MHA Student Authors Article

Betty MacLaughlin Frandsen, a graduate of GPS and a current student in the MHA program, recently wrote an article for ECPN magazine and they published it as the cover story in the October issue. You can access the article at the following web site http://www.extendedcarenews.com/. The title is A" View from the Other Side. What the Administrator Needs from a Director of Nursing."

Betty is the administrator of the Bridgewater Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing, a 331-bed skilled nursing facility (Binghamton, NY). She was a director of nursing (DON) for 14 years and served for two years as President of the National Association of Directors of Nursing Administration in Long-Term Care (NADONA/LTC) and five years as its Legislative Coordinator to Washington, DC.

Our congratulations to Betty. Well-done.

Radiologic Science Program

While our Bachelor Science, Radiolgic Science Major (BS/RS) has been quite successful, we are making some changes to make it even more so.

BS Major Name Change:

Students enrolling in the BS/RS have already completed their clinical work, coming with either an Associate's Degree or certification in radiology. Thus, to more accurately reflect what the major provides, we will be changing the name to Radiological Science Administration.

New Associate's Degree:

We are in process of creating a new Associate of Science, Radiologic Science Administration Major (AS/RSA). It will offer students from hospital-based certificate programs an opportunity to acquire an Associate's Degree and move smoothly into the Bachelor's Degree.

General Studies Courses:

New requirements by the Joint Review Committee in Radiologic Technology (JRCRT) require that certificate programs provide at least twelve semester hours of general education courses (humanities, sciences, etc.). We are contacting all of the accredited certificate programs in the U.S. letting them know that we can provide those courses to their students online.

All of these changes will improve our service to the radiologic technology community and will give us a significant marketing boost. We'll keep you posted on the results.

Program Update

In an effort to keep you updated regarding changes occurring in your Health Administration Program, we will be sending you periodic updates. This note includes information about:

* Role Reversal
* Tell a Friend
* HA Blog

Role Reversal
On October 1st, John Pratt, Health Administration Program Director and Twila Weiszbrod, Assistant Program Director, will be exchanging roles. John has been the driving force behind our programs for many years. Twila fell in love with SJC when she was here as a student in 2000, returned as a faculty member in 2003 and became Assistant Program Director last year. John now sees an opportunity to focus his energy more on the long-term care arena and to have more flexibility with his time as he begins looking toward retirement sometime in the future. In this spirit John will become the Assistant Program Director/Long-Term Care Coordinator and Twila will assume the role of Program Director. While this is a big change, both of us are excited about it! With John still actively involved, you will not see major changes in the programs, but you will see continuity, continued quality and – given Twila’s creativity and energy – ongoing improvements.

Tell a Friend
We recently had an accreditation site visit. The only recommendation from our visitors is that we need to do more to get the word out about our excellent programs! We are hoping you can help us with that!! We have long known that our own students and alumni are our best ambassadors. If you know of anyone who would benefit from a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in health administration, a Bachelor’s degree in long-term care administration or radiologic science, or certificates and individual courses in these areas, please pass the following information on to them:

Saint Joseph’s College of Maine offers courses and degree programs in health administration, long-term care administration and radiologic science that combine the education you need to move your career forward with the flexibility to fit within your job and family commitments! The online format allows you to work on your courses at your own pace from anywhere in the world and the courses are grounded in real-world experience. Expand your career options!! Check out their web site at http://www.sjcme.edu/gps/index.htm, or contact the College directly at info@sjcme.edu

Other Suggestions
We value your opinions in these and other areas and would welcome any ideas or suggestions you have for making our HA programs the very best possible. Feel free to contact either of us by replying to this email.


John R. Pratt and Twila Weiszbrod
Health Administration Programs

Health Care Administration Program Advisory Committee

We are very pleased to announce that Keith Baldwin is now a member of our Health Care Administration Program Advisory Committee! Keith brings a vast amount and quality of experience in the acute health care field and his oversight will be an asset to our programs.

