Barton Community College will implement changes to its Medical Assistant and Medical Coding programs starting in the fall of 2012, administrators said recently. The staff will follow statewide “alignment” of course content that was approved last year by the Kansas Board of Regents. The college plans to allow students in either program to work toward a certificate, requiring a minimum 45 credit hours, or a two-year Associate of Applied Science degree, requiring 63 or more credit hours.
Kimberly Brennan, instructor and coordinator of Barton’s Medical Support Programs, and Jane Howard, executive director of Business, Technology and Community Education, reported on the programs and the courses they will include at a recent BCC Board of Trustees study session.
Brennan told trustees that successful completion of these programs can lead to a variety of employment opportunities in clinics, hospitals and nursing homes, for example. “There’s a great demand for hospital coders,” she said.
In other news related to BCC programs in the health-care field, Barton President Dr. Carl Heilman gave his monthly report on affiliation agreements he approved in March.
These included nursing clinical affiliation agreements with Russell Regional Hospital in Russell, Mitchell County Hospital Health System in Beloit; and Trego County - Lemke Memorial Hospital in WaKeeney; Medical Lab Technician (MLT) clinical affiliation agreements with Newton Medical Center in Newton, Morton County Hospital in Elkhart, Kingman Community Hospital in Kingman, Kansas Pathology Services LLC in Hays and Greenwood County Hospital in Eureka; and Emergency Medical Service (EMS) agreements with Wesley Medical Center LLC, doing business as Galichia Heart Hospital, Wichita; Pratt County EMS in Pratt; and Medevac MidAmerica Inc., doing business as American Medical Response.
“We have over 500 partnerships with public and private institutions nationwide,” Heilman said, and not just in medical fields.