Congratulations to the 2011 Award Winners!

WVHIMA is proud to announce the winners of this year’s academic achievement awards. This year, three awards were given. To be eligible to win an award, the students must apply on the WVHIMA website. Of those that apply, the three students with the highest GPA’s are given the award. The winners of this year’s award are:

	Kimberly Miller Pierpont Community and Technical College Kimberly had the highest GPA of those awarded, so she has received the Linda Culp Memorial Educational Achievement Award.
	Michelle Hayden from West Virginia Northern Community College
	Mark Wilson West Virginia Northern Community College

WVHIMA would like to congratulate Kimberly, Michelle and Mark on their outstanding achievement!

About the Education Achievement Award

In Memory of Zetra Kennedy,
Linda Culp and Betty Payne

The purpose of the awards from the West Virginia Health Information Management Association is to financially assist qualified students who have completed courses in an accredited West Virginia college/university program and  are eligible to write the examination for the Registered Health Information Technician (RHIT) or the Registered Health Information Administrator (RHIA) as administered by the American Health Information Management Association.  Up to six awards may be awarded each year.  The number of awards for that year will be determined by the WVHIMA board based on the financial situation of the organization for that year.

Qualifications of the recipient(s) of such award(s) will be determined by academic achievement. 

Complete the online application

Procedure

1. In order for a school’s students to be eligible, WVHIMA must receive a minimum of two updates throughout the year on the school’s program/students. These updates should include things like placement rates of previous students, number of current students & other pertinent information about the program/students.
    

2. Students must complete application form on the WVHIMA website by March 10th.
    

3. Applicants will mail in a non-returnable photo of themselves to be included on the website.
    

4. Only applicants with an overall program GPA of 3.2 and higher will be considered. Grades up through the next to last semester will be taken into consideration for this award. (Students are now allowed to take the test during their last semester of school).
    

5. Scholarship committee will confirm GPAs with program directors by the end of February.
    

6. The students with the highest GPA will be considered to receive a prepaid examination fee to assist them in writing the exam to earn the Registered Health Information Technician (RHIT) or the Registered Health Information Administrator (RHIA) credential. WVHIMA will cover the cost of the student member (of AHIMA) to take the fee (currently $229). This amount will be adjusted yearly based on the AHIMA fee to take the exam. Students that are non-members of AHIMA must pay the difference of the member’s fee and the cost of the test.
    

7. The student with the highest GPA from all the HIT programs will be known as receiving the Linda Culp Memorial Educational Achievement Award.
    

8. In the event of a tie between any students, the highest scoring recipients will be randomly selected and awarded from the Linda Culp Memorial Educational Achievement Award.
    

9. Each recipient will receive notification of award and be announced on the website.
    

10. The award recipients will be asked to mail their completed examination application and related documents to P. O Box 5021, Fairmont, WV 26554. The Treasurer will process their applications and prepaid examination fee prior to the examination deadline.
     

11. The deadline to write for the exam will be one year to the date of notification of award.