CHICAGO-The American Health Information Management Association's Assembly on Education selected Chicago, the city most known for cutting edge architecture, to host this year's summer symposium which it described as "an architectural blueprint to transition health information management and health informatics education" onto the frontier of electronic health information.

"The HIM professional has a unique blend of skills that is increasingly in demand as hospitals computerize their patient record systems," said Claire Dixon-Lee, PhD, RHIA, FAHIMA, and AHIMA vice president for education and accreditation. " The AHIMA Assembly on Education Symposium brought together college faculty from around the nation to collaborate on educational approaches to better prepare undergraduate and master's degree students for careers in the health information management (HIM) field."

More than 300 educators were on hand to hear 70 speakers over the five day conference last week held in the heart of Chicago 's architecturally rich River North district. Issues related to program accreditation, academic resources, faculty development, leadership skills, and curriculum design to meet the needs of the evolving electronic healthcare workplace are among the topics that will be shared.

The Summer Symposium Agenda kicked off Monday with University of Illinois Chicago Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs R. Michael Tanner, PhD, delivering the Keynote address. Dr. Tanner's remarks addressed the challenges facing college and university campuses in meeting workforce needs, and faculty leadership engagement to strengthen the academic experience for today's students.

The American Health Information Management Association is a dynamic organization of more than 51,000 specially educated professionals, all working to ensure accurate and timely health information throughout America 's complex, multi-faceted healthcare system.

For more information on careers in health information management, visit www.healthinformationcareers.com.