The 2020–2021 Board of Directors for the Canadian College of Health Information Management and the Canadian Health Information Management Association is as follows:
Monique Rasmussen, CCDIS, CHIM
Chair | Ontario, Canada
Monique Rasmussen is Regional Director, Coding and Informatics Services for Health Information Management in Lower Mainland, British Columbia. With more than two decades of HIM experience in facilities in the Bay of Quinte region of Ontario and the Vancouver area, Monique provides leadership and strategic direction for medical coding and abstracting services, data quality, and clinical documentation improvement initiatives. She is accountable for communicating priorities and implementing departmental goals, standards, and procedures for health care sites at Vancouver Coastal Health, Provincial Health Services Authority, Providence Health Care, and the Fraser Health Authority.
Monique is a proud member of the Canadian Health Information Management Association (CHIMA) and the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA), and just recently obtained the CCDIS designation through the Canadian College of Health Information Management.
Patricia Visosky, MSc, CHIM
Vice Chair | British Columbia, Canada
Pat Visosky has been the coordinator of the health information management program at Douglas College since 2016. Prior to that, Pat was faculty of the bachelor program in HIM at the Higher Colleges of Technology in the United Arab Emirates for 17 years. Pat is a certified HIM professional and has a keen interest in health informatics. Over the years, she has obtained her masters of science in health informatics and recently completed doctoral studies in health research with a focus on health informatics curriculum.
Jennifer Bennett, MBA, CHIM
Secretary | Nova Scotia, Canada
Jennifer Bennett is the Manager of Performance Analytics at the IWK Health Centre. Jen has been with the IWK for eight years in various roles, including the roll out of scanning and archiving, HIS Supervisor, and Access Manager. In addition to her experience at the IWK, Jen spent two years working within the Saskatoon Health Region. Jen has her Executive Masters of Business Administration from the Sobey School of Business, Bachelor of Science with major in biology from St. Francis Xavier University, and her health information management diploma from NSCC. Jen has held her certification from the Canadian College of Health Information Management for the last 10 years.
Kevin Higgins, B.Comm
Treasurer, Chair of Finance & Audit | Nova Scotia, Canada
Kevin Higgins has been in the group benefits and pension industry for almost 30 years. His current role of National Vice President, Trustee, Group Benefits for Manulife has him overseeing a team responsible for the trade union, education, and health care sectors across Canada. He has volunteered with a variety of not-for-profit agencies, including the United Way and Canadian Pension and Benefits Institute, and has a passion for exploring and understanding the future of work to help organizations and communities plan for the future.
Keith Denny, MLIS, MA, PhD
Chair, Committee of the College | Ontario, Canada
As Director of Clinical Data Standards and Quality, Keith Denny provides vision and leadership for CIHI’s information quality initiatives and for the development and application of clinical classifications and terminology standards. Keith has held a number of leadership roles at CIHI and has more than 20 years of experience in the health sector as an educator, manager, and researcher. He has graduate degrees in information science and social science, as well as a PhD from the University of Toronto’s School of Public Health. He is also an adjunct research professor at Carleton University.
Susan Anderson, BSc, CPHIMS, PMI
Chair, Governance | Ontario, Canada
Susan Anderson is a senior executive with special skills in business development, digital health informatics, governance, and strategic planning. She is an accomplished digital health strategist with more than 27 years of experience in Canadian health care informatics. Susan is currently a senior health policy advisor to TECHNATION Health. Previously, she was the Assistant Deputy Minister and CIO for the Health Information Technology and Systems Division at Alberta Health, where she played a pivotal role in transforming Alberta’s health care system into one of the most digitally connected in North America. At the forefront of Alberta’s electronic health record implementation, she helped steer the expansion of EHR data sources, deployment to users, integration for physicians and pharmacists, and introduced public access to EHRs.
Nona Gatchalian, BHA, MBA, CIPP/C, CHIM
Director | British Columbia, Canada
Nona Gatchalian started her career in health information management in an urban tertiary hospital in the last 20 years. In addition to being certified in HIM, she has a MBA and is certified as an information and privacy professional. Nona received her master certificate in health care law, strategic management, and governance and continues to learn. Throughout her career, she has had the opportunity to hold leadership roles in various hospital settings, in research, and saw the development of a couple of Canadian health care funding formulas. Nona is driven by being a positive impact on the future of HIM through collaboration, governance, innovation, and quality assurance.
