Meeting & Agendas

Cynthia Colovas welcomed the Advisory Board Members. Members present at the meeting introduced themselves.

Members reviewed minutes from December 9, 2016 meeting. Cynthia Colovas motioned to accept minutes as written and Sharon Moody second the motion. The members unanimously voted to accept the minutes as written.

1. Norma Mercado reported on the Annual Program Assessment Report (APAR). She stated that the current enrollment in the Associate Degree program has 49 students 2. Norma Mercado reported the current staffing number for the HITT program. Presently, the staffing level consists of two full time faculty and no adjuncts. 3. Norma Mercado reported that she had submitted the CAHIIM annual progress report in September 2018. 4. Norma Mercado stated that there is a need for additional clinical placements. Norma reported that the LEH is not what it used to be for two full time faculty. Norma Mercado said that the program needed money for her and possibly Mary Keeton to attend the Assembly on Education conference. At present, faculty are allotted $210.00 to attend conferences. Norma announced that the conference will be held in Atlanta, Georgia on July 27-31, 2019. She said that the curriculum will be changing in 2021. Nan Walters suggested that Norma Mercado submit her request as soon as she has the registration form to the Dean of Health Science since the meeting will be addressing the educational changes for 2020. 5. Norma Mercado reported that in 2017, the program had 17 program graduates from the associate degree program. 6. Norma Mercado reported that HITT students who have graduated are currently employed at: Healthcare Setting-7 and Non-Health Care Setting-1 7. Norma Mercado stated that she had sent out 15 of the Graduate Satisfaction surveys and 8 had responded for a 53% response rate. The graduates reported that HITT was a good program, that their skills helped them in their jobs and that they had good skills for coding. 8. Norma stated that she sent out 8 Employer Satisfaction surveys by email and had 8 returns for a total of 100%. Norma reported that the employers had commented that ACC: had an excellent HITT program, Students have good coding skills compared to other schools, and students have excellent analytical, communication, interpersonal and problem solving skills. In addition, the employer stated that the program provides a well-rounded education and that the students were extremely efficient in their work processes and made improvement to processes. All of the employers said they would prefer a longer internship. 9. Norma Mercado explained the certification outcomes. There was 8 graduating attempts from the HITT students. Of those attempts, 6 passed on the 1st attempt. Norma also reported that the National average score is 69% and ACC’s average score is 75% (which is higher than the national average).

Norma Mercado reported that the Medical Coding Program had ended on August 31, 2018. She also gave an update of the courses that had changed. She said that HITT 1160 remains HITT 1160, HITT 1260 is now HITT 1161, and HITT 2360 is now HITT 2261.

Norma Mercado asked Karen Cooper to give an overview regarding Nuventive Improve formerly called TracDat. Karen Cooper said that every year a peer review committee consisting of ACC peers not in Health Science meet to review HITT discipline to document the extent to which students have attained the learning outcomes and objectives set before them. Norma said that the discipline assessment has to be clear writing so any one can understand.

Norma Mercado presented the Accreditation Standards from CAHIIM. She said CAHIIM is wanting the program to send students to hospitals for clinicals. She said that in order to comply, she is now taking the students on field trips to different hospitals so the students can have the full experience in regards to the clinical setting for coding. After discussion regarding placement of the practicum students, a few places were recommended as possible sites by the board members. Norma Mercado will follow up on those leads.

Norma Mercado provided a handout titled Comparison: Draft 2018 HIM Competencies and 2014 Competencies. The members reviewed the handout.

Norma Mercado inquired as to what skills are employers looking from the members. She also asked what the job outlook was for those graduating from the HITT program. Sharon Moody commented that many sites are now looking for data analysts. The members expressed that they see the job outlook is still growing for the HIT profession.

Norma Mercado requested that the members give their forecast as to the future growth of the HITT program. Cynthia Colovas and Donna Carl both said that at this time due to Hurricane Harvey, this has caused hardship and has had an economic impact on potential students.

Norma Mercado opened discussion as to possibly having future meetings by phone conference, skype or by webinar. She stated that CAHIIM does accept one meeting per year and it is allowed to have it by phone conference or other various means. The members agreed that this would be a great idea. Cynthia Colovas said she would check to see how it is done at her office and will send information to Norma Mercado. Norma said she would also see if ACC could help her set up a webinar. NEXT MEETING: TBD by phone, skype or webinar. There being no further business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned by Cynthia Colovas.