Step Up: Health Information Specialist
Becoming a Health Information Specialist (HIS) requires you to become credentialed as a Registered Health Information Technician (RHIT). St. Kate’s HIS program will prepare you for this certification. Upon graduation, you will earn an Associate of Applied Science degree.
St. Kate’s HIS program will teach you to use computerized systems and become competent in five roles: information manager, coding specialist, quality assurance specialist, supervisory manager and registry specialist.
When you graduate, you will be eligible to take the National Certification Exam of the American Health Information Management Association. Upon successful completion of the exam, you will be credentialed and ready to practice as a registered health information technician (RHIT).
Accreditation
The HIS program at St. Catherine University is accredited by the Commission on the Accreditation of Health Informatics and Information Management Education (CAHIIM).
Course schedule
You can complete the associate degree at St. Kate’s in a two- or three-year program. Health Information Specialist courses are offered in the late afternoon and evenings. The three-year option requires students to register as pre-professional students and take the majority of their liberal arts and sciences courses in the first year.
Required courses
HIMP 1050 Medical Terminology for Health Information Professionals
HIMP 1150 Information Technology
HIMP 1260 Health Record as Information Tool
HIMP 1360 Health Document Content and Structure
HIMP 1450 Pharmacology and Clinical Lab
HIMP 1560 CPT Coding
HIMP 1850 ICD Coding
HIMP 2050 Healthcare Statistics and Quality Assurance
HIMP 2150 Professional Practice Application
HIMP 2250 Advanced Coding
HIMP 2350 Organization and Supervision
HIMP 2650 Capstone: Topics and Professional Practice Application of Health Record Management
HIMP 2750 Reimbursement Systems
Required supporting courses
BIOL 2400 Anatomy & Physiology I
BIOL 2420 Human Disease
PHIL 2000 Ethical Problems in Healthcare
Additional liberal arts and science and CIL requirements
CIL 1500 Transcultural Learning through Community Connections
ECOL 2000 Human Ecology
ENGL 1100 Composition I
PSYC 1000 General Psychology
SSCS 1000 Power and Social Change
ART elective
ENGL literature elective
SSCS elective
THEO elective
Elective
NOTE: This curriculum is very tightly prescribed. Failure to follow the curriculum guide may result in class schedule conflicts. It also might result in the need to enroll in additional credits or a delay in graduation. Before registering for any given semester, you should consult with the program curriculum guide, available online and through the Registrar’s Office.
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