During the 2008-2009 program year, MHA provided 116 educational programs that were attended by 3,704 hospital employees from 104 member hospitals (including satellite facilities). Each program was evaluated by attendees and programs rated 98% good to excellent for both overall program satisfaction and quality of information presented. To assist members in fulfilling their requirements for professional continuing education, MHA is committed to applying for credit hours awarded as approved by authorized organizations, including the Mississippi Nursing Home Administrators, the Mississippi Nurses Association, CPA Accreditation Board and the Mississippi Association for Social Workers.

MHA provides various workshops year-round to insure that member hospitals have timely information on pertinent health care issues, including changes in medical coding and reimbursement, RAC information, and the HITECH Act. We also expanded MHA Webinars – educational offerings available online – so that hospital employees can get training without traveling. In the interest of utilizing member resources MHA has continued to build strong educational partnerships with organizations that share areas of common concern, including the Mississippi Chapter of the Healthcare Financial Management Association, TriSpan, the Mississippi Association for Home Care, and Information and Quality Healthcare (IQH).

MHA provided educational programming for our 12 affiliated societies, hosting an annual meeting for each society, the Societies Conference for all society members, and the MHA Presidents’ Council Retreat for past and present society leadership. A total of 576 people attended the meetings. We also provided educational opportunities for our hospitals’ trustees, including a quarterly newsletter and a Trustee Manual.

In order to defray educational costs for our members, MHA has continued to develop relationships and sponsorships with MHA Solutions and other vendors. Vendors were invited to participate in our annual Societies Conference, individual society meetings, and the Leadership Conference. The 2009 Societies Conference had 25 company sponsors. The 2009 Leadership Conference had 19 companies present.

MHA continued to serve as the education and administration coordinator for Mississippi Healthcare Executives, the Mississippi Chapter of the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE). We coordinated all ACHE board meetings and Regent’s Advisory Council (RAC) meetings and hosted three educational sessions offering ACHE credit. A Web site and blog were also created for Mississippi ACHE members.

MHA increased the use of technology in the administration and delivery of educational offerings. Web-based learning was made available through two services – Webinars and careLearning. Educational offerings were available and information was sent in advance to targeted membership groups. In the 2008-2009 program year, 68 Web-based programs were utilized by MHA members.

MHA is very proud of the fact that, despite tough economic times, there has been no decrease in attendance for MHA educational sessions - offline or online. This also shows our members' commitment to quality health care - and quality health care employees - in Mississippi.