Aerian Tatum, DBA, RHIA, CCS, FAHIMA
Biography
Dr. Aerian Tatum is a health information leader with an impressive breadth of experience spanning over two decades. With over 25 years of expertise in coding and reimbursement and over ten years of teaching experience in the HIM field, Dr. Tatum has established herself as a prominent figure in the industry.
Currently, Dr. Tatum serves as an Assistant HIM Professor at Coppin State University (CSU) in Baltimore, Maryland, where she is a full-time instructor and an active member of multiple committees, including the CSU Commencement Committee, Faculty Senate, Student Retention, and the College of Health Professions Executive Committee. Her leadership extends beyond CSU, as she is also a member of the Health Information Management Advisory Board at the University of Maryland Global Campus and was the 2022/2023 Vice-Chair for the Council of University System Faculty.
In addition to her academic pursuits, Dr. Tatum is the business owner and CEO of H.I.M Education Consultants. This Baltimore-based company provides coding, auditing, education, and training solutions in the coding and reimbursement realm.
Prior to establishing her company, Dr. Tatum held the position of Senior Technical Business Analyst (BA) with Nuance Communications, where she created rules for the natural language processing (NLP) engine to assist with the computer-assisted coding (CAC) program. Her responsibilities included coding, auditing, and re-coding charts using ICD-10-CM/PCS.
Dr. Tatum's extensive industry experience also includes her role as an HIM Consultant for QuadraMed, where she worked with healthcare organizations to provide coding and documentation education, coding analysis and auditing, and revenue cycle workflow improvement. Her most notable projects focused on ICD-10 readiness and training. Prior to this, she served QuadraMed in lead roles such as Project Supervisor and Government Programs Trainer, managing the day-to-day functions of the master patient index (MPI) cleanup projects and training Veteran Administration coders, billers, and management on QuadraMed Encoder Product Suite (EPS) software.
Dr. Tatum holds a Doctorate in Business Administration and a Master of Science in Healthcare Informatics from the University of Maryland Global Campus, as well as a Bachelor of Science in Health Information Management from East Carolina University. She is credentialed with the RHIA, CCS, and Certified Professional in Healthcare Information and Management Systems (CPHIMS) from the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS). Additionally, Dr. Tatum is the current president of the Maryland chapter of the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) and is an active member of HIMSS.
With a passion for healthcare, self-care, and assisting others in finding and pursuing their professional path, Dr. Tatum's dissertation focused on college graduates and the expectations of those who hire college graduates. She is married and has a 13 year old son.
Position Statement
What makes you uniquely qualified as an educator or practitioner to serve on the Council for Excellence in Education (CEE)?
As an educator at a historically Black university with more than 20 years of teaching experience, I am uniquely qualified to serve on the Council for Excellence in Education (CEE). My career has centered on improving and adapting health information education to ensure students master required competencies while gaining meaningful exposure to experiential learning and real‑world practice. I teach in both the bachelor's and master's programs, and I continuously refresh and redesign formative and summative assessments to ensure students not only understand core content but can apply concepts effectively in professional settings. My commitment to rigorous curriculum development, equitable student preparation, and high‑quality academic programming aligns directly with CEE's mission to advance innovative, future‑focused education in health information.