Gail I. Smith, MA, RHIA, CCS-P
Gail Smith is a nationally recognized educator, thought leader in use of Artificial Intelligence in workforce training, and advocate for the advancement of health information management (HIM) professionals.
A strong believer that ‘coders learn by coding,’ Gail has worked with Libman Education as a course author since 2013 and has written both instructional materials organized by body system (breast, spinal fusion, and others) and hands-on Practical Coding Experiences designed to increase both quality of coding and productivity.
Gail was an associate professor and director of the HIM program at the University of Cincinnati and HIM program director at Cincinnati State Technical and Community College. Gail was author of several textbooks, including Basic Procedural Terminology and HCPCS Coding published by the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA). Gail currently consults with an international software company specializing in medical terminologies. Gail is President of Gail I. Smith Consulting.
Gail’s unique approach to professional development of coders is integral to her work with Libman Education. According to Gail:
“One cannot possibly teach every coding scenario a coder will experience in their career. Coding education must focus instead on how to arrive at an accurate and defensible code assignment. It is the difference between learning to fish and being given a fish. If you learn to code instead of being given answers to memorize, you will be able to arrive at the complete codes more quickly and with greater confidence.”