Meeting & Agendas

The meeting was called to order by Norma Mercado in the absence of the Chairperson. Brandi Mancuso, Lonestar Circle of Care was introduced to those present as a new member to the Advisory Board There was discussion of the need to continue to encourage new members to participate. Ron Modesty has offered to continue to identify potential new members. Norma Mercado mentioned that West Lake Dermatology will potentially be joining at the next meeting and Norma will continue to pursue potential new member possibilities.

Minutes from the last meeting were reviewed by the board members. Members present approved the minutes as written.

A. Accreditation Status- Norma Mercado reported that the program’s Self Study has been accepted and assigned to a Review Panel. ACC is in the process of picking dates for the upcoming Site Visit likely to be be held this summer. Action: Advisory Board members will be made aware of the scheduled Site Visit dates and asked to attend to meet with the Site Visitors Sue Biedermann encouraged Norma Mercado to consider conferencing in students who are not able to attend in person to meet with Site Visitors during the upcoming site visit. B. Outcome Measures- There are 25 students presently enrolled in the HITT program. Norma Mercado. Students were sent course evaluations at the end of the semester that included new questions related to curriculum and competencies. Evaluations were overall very positive regarding curriculum and entry level competencies. C. SWOT- Norma Mercado provided copies of the data collected during the HITT SWOT meeting in which many of the Advisory Board members participated. Those presents were asked to review and provide comments/feedbacks on the elements identified. Advisory Committee discussed additional considerations in developing the ACC work plan going forward to include: 1) Keep in mind the opportunity offered by considering a seamless articulation to a four-year degree 2) Continue to nurture employer support and clinical site supports as a strength 3) Importance of faculty development to address needed skill sets and nurturing qualified individuals within adjunct roles 4) Marketing opportunity provided by hicareers.com which includes testimonials, salary and workforce information and comparison to other online job related links 5) Consider a marketing plan that offers improved career awareness knowledge and that touts the advantages of ACC as a source of HITT career education and the opportunity it offers to transfer to a four-year degree program to be initiated once the HITT program is fully accredited 6) Alignment of plans with Vision 2016 goals 7) Proactively bringing on additional employers and clinical sites and exploring whether or not opportunities exist in working with San Antonio based insurance companies D. Program Evaluation Plan- The CAHIIM-submitted Program Evaluation Plan was shared with the Advisory Board and feedback requested. Action: Program areas in the plan will be re-written by the program in goal language format. Sue Biedermann stated that the plan appears comprehensive. Ron Modesty asked if, in conjunction with our mission related to Communities of Interest, we might want to consider partnerships with additional community partners, such as Skillpoint Alliance who work with K-12 students. Also discussed were the potential role the AHEC could play and how to create something interactive which K-12 students would enjoy. Eileen Klein shared information about the I-35 Life Science Consortium and how this might factor into curriculum development and partnerships. A suggestion regarding Communities of Interest also included identifying HIM-related contacts and sending feedback, at minimum, yearly to continue to engage them with the program

Communities of Interest - Action: Advisory Board members were encouraged to identify a HIM business colleague from another organization to bring to the next Advisory Board meeting in November.

Meeting adjourned. Next meeting date; Friday, November 4, 2011, 7:30-9:30 a.m.