HIM 520 Module 5 Final Project Milestone Two Example

Final Project Milestone Two: Learning From Each Other, a Training and Development Plan for Sycamore Bend's HIM Department

[Student Name]

Southern New Hampshire University

HIM 520: Leading as a HIM Professional

Final Project Milestone Two

[Instructor Name]

[Date]

The organization, setting and figures below are a composite written as a model document. No real employer, client, colleague or patient is described.

Final Project Milestone Two: Learning From Each Other, a Training and Development Plan for Sycamore Bend's HIM Department

The Milestone One assessment found low trust at the acquired hospital, uncertainty about roles across all three sites and procedures that differ from hospital to hospital. The Module Four case of a coder struggling with unfamiliar cardiac cases showed that the merger also created skill gaps no one planned for. Training can address all of these at once if it is designed well. This milestone presents a training and development plan for the department's 132 staff.

Needs Analysis

Salas et al. (2012) emphasize that effective training begins with a needs analysis that identifies what must be learned, by whom and why, rather than with a course catalog. The department's analysis drew on three sources. Coding audits showed error clusters by site and case type, especially cardiac procedures at the community hospital and obstetric sequencing at the acquired hospital. The engagement survey and listening sessions showed that staff did not understand how their roles would change. A comparison of procedures found three different methods for record completion and release of information. Table 1 summarizes the needs identified.

Table 1. Training Needs by Group

Note. Needs analysis by the director and supervisors; composite data.

A Competency Framework

Each role will have defined competencies at each level of the career ladder. For coders, Coder I requires accurate coding of routine inpatient and outpatient cases; Coder II adds complex medical cases and compliant query writing; Coder III adds a specialty such as cardiovascular or obstetric coding and the ability to audit and teach others. Record completion, release of information and documentation integrity roles will have parallel frameworks. Competencies give training a target, give staff a visible path and give supervisors a fair basis for appraisal.

Onboarding

New staff currently receive different orientations at each site. The new onboarding program will include a common first week covering the system's mission, privacy and security, the unified policies and the department's structure, followed by role-specific training with a mentor from a different former hospital than the new employee's supervisor. Assigning cross-site mentors spreads relationships across the department, which should help the merged teams feel like one.

Learning From Each Other

Each former hospital has expertise the others lack. The flagship's coders are strongest in cardiac and surgical cases, the acquired hospital's team runs the most effective query process and the community hospital's long-tenured staff know record completion better than anyone. The plan designates site experts to teach these areas in short monthly sessions, recorded for remote staff. This design treats the acquired and community hospitals as sources of knowledge, not only as recipients of the flagship's methods, which answers staff concerns from the listening sessions. It also depends on a climate where people feel safe asking questions in front of colleagues from other sites; Edmondson (1999) linked that kind of psychological safety to learning behavior in teams, so supervisors will model asking questions themselves.

Making Learning Stick

Training often fails not in the classroom but back at work. Blume et al. (2010), in a meta-analysis of training transfer, found that whether people applied what they learned depended not only on their own motivation and ability but also on the work environment, especially support from supervisors and peers. The plan therefore pairs every training session with follow-up: coders receive targeted audits of the case types they studied within two weeks, supervisors discuss the results in one-on-one meetings and new procedures are introduced with quick reference guides and a named contact at each site.

Developing Supervisors

Supervisors need development as much as front-line staff. The assessment found that trust and willingness to raise concerns were low at two sites, and supervisors are the leaders staff see most. Each of the five supervisors will complete a six-session program on coaching conversations, giving task-focused feedback, supervising remote staff and running inclusive team meetings, using role play with real situations from the department. Supervisors will then practice with a peer from another site and receive feedback from the director after observed one-on-one meetings. Supervisor development is the least expensive part of the plan and probably the most important.

Continuing Education and Credentials

Credential holders in health information management must earn continuing education units to maintain their credentials in each renewal cycle. The department will provide paid time for four hours of continuing education each quarter, cover the cost of one credentialing exam per employee pursuing advancement, such as a coder moving toward a specialty credential, and host an annual department education day that counts toward requirements.

Evaluating the Plan

Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick (2006) laid out a widely used evaluation ladder that climbs from how trainees felt about a session to what they learned, whether their work changed and what the organization gained. The plan climbs all four rungs. Trainee opinions come from a two-minute poll at the end of each session; knowledge gains from brief assessments, such as coding exercises; changed practice from audits and supervisor observation weeks after training; and organizational gains from department measures such as coding accuracy by case type, record delinquency, release of information turnaround and turnover. Results will be reviewed quarterly and training adjusted where behavior or results do not change.

Budget

The first-year budget is about $96,000: $41,000 for paid education time, $18,000 for credentialing exams and continuing education, $22,000 for a part-time training coordinator and $15,000 for recording tools and the annual education day. Most costs are staff time, which the department expects to recover through fewer errors, shorter onboarding and lower turnover.

Conclusion

This plan begins with a needs analysis rather than a catalog, ties learning to competencies and the career ladder, uses each hospital's expertise to teach the others, supports learning on the job and evaluates results at four levels. It addresses the skill gaps the merger created and the uncertainty staff described, and it will form part of the final leadership plan.

References

Blume, B. D., Ford, J. K., Baldwin, T. T., & Huang, J. L. (2010). Transfer of training: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Management, 36(4), 1065-1105. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206309352880

Edmondson, A. (1999). Psychological safety and learning behavior in work teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44(2), 350-383. https://doi.org/10.2307/2666999

Kirkpatrick, D. L., & Kirkpatrick, J. D. (2006). Evaluating training programs: The four levels (3rd ed.). Berrett-Koehler.

Salas, E., Tannenbaum, S. I., Kraiger, K., & Smith-Jentsch, K. A. (2012). The science of training and development in organizations: What matters in practice. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 13(2), 74-101. https://doi.org/10.1177/1529100612436661