Keith has most recently been acting as the Interim VP Medical Staff Relations for Empire Health Services at Deaconess Medical Center in Spokane, WA. He previously held positions of COO Valley Hospital and Medical Center and VP of Physician Relations at Empire Health Services two hospitals. Keith developed a consulting firm in the fall of 2006 and continues to work with Perspectives Imaging, a firm that provides Mobile Imaging solutions for hospitals and physician groups, through his consulting firm. Prior to developing the consulting firm, he was the CEO at Samaritan Healthcare in Moses Lake, WA, for eleven and a half years.

NAB Accreditation Visit

A site visit team from the National Association of Boards of Examiners for Long-Term Care Administrators (NAB) was on-campus on Tuesday, September 5th and Wednesday, September 6th relative to accreditation of our Long-Term Care Administration (LTCA) and Master of Health Administration (MHA) programs. Accreditation is for five years. The LTCA has been accredited twice before and is seeking reaccreditation while the MHA is seeking first-time accreditation following curriculum changes to make it eligible.

The National Association of Boards of Examiners for Long-Term Care Administrators (NAB) is an organization made up of representatives of the individual state (and District of Columbia) nursing home administrator licensing boards. All states license nursing home administrators and a growing number also license assisted living administrators. NAB’s mission is “To enhance the effectiveness of state boards of long term care administrators in meeting their statutory and regulatory duties and responsibilities to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the public.”

One of the ways NAB fulfills its mission is by accrediting college and university long-term care administration programs to assure that those programs are preparing their graduates properly. SJC is the only currently-accredited program that is nontraditional in its delivery mode. NAB has only recently begun accrediting graduate programs. Our MHA will be the second graduate program accredited by NAB and SJC will be the first college to have both undergraduate and graduate programs accredited at the same time.

The SJC accreditation/reaccreditation will be formerly voted on at the NAB Mid-Year Meeting in November. However, the members of the site visit team were glowing in their praise of our programs and assured us we would have no problems getting approval at that time.

We would like to thank all who participated in the site visit andits preparation. One very valuable benefit of accreditation visits such as this is making us realize just how good we are, and that's to the credit of all of you.

Advisory Committee Meeting

The Health Administration Program Advisory Committee (HAPAC) met via teleconference on August 28th. The discussion was primarily focused on the role of the committee, how involved they will be and the National Accreditation Board of Long-Term Care Administrators (NAB) accreditation visit at SJC next week. The committee will continue to meet at least quarterly, with relevant information disseminated to them routinely between meetings. It was also announced that we would like to have a hospital administer and home care administrator on the committee if anyone knows of a likely candidate that would be interested. Unfortunately Judy Tarr has had to resign from the committee at this time due to changes in her career. The HAPAC members will also be meeting with the NAB accreditors next week when they are on site.

Our Student Profile

Part of our process of self-examination includes analyzing the profile of our students in terms of gender, geography and age. We thought you might be interested in this information too. As is true of other GPS programs, Health Administration students are typically adult learners working within their chosen fields. They seek additional education to enhance their careers, achieve higher level positions or retain current positions.

Gender:
Historically, the students in the GPS distance education courses have been largely female (75% - 80%) and HA students are not significantly different except that students enrolled in the LTCA programs show a slightly more balanced picture, probably due to specific licensure requirements.

Geographic Distribution:
Because of the distance learning form of course delivery, the students in the HA programs come from across the U. S. and from without the country. At one time or another, students have come from nearly every state.

Age:
Students in the both the LTCA and MHA programs are generally mid-career individuals. That is reflected in the age distribution of current students.

Age Range Undergrad. Grad.
24 - 34_____25%___ 13%
35 - 44_____30%___ 28%
45 - 54_____ 33%___37%
55 - 64_____ 12%___17%
65+ ________- _____2%
Unknown ____- _____3%

Both the average (mean) and median ages for the undergraduate HA students are 42, while those numbers are a bit higher for graduate MHA students, as would be expected, with the mean and median both at 46 years. There is no significant variation in age patterns for the different program options (courses, certificate or degree) or by gender.

2006/2007 Graduates

Who are our graduates?

