Meeting & Agendas

Cynthia Colovas began the meeting by calling roll for the WebEx meeting. She welcomed the Advisory Board Members.

The members began the meeting by reviewing the minutes from December 9, 2018 meeting. Cynthia Colovas noted a correction to the minutes. Bettye Kochendorfer motioned to accept minutes with amended correction. Sharon Moody second the motion. Macy will make the correction to the December 9, 2018 minutes before the next meeting.

Introduction- Norma Mercado, Department Chair for the HITT program, continued the meeting by stating that this meeting was a special meeting so that the HITT Advisory Board could vote on one of two Associate Degree Specialization: 1) Data Management 2) Revenue Cycle Management Norma Mercado stated that the purpose of the Data Management and Revenue Cycle Management is to prepare students for that particular specialty. Our curriculum already has three coursed in coding (revenue cycle management). Norma noted that most of our students are getting jobs in coding or a coding related field. Norma asked for the board member’s opinion on what is going on in the profession as it relates to their work in the field on a day to day basis. The replies and discussion to Norma’s question began by Martha Hurtado commenting that she is seeing more Data Management out in the field. Cynthia Colovas expressed that she did not have strong feelings either way. She also stated that it would be practical to do the Revenue Cycle Management in order to not have to redo the program. Barbara Wells stated that she is seeing more major functions in the field. Jackie Moczygemba stated that Revenue Cycle Management made sense. Norma emphasized that there was no money available to hire another instructor or to add new courses. Norma Mercado said that the deciding vote between Data Management and Revenue Cycle Management would stand until 2021. She said that the members could revisit the decision again in the spring of 2022. The members decided to review the handouts that Norma has sent for more information and take the deciding vote as the end of the review and discussion of the handouts. a. HIM Reimagined Update- Norma directed the members to view the handout titled HIM Reimagined Update which were sent by email to all the members. Norma began the discussion relating to the update by stating that the HIM Reimagined White Paper (HIMR) was released by AHIMA in 2016. It is a ten-year, multi-phased plan to ensure current and future professionals are prepared for the future of HIM in the rapidly changing environment resulting from changes in healthcare, technology, and education. It is now 2 years into HIMR and this update is offered to outline the proposed recommendations, actions taken to date, and continued efforts to achieve the goals set forth in HIMR. The ultimate message of HIMR is about raising the academic level of HIM professionals. As time and technology continues to advance, the kinds of jobs that have been available to people when they graduate from an associate level HIM program will shift, requiring different skill sets. Research conducted in the development of HIMR identified increased employer demands in the future for HIM professionals at the baccalaureate and graduate levels of education. HIMR included 4 primary recommendations: 1. Recommendation: Increase the number of AHIMA members who hold relevant graduate degrees, (e.g., HIM, Health Informatics, MBA, MD, MEd, MPH) to 20 percent of total membership within 10 years). Status Update: Since AHIMA began tracking education levels in 2012, graduate prepared members (Master's and Doctoral Levels) have risen from 8% to 14% (as of 1/30/19). 2. Recommendation: In collaboration with other health and health-related organizations, in the public and private sectors, build a mechanism to ensure availability of research that supports health informatics and information management. Status Update: Tactics to achieve this recommendation will be planned for 2020 and beyond and in collaboration with the AHIMA Foundation, as appropriate. 3. Recommendation: Increase the opportunities for specialization across all levels of the HIM academic spectrum through curricula revision, while retaining a broad foundation in health information management and analytics. Status Update: New curriculum competencies have been approved and released for implementation by 2021. Focused specialty content is required for Associate programs. 4. Recommendation: RHIA credential is recognized as the standard for HIM generalist practice and the RHIT (+Specialty) as the technical level of practice. b. HIM Curriculum Requirements for Accreditation- Norma Mercado directed the members to view the handout regarding curriculum requirements for accreditation. From the information in the handout, she announced that it stated that CEE Approves 2018 Health Information Management (HIM) Curricula Competencies She continued to summarize the handout by stating that the AHIMA Council for Excellence in Education (CEE) establishes curricula for HIM programs at the associate, baccalaureate and graduate level. The CEE has approved the 2018 AHIMA HIM Curricula Competencies for implementation in the CAHIIM accreditation process. She directed the member to several links for background information regarding the revision process for the new 2018 AHIMA HIM Curricula Competencies announced in January of 2019 visit AHIMA Academic Curricula. Program Directors and faculty download the AHIMA/CEE Academic Curricula Competencies and associated resources. c. CAHIIM Curriculum Report- Norma Mercado directed the members to view, The CAHIIM CURRULUM REPORT, which was sent to the members by email. Norma highlighted major points from the report. She stated that the attached report were the 2018 AHIMA Health Information Management Associate Degree Curriculum Competencies. For example the first column includes the competencies, then blooms taxonomy level, List the course number, course name, and type of assignment/activity/project. Identify when taught in course. Provide the best example that demonstrates the competency and taxonomy requirements are met. Example: HIT.103 Health Law; Project; HIM Compliance Plan; Week 8 No more than two (2) examples per Competency d. 2018 HIM Curricula Competencies- CAHIIM Implementation Dates for the 2018 Curriculum Programs in the Comprehensive Program Review Process are using the 2014 AHIMA Academic Competencies in effect when they began the process. Candidacy Status: New HIM associate, baccalaureate and master degree programs applying for Candidacy Status after March 1, 2019 must implement the new 2018 AHIMA HIM Curricula Competencies by the time of application submission. Accredited programs beginning in the 2020-2021 program review cycle must have the 2018 AHIMA HIM Curricula Competencies implemented in all courses. These programs will be notified in 2020. The Self-Assessment documentation will be due in the CAHIIM Accreditation System in 2021 by the assigned date. All remaining CAHIIM HIM Accredited programs must implement the 2018 AHIMA HIM Curricula Competencies by the CAHIIM designated date in 2021. After review of the handouts and discussion of the information from the handouts, the members decided it was time to take a vote. It was decided that each member would vote on one of two Associate Degree Specialization: Data Management or Revenue Cycle Management verbally. After each member voted, the members voted unanimously for the Revenue Cycle Management. e. Change in one of the Prerequisites- Norma Mercado reported that there is going to be change in the degree plan’s prerequisites. Currently we have MATH 1314 as a prerequisite for our program; AHIMA is recommending that we go to MATH 1342, Math Statistics instead of College Algebra (MATH) 1314. She also stated that the students will get introduced to health care statistics in the HITT 2343 course.

Norma Mercado announced that the next advisory board meeting will be in August 2019 after the Assembly on Education Meeting, which she will be attending. At that meeting, they will be providing sample curriculum which she will be sharing with the members.

There being no further business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned by Cynthia Colovas. NEXT MEETING: TBD by phone, skype or webinar