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Health Information Technology Degree Requirements

2009-2010 Catalog
Health Information Technology A.A.S.

The Health Information Technology (HIT) program enables the student to develop the technical skills necessary for managing health information within the healthcare delivery system. The health information field has employment opportunities in hospitals, long-term care, ambulatory care, mental health and other healthcare facilities as well as private industry. Upon successful completion of the program, the graduate is eligible to write the national certification examination and upon successful passing of this examination, receive the RHIT (Registered Health Information Technology) credentials. This program is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management (CAHIIM) in cooperation with the Council on Accreditation of the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA). AHIMA Web site: www.ahima.org.

The following are the basic requirements for admission to the Health Information Technology (HIT) program:

  • High school graduation or GED equivalence
  • Interview with Chairperson
  • Criminal background check
  • ACCUPLACER scores of 95 on sentence skills, 80 on reading comprehension and 36 on arithmetic*

*Students who do not achieve the required Math score must complete MAT 030. Students must contact Annette Bigalk, RHIA, HIT Program Chair, for counseling and program planning prior to enrolling in any courses that are part of the HIT curriculum. Contact her at 303.797.5795 or annette.bigalk@arapahoe.edu.

General Education Courses(15 credit hours)
COM 115 Public Speaking OR 
COM 125 Interpersonal Communications3 credits
CIS 118Introduction to PC Applications3 credits
ENG 121English Composition I3 credits
PSY 101General Psychology I3 credits
General Education Elective3 credits
Major Courses(50 credit hours)
HIT 101 Health Information Management Science6 credits
HIT 105Physician Practice Coding and Reimbursement3 credits
HIT 111Health Data Management3 credits
HIT 112Legal Aspects2 credits
HIT 188Health Information Practicum2 credits
HIT 221ICD-9-CM Coding I5 credits
HIT 222Quality Management3 credits
HIT 225Health Information Management3 credits
HIT 231ICD-9-CM Coding II5 credits
HIT 241CPT Coding Basic Principles2 credits
HIT 251Healthcare Vocabularies and Terminologies2 credits
HIT 288Health Information Practicum II2 credits
HPR 178Medical Terminology3 credits
MOT 125Basic Medical Science I3 credits
MOT 133Basic Medical Science II3 credits
MOT 135Basic Medical Science III3 credits
Total65 credit hours
  • All major, general education and other courses required for this degree must be completed with a “C” or better to meet graduation requirements.
  • All courses are offered online except for HIT 188 and HIT 288.
  • Students planning to transfer credits to another institution should complete BIO 201 and BIO 202 (Anatomy and Physiology I and II) and BIO 216 (Pathophysiology) instead of the Basic Medical Science courses.
  • Students planning to transfer their speech credit to another institution should complete COM 115.