Health Information Technology Degree Requirements: ACC Catalog: Arapahoe Community College

Skip navigation Contact Us | Site Map | Home

left navigation map for departments programs

Health Information Technology
Degree and Certificate Requirements
2009-2010 Catalog

Associate of Applied Science Degree
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) is the national association for Health Information Management (HIM) professionals. 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)
ENG 121	English Composition I	3 credits
COM 115	Public Speaking*** OR
COM 125	Interpersonal Communications***	3 credits
CIS 118	Introduction to PC Applications	3 credits
PSY 101	General Psychology I	3 credits
General Education Elective		3 credits
Major Courses (50 credit hours)
HIT 101	Health Information Management Science	6 credits
HIT 105	Principles of Health Care Reimbursement	3 credits
HIT 111	Health Data Management & Information Systems	3 credits
HIT 112	Legal Aspects	2 credits
HIT 188	Health Information Practicum	2 credits
HIT 221	ICD-9-CM Coding I	5 credits
HIT 222	Quality Management	3 credits
HIT 225	Health Information Management	3 credits
HIT 231	ICD-9-CM Coding II	5 credits
HIT 241	CPT Coding Basic Principles	2 credits
HIT 251	Healthcare Vocabularies and Terminologies	2 credits
HIT 288	Health Information CAPSTONE	2 credits
HPR 178	Medical Terminology	3 credits
MOT 125	Basic Medical Science I**	3 credits
MOT 133	Basic Medical Science II**	3 credits
MOT 135	Basic Medical Science III**	3 credits
Total		65 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.

Course Descriptions | Degree Requirements