January 22, 2016

Health care is focus of non-credit online program

by Pete Rosenbery

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Health care professionals or people who are interested in the health care field can take advantage of Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s first non-credit online program beginning Feb. 1. 

A 12-week program in Health Care Risk Management and Patient Safety is a self-managed program comprised of four separate, three-week modules. Les Jebson, an administrator and lecturer with the SIU School of Medicine, and Paul Acedera, a visiting assistant professor with SIU Carbondale’s Extended Campus, will serve as program instructors. Jebson and Acedera are both licensed health care risk managers; Acedera is risk manager at a 695-bed Level One Trauma academic medical center in northeast Florida. 

There are no prerequisite courses. The program will focus on patient safety and risk management, and can help fulfill professional development requirements or provide a glimpse into the health care field for people who are interested in the profession. The program is pass-fail, and students must attain a 70 percent grade or higher on each of the four modules. Successful students will receive a certificate of completion at the end of the program. 

The program concepts include: organization health care risk management principles; financial implications surrounding health care risk management; understanding claims process and management; national regulations and statutes; organization safety principles; correlations between patient safety and health care risk management, and organizational safety programs. 

The program fee is $349, and the required textbooks are $140. The textbooks will serve as valuable resources after the program is completed. More program information is available at http://extendedcampus.siu.edu/healthcareriskmanagement/. For more information, or to register, contact the university’s Extended Campus at 618/453-3430.