ACHCA Presentations

I (John Pratt) will be making two presentations at the Winter Market Place of the American College of Health Care Administrators (ACHCA) next week in Las Vegas, NV and would love to talk with any of you who plan to be there.

The Winter Market Place will be held at the Flamingo Las Vegas Hotel from December 8th through December 10th. I'll be making two presentations as follows, both on Sunday, December 10th:

1. "Manage Change or it will Manage You" 8:00-9:00 am
2. "Models of Excellence - Online Learning" 9:10-10:10 am

If you will be attending the Winter Market Place, come by and say hello, even if you're not attending either of the presentations.

2007 Summer Programs

The Division of Graduate and Professional Studies (GPS) offers three two-week summer residency sessions for its students, including those in the HA programs. While students in degree programs must attend one such session sometime while pursuing their degrees, they can also speed up their degree completion time by attending more than one session.

The courses offered cover many of the same ones provided online, but also include several that are offered in the summer only.

The three sessions are as follows. Click on the Session links below to check Course Offerings:
Summer Session 1 June 4-15
Summer Session 2 July 9-20
Summer Session 3 July 23 - August 3

For more specific information about the summer programs, current students should contact their Academic Advisors. Others can go to the digital catalog at http://catalog.sjcme.acalog.com and click on "Summer Programs."

New Assignment Submission Form

The Division of Graduate and Professional Studies at Saint Joseph’s College of Maine is pleased to announce the creation of a web-based Assignment Submission Form. This new web-based form was developed to assist Distance Education Students with the email submission of assignments, ensuring accuracy in delivery – to both the faculty and the Assignment Processing Department (also known as “apd”). This is something students have long sought, and we are now able to provide it.

The new Assignment Submission Form can be accessed through a course’s WebCT Homepage, by clicking on "Submit An Assignment" or trough the Student Resources web page at http://www.sjcme.edu/gps/studentresources.htm, by clicking on: “• Submit an assignment for your course.” (The third bullet under the Get Going section of the web page.)

Any student with questions about the new form should contact his or her academic advisor.

Program Advisory Committee

The Health Administration Program is in process of creating a Program Advisory Committee, with details as follows:

Purpose

The purpose of the Health Administration Program Advisory Committee is to provide input and advice to the Program Director to ensure the continued excellence and success of the health administration programs at Saint Joseph’s College of Maine, Division of Graduate and Professional Studies.

Duties
The duties of the Health Administration Program Advisory Committee will include assisting the Program Director with:

1. Program review and planning, including development of goals and objectives,
2. Assessment of program and course offerings as related to those goals and objectives,
3. Assessment of the needs of the community, region, state or industry as related to the program offerings,
4. Formulating recommendations for the improvement of instruction and course delivery,
5. Keeping the program abreast of significant trends and developments in health administration and related fields, including federal and state legislative and regulatory activity,
6. Achieving or maintaining applicable accreditation or other regulatory/professional approvals of the programs,
7. Maintaining a positive image of the health administration programs including development, implementation and assessment of marketing efforts,
8. Articulation of the program offerings with employment opportunities, and
9. Other duties as determined.

Membership

Appointments to the Health Administration Program Advisory Committee will be made by the Dean of the Division of Graduate and Professional Studies from recommendations by the Program Director. The size of the advisory committee will vary, but will include at least the following:

1. The Program Director (ex officio)
2. The Assistant Program Director (ex officio)
3. The Chair of the Continuing Care Council (ex officio)
4. One or more students currently enrolled in one of the health administration programs
5. One or more graduates of one of the health administration programs
6. One or more faculty members currently teaching in one of the programs
7. Experts in professions relevant to program offerings (e.g., health administration, long-term care administration, radiologic science).

Members will be appointed in a manner to assure that all of the health administration programs (including undergraduate and graduate) are adequately represented. While an individual member may represent multiple categories (e.g., graduate, faculty, professional expert), efforts will be made to guarantee that there is at least one member representing each category of membership, and at no time will the committee membership be less than seven, including ex officio members.

