SCTCC’s Health Information Technology (HIT) program had its accreditation review this summer and impressed the accrediting committee, which is the Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management Education (CAHIIM).
Usually accreditation for HIT is done every five years, but SCTCC’s accreditor was behind in conducting reviews and the last time there was an accreditation site visit was in 2009 for the initial accreditation. The program is now accredited through the 2030-2031 academic year when it will be reviewed again.
“Because of this, so much has changed in the program that it was like starting over,” said Lynn Zormeier, program director.
Several programs at SCTCC are accredited, along with the College as a whole, which ensures students are learning the most up-to-date information in the field by credentialed instructors. Additionally, HIT’s accreditation allows for graduates to take the Registered Health Information Technician exam, which is a national credential that’s highly coveted in the industry. Zormeier mentioned that hiring managers need RHITs and can’t find them, so they are in demand.
As part of the accreditation process, the HIT program had to show it met 26 standards like program planning, measurement of effectiveness, faculty qualifications, stakeholder support, student record maintenance, student outcomes, and what is taught and how.
After HIT instructors met several times to review the information needed, Zormeier collected and prepared documentation to submit—more than 300 documents.
The reviewers spent nine months evaluating the documents, then scheduled a virtual site visit to meet with current students and graduates, advisory board members, administration, faculty, and the program director.
CAHIIM was especially impressed by SCTCC’s submission because they found no deficiencies, which is uncommon. They also mentioned that SCTCC administration provided great support for the HIT program.
Learn more about the HIT program at SCTCC, a completely online program.