INA, Ill. (May 10, 2016) - Tonight, during the Rend Lake College Board of Trustees monthly meeting, two articulation agreements were approved for graduates of RLC’s Certified Medical Assistant (CMA) and Health Information Technology (HIT) programs to transfer to Southern Illinois University (SIU) Carbondale. Both agreements are effective immediately.
Graduates from either the CMA or HIT Associate in Applied Science degree programs will transfer into SIU Carbondale’s Bachelor of Science in Health Care Management program. In addition to meeting SIU Carbondale’s admission requirements, all RLC students must have a minimum of 60 semester hours to transfer and a 2.0 grade point average. Once at SIU Carbondale, students will complete a minimum of 42 credit hours for the bachelor’s degree.
Certified Medical Assistant
The agreement will be especially beneficial to a number of students who are graduating this month with CMA certificates. Dr. Nina Goloubeva, Director of the CMA program, said she has about 20 students graduating and knows approximately a dozen are interested in continuing through RLC’s AAS degree program next year.
Most CMAs work behind the scenes in physician’s offices, hospitals, outpatient clinics and other health care facilities. Oftentimes, they complete administrative and clinical tasks at the facility, depending on location, specialty, and size of the practice.
With a median salary of $30,590 according to the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), job growth for medical assistants will come as physicians need to hire more professionals to perform routine administrative and clinical duties, allowing them to see more patients.
In fact, both programs recently made RLC’s top five list of fastest-growing health care programs. Jobs for medical assistants are expected to see a 23 percent increase in the next eight years, adding 138,900 jobs to the industry, states information from the BLS. Health care technicians are also going to see a 15 percent increase over the same time, adding nearly 30,000 jobs.
In addition to graduation requirements at RLC for the CMA program, students will also be required to pass Introduction to Computers with Business Applications (CSCI 1102) and three humanities electives.
Health Information Technology
The new agreement is going to make an immediate impact in the HIT program, said Charlotte Henry, Director of the HIT program, who added that she has one student who is already planning to take advantage of the agreement this year. She said the bachelor’s degree will be extremely beneficial for any professional looking for career advancement.
“At the bachelor’s degree level, there would be an increase in salary and more opportunities for that individual. It could take them up to the administrative or management level with more room for progression,†said Henry. “A lot of facilities in our field look for the bachelor’s degree because of data analytics. Health information keeps expanding and there will be even more opportunity there in the future.â€
HITs, with a median pay of $37,110 according to the BLS, work in hospitals and physician’s offices, helping to organize and manage health information data. These professionals are required to ensure the information is maintained with quality, accuracy, accessibility, and security.
Both programs also offer an articulation agreement with Central Methodist University, with other agreements in the planning stages. To learn more about the CMA program, contact Goloubeva at 618-437-5321, Ext. 1766 or goloubevan@rlc.edu. Contact Henry for information about the HIT program at Ext. 1772 or henryc@rlc.edu.
