HIM WEEKLY WEDNESDAY - FALL REGISTRATION / NEW LAST NAME!

Hello everyone, this is just a quick reminder this week to schedule time with Frank to register for Fall.  Fall registration is now open and it is important to not wait until the last minute!

The following are the HIM courses that are offered for fall. 

HIM 405 Healthcare Information Law, Privacy, and Security

HIM 420 Health Research and Quality

There are also a number of HCA course that you will find on the schedule as well.  If you are not sure what to take, Frank can help you with that!!!

 Have a wonderful 4^th of July!

P.S.  I got married last week and Edgerton is my new last name.  I will continue to include Glewwe in my signature line for quite a while to help with the confusion!

 

Cindy (Glewwe) Edgerton, M.Ed., RHIA  

Director, Health Information Management Program

Charter Oak State College

55 Paul J. Manafort Drive

New Britain, CT 06053

(Ph.) 860-515-3833

 

HIM WEEKLY WEDNESDAY - AHIMA STATE AFFILIATIONS / CAHIIM ACCREDITATION UPDATE

Hello HIM Students!  I haven’t been “weekly” with my Weekly Wednesday lately.   Some Wednesday’s come around and I just can’t think of anything great and important to share – so I decide not to send anything just for the sake of sending it.  I know we all have enough email to wade through.

There are a few things I do want to share this week:

1.        Be sure you are registered for Summer Term 2 – it starts on Monday!  I hope to see some of you in my class – HCA/HIM 115 Fundamentals of HIM

2.       Check out your state AHIMA affiliation for any upcoming conferences.  Many are in the summer or early fall.  Since many of you are from CT, be sure to take a look at the CTHIMA website for details on their annual conference that is in Mystic this year on August 24^th and 25^th.  Students always get a nice discount and I will be there and would love to meet you in person. 

3.       We have submitted our Self-Assessment to CAHIIM so now we are waiting to hear when our accreditation visit will be.  I  was told that January might be a reasonable expectation.  We are all looking forward to it!

I know Frank has been enjoying working with you through the new advising system.  Be sure to always let me or Frank know if you have any questions about the program – we are always here to help.

 I hope you are all having a great summer! 

Cindy Glewwe, M.Ed., RHIA  

Director, Health Information Management Program

Charter Oak State College

55 Paul J. Manafort Drive

New Britain, CT 06053

(Ph.) 860-515-3833

 

HIM WEEKLY WEDNESDAY - ICD-10 NEWS AND UPDATES

Hello HIM Students!  After all of the crazy ICD-10 news that I reported to you last month, we now have new information from CMS.  Please read the article below.

http://journal.ahima.org/2014/05/01/cms-proposes-october-2015-as-new-icd-10-compliance-date/

And for one more look on the topic:

http://journal.ahima.org/2014/05/14/monthly-code-cracker-stay-the-course/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+%24%7BJournalOfAhima%7D+%28%24%7BJournal%7D%29

All of this means that we won't be making any changes to our coding courses at COSC.  In HIM 210 you will learn about ICD-9 as a system that is retiring, and you will learn how to code with ICD-10.  This will put all of you in a great position as you graduate with ICD-10 coding skills.

 

Cindy Glewwe, M.Ed., RHIA  

Director, Health Information Management Program

Charter Oak State College

55 Paul J. Manafort Drive

New Britain, CT 06053

(Ph.) 860-515-3833

HIM WEEKLY WEDNESDAY - THE HIM JOB MARKET

Hello HIM Students!  Today will be a quick message as I am attending the Minnesota Health Information Management Association annual conference.  It is a large state conference with about 450 HIM professionals in attendance.  It is always inspiring and motivating!

I want to share a great article with you this week.  It is about the current HIM job market, and it is full of good news!  I hope, as you read it, you will feel the excitement about the future of HIM jobs.

Here it is:

http://health-information.advanceweb.com/Features/Articles/The-HIM-Job-Market.aspx

Happy Wednesday!
 

Cindy Glewwe, M.Ed, RHIA

Director, Health Information Management Program 

Charter Oak State College

55 Paul J. Manafort Drive

New Britain, CT 06053

(860) 515-3833

cglewwe@charteroak.edu

www.charteroak.edu

HIM WEEKLY WEDNESDAY - SCAN YOUR EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES!