Sonia Shiels, BA, CHIM
Director | Ontario, Canada
With more than 25 years of cumulative experience in the HIM industry working across Canada, Sonia Shiels spent over seven years managing two highly engaged remote coding teams along with 15+ years in decision support roles. Currently, Sonia works at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton, a large teaching hospital, as Manager of Coding, Data Quality, Reporting, and Documentation Improvement. St. Joe’s was the second Canadian acute care institution to implement Epic’s full EMR. Prior to working at St. Joe’s, Sonia worked at the Ontario Ministry of Health, where she had the opportunity to visit all 14 regions of the province to provide education sessions on the importance of data quality in health care.
Sonia currently holds lead roles as Chair, National Coding Productivity Collaboration and Education Coordinator for the Utilization Management Network of Ontario (UMNO) executive for the past 2+ years. She recently joined the faculty of the health information management program at CHA (a division of Healthcare CAN) and, in recent years, had the opportunity to work as CDI auditor with 3M Canada.
Lindsey Page, CHIM
Director | Yukon, Canada
Lindsey Page is Quality Assurance Coordinator at Whitehorse General Hospital, where she is responsible for supporting the Yukon Hospital Corporation in maintaining a high level of quality in all hospital programs and services. Her position facilitates knowledge sharing and learning to ensure compliance with best practice, legislation and regulations, corporate policies and procedures, and patient safety standards.
Lindsey is a graduate of the Canadian Healthcare Association’s HIM program and the former chapter chair for CHIMA’s BCYT chapter. She is particularly interested in information governance as it relates to healthcare, as it encompasses structures, policies, and procedures when collecting, organizing, utilizing, and securing data. She is keen to learn more about this area as a member of the CHIMA board of directors. Lindsey lives and works in Whitehorse, Yukon.
Sarah Paykins, CHIM
Director | Manitoba, Canada
Sarah Paykins (they/them) is the Provincial Clinical Administrative Database (CAD) Specialist for Manitoba Health, Seniors, and Active Living. Sarah is passionate about data as a key component of health care systems. In their current role, Sarah develops, implements, and maintains data collection and data quality projects and processes with a provincial scope. To improve data quality and timeliness, they also oversee submissions of various datasets.
Sarah brings 12 years of experience in various roles in the health information department at Selkirk Mental Health Centre (SMHC), a provincial facility specializing in inpatient mental health and acquired brain injury treatment. Sarah found their calling in health information management at SMHC in 2011, when they helped launch SMHC’s electronic patient record. This experience led them to complete the health information management program. Sarah then became SMHC’s decision support analyst, where they were key to the implementation of subsequent modules of the electronic patient record. In that role, Sarah found innovative ways to improve access to quality information, electronic process, and functionality. They also provided on-call, after-hours support and maintenance for nurses and physicians, leading to SMHC successfully adopting the Pharmacy, eOrders, eMAR, and eMedRec projects.
Sarah is genderqueer and they advocate for the collection of gender-related data to help improve the patient experience, care, and, ultimately, outcomes for gender-diverse individuals.
Francis Lau, BSc, MSc, MBA, PhD, CTSS
Director | British Columbia, Canada
Dr. Francis Lau is a professor in the School of Health Information Science at the University of Victoria. He has a PhD in applied sciences in medicine from the University of Alberta, with specialization in medical informatics. Francis has a diverse background in business, computer, and medical sciences, with 14 years of professional experience in the health IT industry. From 2008–2013, he was the recipient of the eHealth Chair funded by CIHR/Infoway to establish an eHealth Observatory to examine the impact of health information system deployment in Canada. Dr. Lau’s current research covers eHealth evaluation, primary care informatics, patient portals, evidence-based health informatics, and health terminology standards.
Jeff Nesbitt, BA, MBA
Director | Ontario, Canada
Jeff Nesbitt is the CEO and Registrar of The Canadian College of Health Information Management and CHIMA, Canada’s health information management association. Jeff has played active roles across many sectors and organizations. He has gained a deep appreciation for how information has become critical to the quality of care that Canadians receive. Jeff’s purpose is to connect people and illuminate how systems can adapt to cultivate growth.