Company Notebook

STCC, HCC Sign Articulation Agreement
SPRINGFIELD — Springfield Technical Community College (STCC) and Holyoke Community College (HCC) signed an articulation agreement Aug. 26 that will benefit students transferring from HCC’s medical billing certificate program to STCC’s medical coding and billing specialist associate degree program. Under the agreement, credits completed in HCC’s medical billing certificate program will transfer to STCC’s program, allowing students who may have initially decided to complete the certificate program to transfer seamlessly to a degree program. According to Leona Ittleman, dean of STCC’s School of Business and Information Technologies, both STCC and HCC have offered certificate programs in the medical billing and coding disciplines for nearly 30 years. However, Ittleman said the degree program at STCC was implemented nearly 10 years ago to address increasing national standards as well as local employer needs with more comprehensive knowledge of anatomy and physiology, human disease, and pharmacology, as well as computer technology. “This agreement allows both STCC and HCC to maximize limited resources while satisfying both student and employer needs,” she explained. This new agreement is just one of several joint initiatives the two community colleges have undertaken in recent years, including Training & Workforce Options (TWO), which provides training alternatives to area employers at both STCC and HCC.
“I’m excited to work with our colleagues at STCC to provide HCC students multiple pathways into jobs in a growing industry,” said HCC Vice President of Academic Affairs Matthew Reed.