CHICAGO – February 3, 2021 – AHIMA International is pleased to announce King Abdullaziz University in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has joined AHIMA International’s Organizational Member program.

The Organizational Member program is based around a three-year commitment between AHIMA International and a healthcare provider, healthcare service organization, or government/nonprofit agency that wants to achieve excellence in the healthcare core competencies of clinical documentation, medical coding, health data analytics, informatics, and/or privacy and security. 

The Faculty of Applied Studies at King Abdullaziz University (KAU) has chosen to become an AHIMA International Organizational Member focusing on the core competency of medical coding. AHIMA International’s team will train and assist instructors at KAU as they help develop the next generation of medical coders.

"KAU recognizes the importance of quality healthcare information, and we are proud they selected AHIMA International to help them achieve excellence,” said AHIMA CEO Wylecia Wiggs Harris, PhD, CAE. “We are excited to welcome KAU to our Organizational Member program. Like AHIMA, they understand that health information is human information.”

Harris and Professor Abdulrahman Obaid Al-Youbi, the president of KAU, signed an agreement in a virtual ceremony on January 19 that made KAU the latest entity to join AHIMA International’s Organizational Member program.

“King Abdulaziz University is always shooting forward to establish deep roots in all fields,” Professor Al-Youbi said. “I would like to thank the AHIMA International team for their kind acceptance to train and assist instructors at KAU to help develop the next generation of medical coders.”

As part of the Organizational Member program, AHIMA International subject matter experts will provide an assessment and analysis of KAU’s current level of medical coding. They will then offer customized training sessions to KAU instructors, before leaving them with a long-term sustainability plan at the conclusion of the three-year program.

"We thank the Faculty of Applied Studies at KAU for entrusting AHIMA International as we work to ensure KAU develops medical coders prepared to make an impact in an evolving healthcare ecosystem,” said Christina Roosen, vice president of AHIMA International.

To learn how the AHIMA International’s Organizational Member program can help your organization, email internationalinfo@ahima.org and visit AHIMA.org.

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About AHIMA
AHIMA is a global nonprofit association of health information (HI) professionals. AHIMA represents professionals who work with health data for more than one billion patient visits each year. AHIMA’s mission of empowering people to impact health drives our members and credentialed HI professionals to ensure that health information is accurate, complete, and available to patients and providers. Our leaders work at the intersection of healthcare, technology, and business, and are found in data integrity and information privacy job functions worldwide.

About King Abdullaziz University
King Abdullaziz University was established in 1967 in the city of Jeddah, by the Red Sea. It was originally a private university bearing the name of the founder of Saudi Arabia, King Abdul-Aziz Al-Saud, and was founded to serve the needs of higher education in the Western Region of Saudi Arabia. In 1973, KAU joined the Saudi public universities’ system. Since then, KAU has pioneered many academic systems and traditions in the development of higher education in the Kingdom. Today, KAU is one of the best universities at the local, regional and international levels. KAU ranked 143 according to the QS classification of universities, in the category of the best 150 universities in the world according to the classification of Shanghai, and it ranked in the category of the best 201-250 universities according to the classification of the Times (The World University Rankings). KAU also had ranked No. 42 according to the US News classification. Moreover, it had ranked first locally and in the Arab world in all these mentioned rankings. In addition, KAU came 42^nd globally according to the Green Matrix ranking for green universities.