Meetings

The committee will meet as needed but no less than once per fiscal year. Meetings may be held on the Saint Joseph’s College campus, at other convenient locations, or may occur via telephone and/or online conference calls. Given the nature of the distance programs, it is anticipated that much of the committee’s activities will take place by means of online communications. All formal meetings whether on site or through electronic media, will have minutes recorded.

Committee Support

The Program Director and Assistant Program Director will provide administrative support for the committee, ensuring that records of attendance, agendas, minutes and other documents are maintained and that the committee has the resources needed to accomplish its duties.

HA Program Marketing

The Division of Graduate and Professional Studies - including Health Administration - has embarked on a new plan to better market our programs. The marketing plan includes several elements:

1. Development of new descriptive brochures,
2. Improvement of the GPS web site,
3. Mailing of letters to the CEOs and Human Resource Directors of 6,000+ hospitals across the U.S. and 15,000 nursing home administrators,
4. A follow-up mailing of brochures to the same list of hospitals and nursing homes,
5. Exhibiting at professional conventions and meetings,
6. Space advertising in professional and trade association journals.

We have already exhibited at two national meetings and plan several more.
The mailings are underway, and some space advertising has been purchased.
We will report on progress of these marketing efforts from time to time.

GPS Catalog Now Online

The catalog of the Division of Graduate and Professional Studies (GPS) at Saint Joseph's College has gone digital!

It is now available online at http://catalog.sjcme.acalog.com. It can also be accessed from the GPS home page www.sjcme.edu/gps.

Having the catalog online not only makes it easier to access, but allows us to keep it current with frequent updates.

HA Programs to Exhibit at Conventions/Conferences

Members of the Health Administration (HA) program will be attending several national conventions & conferences and manning an exhibit booth at them.

Those conventions/conferenceswill include:

• American Health Care Assn./National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL), Annual Convention, San Antonio, TX, 10/6 – 10/11
• American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA), Annual conference, Denver, CO, 10/7 – 10/12
• American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging (AAHSA), Annual Conference, San Francisco, CA, 11/5 - 11/8

An Admissions Counselor and either the Program Director or Assistant Program Director will be attending the conventions/conferences.

New Full-Time HA Staff

As part of the reorganization of the Health Administration programs, new full-time positions have been added as follows:

Assistant Program Director - Because the program combined two previously separate programs, each with its own Program Director, the College agreed to add an Assistant Program Director. We are fortunate to have appointed Twila Weiszbrod, MPA to that positon. Twila is a graduate of SJC (BSHCA, 2000) and holds a Master of Public Administration from California State University at Fresno (2004). Her most recent position was as Division Manager, Clinical Services, Tulare (CA)County Health & Human Services Agency. Twila has been teaching in the HA programs for the past several years, teaching American Health Care Systems and Health Care Informatics.

Twila will continue to work from her California home, visiting campus as needed. Her initial reaponsibilities involve working on marketing of the program, course development, retention, and faculty mentoring.

Full-Time Faculty at a Distance - The Division (GPS) has also recently created a new position title of "full-time faculty-at-a-distance" to recognize the extensive teaching and administrative commitments of some of our adjunct faculty. The first two appointments to this position are John Lemire and Janet Douglass. Both have taught for GPS for several years. John will work completely within the HA programs while Janet will split her time between the HA and Nursing departments. Their primary responsibilities will be teaching, but will also undertake some administrative projects.

These new positions - and the outstanding people in them - recognize the growth and development of the Health Administration programs and of the Division of Graduate and Professional Studies (GPS).

HA Program Reorganization

Following extensive Program Review this past year, the Health Admnistration programs have been reorganized. The undergraduate programs (Health Care Administration, Long-Term Care Administration, and Radiologic Science) and the graduate program (Health Services Administration), had previously been under the direction of multiple Program Directors. Having them combined increases both the efficiency of the programs and the academic and organizational effectiveness of them.

In keeping with that reorganization, both the undergraduate Health Care Administration and graduate Health Services Administration programs have been renamed Health Administration.

We believe that this will improve the quality of the programs and our ability to service our students.