AHIMA CSA Core Service Achievement Award – 1^st Place Winner

OHIMA Online CE Courses

Nomination Category: Continuing education programs relating to HIM practice

Overview

Since 1999, the Ohio Health Information Management Association (OHIMA) has been offering continuing education programs accessible online through our website at www.ohima.org.

OHIMA’s online CE program currently offers eleven courses comprising a total of forty-five continuing education credits. Online courses are offered entirely via the Internet with no special downloads or plug-ins needed. Credit card payment is submitted through our secure server for immediate course access. Upon successful completion of the course and final exam (>70%), the course participant receives a Continuing Education certificate.

The OHIMA Executive Board reviews online proposals from members for new course content in return for compensation. If accepted, the courses are reviewed for quality prior to publishing and are reviewed annually by the Board to determine whether revisions need to be made or courses need to be removed to ensure up-to-date quality courses are offered.

Goals

• Offer quality courses pertaining to a wide variety of health information management topics.
• Provide continuing education credits to members at an affordable price.
• Allow for a self-paced and convenient learning environment.
• Supply the association with a steady income throughout the year.

Implementation Process

A Call for Presentations is available on the OHIMA website. The OHIMA Board reviews and approves all proposed online course topics. The Executive Director of OHIMA is responsible for all aspects of producing online courses with the exception of course acceptance, development and review. The following outlines specific responsibilities of the OHIMA Executive Director in regards to the OHIMA online CE program:

· Advertise the availability of online courses via the OHIMA website and newsletters to the membership.

· Initiate a contract with approved online course instructors or those asked to review and update courses, and work with them to obtain/revise course content.

· Transfer course content received from instructor to a format conducive to online viewing (html).

· Provide technical assistance to course users as necessary.

· Communicate and track financial and evaluation outcome of online courses to the Board.

Results

OHIMA net profit for online CE courses in 2005-06 was over $27,000.

Profit in 2005-06 greatly exceeded expectations because a contract with a hospital system in South Dakota was negotiated and finalized. OHIMA online courses were sold to the hospital system for them to use to train their HIM employees in medical terminology and basic ICD9 coding. Within one month, OHIMA received a total of $23,544 for selling 460 online courses.