San Diego Mesa College Selected as Pilot Site to Offer Bachelor s Degree in Health Information Management

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1 NEWS RELEASE CONTACT: Jack Beresford January 20, 2015 Lina Heil San Diego Mesa College Selected as Pilot Site to Offer Bachelor s Degree in Health Information Management SDCCD Chancellor Constance M. Carroll and Senator Marty Block (center) receiving awards from California Community Colleges Board of Governor s President Geoffrey Baum and State Chancellor Brice Harris. San Diego Mesa College has been selected to offer a baccalaureate degree in the rapidly growing field of Health Information Management thanks to a new law allowing a limited number of community colleges to develop baccalaureate programs in career technical fields. The new law, Senate Bill 805 was authored by Senator Marty Block. Mesa College was among 15 California community colleges selected to begin offering a baccalaureate degree program as early as fall Mesa and the other selected colleges will become the first community colleges in California to grant four-year degrees under the state s historic Baccalaureate Degree Pilot Program. A final vote by the California Community Colleges Board of Governors affirming the selection will take place in March. One of the top missions of the California community colleges is workforce education, said San Diego Community College District Chancellor Constance M. Carroll, who chaired a statewide advocacy effort in support of the Baccalaureate Pilot Program. We are proud that one of our colleges will be in the vanguard of this innovative movement to address the region s workforce preparation needs through high-quality instruction. I applaud the excellent work of Mesa College President Dr. Pamela T. Luster and her team on generating a winning proposal.

2 The Baccalaureate Degree Pilot Program was fueled in part by several studies showing that the state needs to produce 60,000 more graduates with bachelor s degrees annually by 2025 to meet workforce needs. California is joining 21 other states that allow their community colleges to offer baccalaureate degrees. Mesa College already offers an associate degree in Health Information Technology, and the college began to plan for a four-year program midway through 2014 as Senate Bill 850, which authorized the Baccalaureate Degree Pilot Program, gained momentum in the state Legislature. Governor Jerry Brown signed the bill into law September 28, The baccalaureate program will be offered through Mesa College s School of Health Sciences and Public Services. Students will take classes in the state-of-the-art Allied Health Education and Training Facility, which opened in The college has worked in collaboration with its healthcare industry partners to secure clinical placement sites to support the program requirements. Of the many excellent academic programs at Mesa, the two-year health information technology program stood out as the most Assistant Professor Connie Renda (center) with Health Information Technology (HEIT) students. vibrant choice for a four-year degree, said Mesa College President Pamela T. Luster. There is a robust labor market need for medical records managers. We have tremendous student demand, superior faculty, and overwhelming support from our healthcare industry partners who stand ready to employ our graduates. The health care field is undergoing significant change, and a federal law mandating that health care institutions convert to electronic health records has helped fuel demand for health information management employees. More than 186,000 people worked in the health information management field in 2012, and that number is expected to increase by about 22 percent or more than 41,000 nationwide by 2022, according to the most recent figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Salaries for a health services manager typically range from nearly $83,000 to more than $144,000 annually, according to the California Economic Development Office, with mid-level leadership salary levels in the $55,000 to $70,000 range. The San Diego region is home to some of the leading healthcare providers in the United States, including Rady Children s Hospital, The Scripps Research Institute, and two U.S. Naval hospitals. Mesa College is so excited to be offering the Health Information Management program, said Margie Fritch, Dean of Mesa s School of Health Sciences and Public Service. Students will be able to complete the two-year program and sit for their national exam in Health Information Technology and then move seamlessly into the last two years in the Health Information Management (HIM) program, and upon successful completion be eligible to sit for the national exam for Registered Health Information Administrator (RHIA). This program will serve as an exemplary model of a career pathway with multiple entry and exit points that result in industry recognized licenses/certifications leading to employment, Fritch