Hello HIM Students!  I mentioned a couple of months ago that it is never too early to start looking for HIM jobs, even if it is just to see what types of opportunities there are AND to help you stay motivated and keep your eye on the prize!  HIM students often make the mistake of thinking they can't start applying for HIM jobs until they graduate with the degree. That's not true! There are plenty of entry-level and mid-level positions that you may be qualified for, and an employer might really love that you are an HIM program. In their eyes you will be someone who can learn and be mentored and then be an excellent candidate for promotion once you have that degree and credential!

If you are not already working in the field, I would like to challenge you this week to check out the websites of your local hospitals or health care systems and see what is out there.  It is a little tricky, because all of the positions are not usually under one Health Information or Medical Records heading but those are good places to start.  You should also look at good entry-level options such as medical receptionist, admissions, patient registration, etc. for really good foot-in-the-door jobs.  Once you have a handful of the HIM courses completed, you might be qualified for an HIM Technician position.  Always look at the preferred qualifications for a job and you might be surprised to find that you would be a good fit.  I took a look at the Yale New Haven Hospital employment site today and I was pretty excited about all the possibilities I saw there.

If you ARE working in the field, feel free to hit REPLY ALL and let your fellow HIM students know about the types of positions at your facility that an HIM student may be qualified for.  And better yet, if you know of any current openings, send those our way and you just might motivate someone to apply!

Have a great week!

 

Cindy Glewwe, M.Ed, RHIA

Director, Health Information Management Program 

Charter Oak State College

55 Paul J. Manafort Drive

New Britain, CT 06053

(860) 515-3833

cglewwe@charteroak.edu

HIM WEEKLY WEDNESDAY - AHIMA STUDENT OPEN HOUSE

This is just a quick reminder that there is an excellent opportunity for 3 hours of educational sessions for HIM students THIS Friday, April 11.  It is FREE and you are able to choose either the morning or afternoon session.  All sessions will be presented via webinar and you can read more and see the agenda here:

 http://www.ahimafoundation.org/about/FoundationEvents.aspx

Be sure to register if you are able to attend.  I know many of you will be working on Friday, but if there is any way you can listen in I think it will be really valuable!

 

Cindy Glewwe, M.Ed, RHIA

Director, Health Information Management Program 

Charter Oak State College

55 Paul J. Manafort Drive

New Britain, CT 06053

(860) 515-3833

HIM WEEKLY WEDNESDAY - ICD-10 Delay

Well, it was a stressful and eventful week for AHIMA and the HIM profession.  A lot has happened since last Wednesday.  I mentioned last week that we were waiting on a vote in the House on a bill that had language slipped into it (7 lines) that would delay ICD-10 for another year.  AHIMA rallied it’s members and over 6000 calls were made to Senators by AHIMA members alone.  Sadly, the bill passed in the House vote last Thursday.  This brought on a massive effort by AHIMA and its members to inform the Senate about this “hidden language” in the bill and beg them to have it removed or vote no.  Thousands and thousands of emails and calls were made again, by AHIMA members to their local Senators.  A massive Twitter initiative was launched as well.  We really did everything we could, but unfortunately this bill was passed on Monday and expected to be signed by President Obama.

 

What does this mean for the HIM program at Charter Oak and all of you?  Actually, not much, thank goodness.  Since none of you have taken our coding courses, we are able to still move forward as planned.  Our HIM 210 course, Medical Coding and Billing I - ICD-10, will still be taught this fall, 2014, and keep you right on track for learning ICD-10 for the new date of October 1, 2015.  In this course you will learn a bit of ICD-9, just enough to know what it is like, but you will focus on ICD-10 because that is where the focus will be by the time your graduate.  Just keep in mind that it isn’t so easy for HIM students at other schools who are graduating next month.  They have learned ICD-10, and now the schools have to scramble to somehow teach them ICD-9 so they will be employable and ready for their RHIT or RHIA exams.  It is a really difficult time right now for those schools.  It is also very difficult for all of the health care facilities who were prepared and just about ready to make the transition this October.  All of their efforts are now halted and new plans have to be made. 

 

Read here to see how AHIMA responded to the first vote:

http://journal.ahima.org/2014/03/28/senate-to-vote-on-icd-10-delay-bill-monday/

 

Read here to see their article after the bill passed in the Senate:

http://journal.ahima.org/2014/03/31/senate-votes-on-icd-10-delay-bill/

 

Please let me know if you have any questions about this!  Happy Wednesday!

 

Cindy Glewwe, M.Ed., RHIA   

Director, Health Information Management Program

Charter Oak State College

55 Paul J. Manafort Drive

New Britain, CT 06053

(Ph.) 860-515-3833