By Elisabeth Costanzo Stewart
Since SUNY Reconnect swept the College by storm, its Health Information Technology: A.A.S. (HIT) program has nearly doubled in size. As adult learners flock to this high-demand field, HIT alum and instructor Andrew Robertshaw (HT ’17) can’t help but be catapulted back to 2015, when he too was an adult student at SUNY Broome, in search of a meaningful future. Emulating the dedicated faculty who shaped his HIT journey, Robertshaw is devoted to ushering the newest cadre of health information management professionals through the program and into their uniquely essential roles within the healthcare field.
Robertshaw’s story begins in Breesport, New York. After graduating from Horseheads High School, he headed off to college, but with an unconventional approach. Over the course of a few years, he attended a series of SUNYs, private colleges, and online universities, bouncing between schools every semester or so, changing his major along the way. Though he spent a lot of time in the classroom, his collection of miscellaneous credits did not equal a degree.
Like his educational pursuits, Robertshaw’s career trajectory was equally varied. He worked as a server at a few chain restaurants, sold cell phones, and was a buyer for a convenience retail distributor.
In 2014, his life came to a crossroads. Robertshaw’s husband passed away, and he was forced to navigate grief while working in a job that conjured nothing but dissatisfaction. As an exercise in self-discovery, Robertshaw researched “work-from-home careers” and stumbled upon medical billing and coding, which brought him to SUNY Broome for a life-changing conversation with Jane Hlopko, the then Chair of the HIT department.
“Jane spent an hour and a half, guiding me through the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) career map,” Robertshaw reflected. “By the end of our meeting, I was 100% sure that I was entering the right field. I later became the first recipient of The Jane A. Hlopko Scholarship for Health Information Technology, which I am very proud of.”
Through his discussions with the Chair, he learned that health information technology is one of the most comprehensive facets of healthcare, supporting patients from birth to end of life. Health information technicians are the stewards of the medical record and are the frontline professionals who protect patient information. Their scope of practice spans all health information management, encompassing everything from registration, to medical coding, to back-end billing. Thanks to HIPAA mandates, all code sets are the same, meaning that technicians can work in all clinical and healthcare settings, including in hospitals, dental practices, veterinary clinics, nursing homes, psychiatric facilities, and for insurance companies, law firms, or third-party contractors. One of the biggest perks is the field’s flexibility. Even pre-pandemic, HIT was an industry that adopted remote employment. He was hooked!
The Health Information Technology: A.A.S. program is a SUNY Reconnect program! Photo Credit: Matt Ebbers
With new focus and goals, Robertshaw enrolled in the HIT program, where he threw himself into mastering new languages in medical terminology and the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-10-CM). He studied the nuances of human anatomy and physiology with the same rigor as hands-on clinicians, all the while understanding he would be helping patients from afar.
While still in the program, he was recruited to work as a coder for United Health Services (UHS). He remained with UHS after earning his HIT degree and Registered Health Information Technician (RHIT) certification in 2017, and amassed extensive expertise in coding every specialty, with emphasis in the musculoskeletal and genitourinary systems. Flourishing as a coder, Robertshaw’s proficiency was noticed again and again by recruiters. Talent recruitment is a common practice in the high-demand field of health information management, and professional opportunities at UHS and beyond were constantly being presented.
“I’m thankful to have had a really dynamic HIT career. I’ve worked in compliance education, served as an EPIC credential trainer, and led a team as the Director of Medical Records for an inpatient psychiatric facility.” Robertshaw said. “I was recruited by a hospital in New Hampshire, where I served as the Compliance and Privacy Officer and Manager for Coding and Clinical Documentation Improvement. These were all roles that I didn’t even consider when I started my career as a coder.”
Not only was Robertshaw growing professionally, but he continued to grow academically as well, earning his bachelor’s degree in organizational leadership from Southern New Hampshire University and a Master of Business Administration with a concentration in Health Administration from Franklin Pierce University.
Though he never imagined working in higher education, Robertshaw was intrigued by a posting for a faculty position in the department that gave him his start. Excited to mentor future technicians, Robertshaw officially joined the HIT department just as SUNY Reconnect became a reality. The new wave of adult learners was natural for the HIT program, which has a long history of attracting more seasoned students – including Robertshaw himself.
Careers in HIT are often second acts. Some students join the program with no healthcare experience; others are practitioners nearing the end of their clinical careers, wanting to remain in the field. Regardless of professional or educational background, all prospective HIT students can be successful if they are detail-oriented and willing to learn.
“Students just need to be able to turn on a computer, and we’ll teach you the rest,” Robertshaw shared. “Thanks to the growth of technology, most medical records have become so intuitive that even true technophobes are able to work in this field. There are a ton of resources available to support our industry.”
Faculty in the HIT program work to engage their students, even in a fully online format. Online courses have video lectures and numerous opportunities for students to engage with one another and the instructor.
“We specifically make an effort to present live, recorded lectures, so that students still have access to the traditional, real-world classroom experiences,” Robertshaw said. “We purposely do not edit our lecture videos, so it’s as if you’re in our classroom. We’re a technology program, so we’re going to use all of the technological resources available to ensure our students are successful.”
When Robertshaw nervously visited campus a decade ago, he was simply in search of a change. Little did he know that ‘change’ would one day lead him right back to SUNY Broome to repay the transformative education he once received.
Learn more about Health Information Technology at SUNY Broome!
Health Information Technology professionals are the stewards of the medical record and patient information. Photo Credit: Matt Ebbers
Tags: Alumni, Health Information Technology, Reconnect, Scholarships, STEM Division, SUNY Broome Foundation, SUNY Reconnect