3 added. Students can begin the program by taking their first year of classes and sitting for the Medical Coding Specialist Certification. They can continue on to the second year and graduate with their Associate Degree in Health Information Technology and sit for the RHIT certification. Then can then continue on with the last two years and graduate with their Bachelor of Science in Health Information Management and then sit for the RHIA Certification. A recent survey of Mesa College students enrolled in the Health Information Technology associate degree program showed approximately 95 percent were interested in pursuing a bachelor s degree if a baccalaureate program was offered at the Mesa College campus. A minimum of 120 semester credits will be needed to fulfill the requirements for the four-year degree in the Health Information Management program. Students will need to complete 60 units of lower-division coursework at the community college rate of $46 a unit. The sixty additional upper division units will cost an additional $84, for a total of $130 per unit for the last two years of the program. In total, the cost of the four-year program, not including books or other costs, would be about $10,560. This is music to the ears of Mesa College students like Steven P. Cordero-Wade: I m excited. Having the ability to get a four-year degree at a lower cost it s an opportunity that s fantastic. The only Health Information Management baccalaureate degree program currently offered in California is through Loma Linda University, a private institution that charges approximately $30,000 in tuition annually. A new freshman cohort of 32 students in the Heath Information Technology (HIT) program will begin in fall In fall 2016, Mesa will start offering the junior-level courses in the HIM program, as well as the upper-division general education courses. Admission to the upperdivision classes will be open to students who hold a two-year HIT degree and who have successfully passed the national board exam as a Registered Health Information Technician. Admission criteria will be posted on the Mesa College website in February at Recommended Pilot Programs: Antelope Valley College - AIRFRAME MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY Bakersfield - INDUSTRIAL AUTOMATION Crafton Hills - EMERGENCY SERVICES & ALLIED HEALTH SYSTEMS Cypress - MORTUARY SCIENCE Feather River - EQUINE INDUSTRY Foothill - DENTAL HYGIENE MiraCosta - BIOMANUFACTURING Modesto - RESPIRATORY CARE Rio Hondo - AUTOMOTIVE TECHNOLOGY San Diego Mesa - HEALTH INFORMATION MANAGEMENT Santa Ana - OCCUPATIONAL STUDIES Santa Monica - INTERACTION DESIGN Shasta - HEALTH INFORMATION MANAGEMENT Skyline - RESPIRATORY THERAPY West Los Angeles - DENTAL HYGIENE ###

4 As the second-largest of California s 72 community college districts, the San Diego Community College District serves approximately 100,000 students annually through three two-year colleges and San Diego Continuing Education. The three colleges, San Diego City College, San Diego Mesa College, and San Diego Miramar College, offer associate degrees and certificates in occupational programs that prepare students for transfer to four-year colleges and entry-level jobs. Among the largest community colleges in California and the nation, San Diego Mesa College is a fully accredited two-year college serving nearly 25,000 students and offering more than 190 associate degree and certificate programs, and in fall 2015, a baccalaureate degree in the field of Health Information Management. With its premiere fine art and music programs, robust language offerings and rigorous math and science curricula, Mesa ranks as San Diego s top transfer institution. The college also serves as an important economic catalyst for the region. As a Title III and Title V eligible institution, Mesa College is committed to the success of all students, including underrepresented students and more than 1,000 veterans and their families. Link to B-roll of San Diego Mesa College Allied Health Building and the Health Information Technology (HEIT) class: Link to B-roll of San Diego Mesa College Health Information Technology class: San Diego Mesa College Allied Health Education and Training Facility. Sen. Marty Block speaking at a Nov press conference urging Gov. Jerry Brown to approve SB 850. SB 850 was passed last September 28.

5 Assistant Professor Connie Renda (center) with Health Information Technology (HEIT) students. Chancellor Constance M. Carroll speaking at press conference in Nov urging Gov. Jerry Brown to approve SB 850. Chancellor Carroll served on the state's baccalaureate study group and has chaired the statewide coalition that provided advocacy for the passage of SB 850.