Lisa Daniels comes from a family of nurses. One of her aunts was a nurse, and another was a health care administrator, and Daniels’ mom was in nursing school at the same time as Daniels, but she was the only one who branched off.
“I went to nursing school, but I don’t want to see anybody hurt — I’m too tenderhearted for that,” Daniels said. “I love the computers, the data and the documentation way more.
“I love computers, love finding things and love building things. When it came to documentation, I just excelled at that portion of it. Nursing wasn’t for me.”
Daniels, who lives in Sheridan, was recently elected president-elect for the Arkansas Health Information Management Association, or ArHIMA, at its recent annual business luncheon at the Crowne Plaza in Little Rock. She said that in June 2020, she will roll over as president for ArHIMA and is currently shadowing the current president, Debby Hunt.
According to its website, ArHIMA is “a component state association of the American Health Information Management Association and represents more than 103,000 health information professionals.” For more information, visit arhima.org.
“We governance over medical records, health information, health data security,” Daniels said. “It is so much more than medical records, though, including medical coding and billing, reimbursement management — all for health care.
“It is a complete volunteer position. It is made up of people from hospitals to consulting firms and medical coders, and we have people who are university professors.”
When Daniels decided not to pursue nursing, her adviser sent her to the medical-records department for clinical day, and she said she fell in love with it and knew this is what she wanted to do.
“I can see potential in Lisa,” Hunt said. “She’s very organized and very outgoing, and I thought she would be a great president.”
Hunt was Daniels’ professor and instructor at National Park College in Hot Springs when Daniels went through the health information technology program.
“She was very good with technology, and she helped other students,” Hunt said. “We are a technology-based class, and she seemed to pick it up very quickly.”
ArHIMA, Hunt said, is about improving health care and making sure the data is correct. She has been a part of the organization for more than 30 years. She said Daniels has always been a person who likes to help.
“She will always help when needed or volunteer,” Hunt said. “Anything that I have asked her to do in the past, she has been very willing and a supporter of the program.
“Even now, she will visit and mentor students in the program [at NPC]. She has taken our students and has been a mentor to them. As director at the hospital, she is able to practice hands-on what they are learning in the classroom.”
Daniels is originally from Redfield, graduating from White Hall High School
in 2002.
“I’ve always been around computers,” she said. “When I was in high school, I took publishing and data-entry courses, and I took keyboarding every year — I always tried to soak up every computer class that I could.”
She earned her health information management degree from National Park College in Hot Springs in 2012. She said the best thing she ever did was go there.
“Debby [Hunt] took me under her wing, and I soaked up everything I could,” Daniels said. “She has been a great asset and mentor throughout my profession.”
In between high school and college, Daniels moved to Portland, Oregon, and was an activity director for a longtime nursing facility.
“I knew I wanted to be in health care, and I wanted to see the world, but didn’t know where I wanted to end up,” she said. “Then life happened, and I had a kid, so I enrolled in college and was in school for about five years.”
Daniels said she has always seen herself as a nurturer, wanting to help others as much as she could, but she could never hurt people, even in the smallest of ways.
“As an activity director, it was so fun, getting to know other people and caring for their well-being,” she said.
Daniels currently manages the health information management and coding departments at Arkansas Surgical Hospital in North Little Rock. She has been with the hospital for a little more than seven years.
“I build the medical records for our hospital and check all the regulations,” she said. “Because we are so small, I get to do clinical informatics, I get to build the medical record for our hospital, and I specialize it for our hospital.
“I cater our record and build our record for our hospital. … Our best knowledge can be utilized a lot more in the clinical area than what most people think, because at the end of the day, it is going to come down to us.”
She said because Arkansas Surgical Hospital is smaller, that allows it to have more personalized care. Daniels said as president-elect, she is taking the time to learn from Hunt on how to navigate information back from a national level to the state level.
“It is a lot to take in. There is so much going on with health care reforms, data and regulations,” Daniels said. “Getting all of that to the state members in a timely manner can be challenging.
“That’s probably been my biggest takeaway, is making sure I’m taking good notes at any of these national conferences on the upcoming changes, upcoming regulations within the health care world.”
Hunt said that as Daniels’ instructor, she is so proud to see one of her students fulfilling her potential and taking an active part in the professional association.
“With each year, data governance becomes more known, more used and more wanted,” Daniels said. “Getting information out to the individuals is a growing industry. Making yourself more accessible to get that information out there is always going to be an impact.”
Tina Albright, director of community relations and human resources at Arkansas Surgical Hospital, said Daniels is very friendly and is “a positive and enthusiastic individual.” The two have breakfast together almost every morning, Albright said.
“She is definitely an intelligent young woman,” Albright said. “She will do a good job in helping [ArHIMA] grow and progress.
“As an organization, we are so proud that she is recognized this way. We know she will do a good job.”
Staff writer Sam Pierce can be reached at (501) 244-4314 or spierce@arkansasonline.com.