News

Longtime Sequest Client Utilizes TIER for Addictions Studies Program at a Local Community College

As the Program Coordinator for Moraine Valley’s Community College Addictions Studies Program in Palos Hills, Illinois, I am constantly looking for ways to bring the real life work experience to students to enhance their skills as they ready themselves to enter the Addictions field.

Last fall, 2008, I approached Sequest Technologies in Lisle, Illinois, developer of the TIER^®clinical documentation software for Behavioral Health programs, to partner with Moraine Valley Community College in providing their software for use in our Clinical Documentation class. Bill Connors, President/CEO of Sequest, was very enthusiastic about this proposal and provided us with their latest TIER software. In addition, Sequest staff installed the software on the Moraine Valley servers and ensured that it was ready for the first day of class. Sequest and Moraine Valley were the first such partners in the community colleges in Illinois to engage in such and endeavor to promote student learning.

This partnership was very important as it allowed for students to learn clinical documentation skills in a real work-like environment. Sequest is a popular vendor for clinical documentation in many states, including Illinois, and the students who participated in this project have an added advantage when job seeking as they have become familiar with software that is used in many community based Behavioral Health organizations.

The class was a huge success! The students overall response to the survey rating this class was excellent. Feedback received talked about how they felt more confident in documenting clinical notes and doing so on the computer. Several students had very little previous computer skills and expressed concern prior to the class about their ability to succeed, but they all were able to quickly learn how to do so through the easy navigational screens that Sequest employees in its software.

As a result of the success of this program, we are offering this class again this fall. I’ve already had new students express interest in this class and even the providers who are considering transitioning to an electronic record express and interest in sending staff to this class.

I am grateful to the Sequest staff that made this project a reality and we are Moraine Valley Community College are proud to be one of the first colleges in Illinois to partner with the Business Community to provide a learning environment that utilizes the tools that students will encounter in their work experience.

-Author

Michael J. Fonda, Program Coordinator, Moraine Valley Community College