Health Information Technology Degree Requirements

2010-2011 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). The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) is the association of health information management (HIM) professionals. AHIMA website: www.ahima.org

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

  1. High School graduation or GED equivalence
  2. Interview with Chairperson
  3. Criminal Background Check
  4. ACCUPLACER scores of 95 on sentence skills, 80 on reading comprehension, and 36 on arithmetic

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 (303.797.5795) or annette.bigalk@arapahoe.edu.

Major Courses50 credit hours
HIT 101Health Information Management Science6 credits
HIT 105Principles of Health Care Reimbursement3 credits
HIT 111Health Data Management and Information Systems3 credits
HIT 112Legal Aspects2 credits
HIT 188Health Information Practicum 12 credits
HIT 221Clinical Classifications ICD-9-CM Coding 15 credits
HIT 222Quality Management3 credits
HIT 225Health Information Management3 credits
HIT 231Clinical Classifications ICD-9-CM Coding 115 credits
HIT 241CPT Coding Basic Principles2 credits
HIT 251Code Sets and Vocabularies2 credits
HIT 289Health Information Capstone2 credits
HPR 178Medical Terminology3 credits
**MOT 125Basic Medical Science 13 credits
**MOT 133Basic Medical Science 113 credits
**MOT 135Basic Medical Science 1113 credits
General Education Courses15 credit hours
ENG 121English Composition 13 credits
COM 115Public Speaking OR
COM 125Interpersonal Communications3 credits
CIS 118Intro to PC Applications3 credits
PSY 101General Psychology3 credits
General Education Elective3 credits
TOTAL65 credit hours
All major education and other courses required for this degree must be completed with a “C” or better to meet graduation requirements.