We are proud to announce that of the 294 GPS students that graduated from SJC in the 2006/2007 school year, 134 (46%) were graduates of Health Administration Programs! We are very proud of these students!

In an effort to better understand who they are, we have summarized some program and demographic information below.

Programs

The 134 graduates were in the following programs:

BSHA (Bachelor of Science, Health Administration) 28 (22%)
BSHA with Long-Term Care Major 0
BSPA (Bachelor of Science, Professional Arts) 28 (22%)
BSRS (Bachelor of Science, Radiologic Science) 10 ( 7%)
MHA (Master, Health Administration) 68 (49%)

Locations

When looking at the geographic location of our students, 38 states are represented, plus Cypress and Northern Mariana Islands.

The number of students by region of the United States is as follows:

Eastern States 89 (66%)
Central States 27 (21%)
Mountain States 5 ( 4%)
Pacific States 10 ( 7%)
Other 3 ( 2%)

Once again, a huge CONGRATULATIONS and BEST WISHES to our Health Administration Program Graduates for 2006/2007!!!

Congratulations Judy Tarr!

The following press release hit the media on Friday, May 25th regarding our very own Adjunct Professor, Judy Tarr:

Miles President Accepts New Position

Damariscotta - Miles President and C.E.O. Judy Tarr has accepted a position as Chief Executive Officer of the 125-bed Central Vermont Medical Center in Barre, VT, Miles officials said.
A long-term employee and administrator at Miles, Tarr began her career there as an accountant in 1983 before quickly being promoted to the position of controller. In 1985 she began serving as the organization’s chief financial officer and went on to take the lead role as President of Miles Health Care in 1993.

“Much of what Miles is today is the direct result of Judy’s incredible leadership,” commented Miles Health Care Board of Trustees Chair Tom Finn. “Anyone who’s been around for the last 20 years knows how much Miles has grown, and the high level of quality the organization has achieved under her leadership.”

Along with new facilities such as the Women’s Center, and Chase Point Assisted Living, Tarr expanded Miles’ services by developing the Miles Medical Group, and secured its future with the MaineHealth affiliation in 1996. She was also instrumental in raising $6 million dollars towards a $10 million expansion and renovation to the Miles Hospital in 2002. “Her thumbprint is not only on every major improvement, it’s very much on the culture at Miles,” Finn said. “Throughout her tenure as president she encouraged an open, friendly environment with trustees, employees, and medical staff alike. One of the reasons our quality is so high is because people are free to speak their mind and have grown accustom to being heard,” he added.

“Miles is a wonderful organization - and what makes it so special are its people,” Tarr commented. We are fortunate to have a strong board, a highly skilled medical staff, hard-working and compassionate employees, and devoted volunteers. It has been a great run. We’ve faced many challenges and shared quite a few victories, but I believe it’s healthy for an organization to get new leadership from time to time. I will miss the Miles people dearly and wish them continued success and personal happiness. I’m confident Miles will continue being the best, because I know the people here, and they really are the best. I leave the organization in very good hands.” Tarr added.

Over the next few weeks, Miles trustees will begin a search process to find a new president. Tarr is expected to complete her work at Miles in August.

SJC Program Director Named to National Board

John Pratt, Director of the Health Administration programs in the Division of Graduate and Professional Studies (GPS) has been named to the Board of Directors of the American College of Health Care Administrators (ACHCA). ACHCA is a national professional society devoted to leadership development and professional education of long-term care administrators. Pratt fills a Board seat newly created specifically for an academician. The appointment is for a term of three years.

He is a Fellow of ACHCA and a Life Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) a professional society of hospital executives. He also serves as Vice-Chair of the Education Committee of the National Association of Boards of Examiners for Long-Term Care Administrators (NAB).

In addition to administrative role in GPS, Pratt is a tenured Professor. He has been employed at Saint Joseph’s College of Maine since 1989 as a teacher and administrator. Before coming to SJC, he was a hospital administrator for twenty-five years. He is a regular presenter at professional conferences, an active contributor to professional journals, and is author of a textbook, Long-Term Care: Managing Across the Continuum.