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|Career Programs Index| |Academic Advising| |Class Schedule| |Real-time Seat Availability| |
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Health information technicians (RHITs) often specialize in coding diagnoses and procedures in patient records for reimbursement and research. RHITs may serve as cancer registrars, compiling and maintaining data on cancer patients. Health Information Technology is a two-year associate’s degree program that integrates medical science, ICD-9 and CPT coding systems, computer technology, and health information management. Upon completion of the HIT Program, graduates will be eligible to write the national registration exam given by the American Health Information Management Association. Successfully completing this exam allows the graduate to earn the credential RHIT (Registered Health Information Technician). This program is intended to lead to employment. If you are considering transferring to a four-year college or university to obtain a bachelor’s degree using the courses from the program, make an appointment with an academic advisor to review your options. Criminal Background Checks—In order to comply with certain state statutes and/or clinical affiliation agreements, students may be asked to complete a criminal background check. Application forms for criminal background checks may be obtained through the Career Programs Subdivision Office, B150, and fees paid to the Cashier’s Office. For information on criminal background application procedures, please contact the Career Programs Subdivision Office at (708) 974-5708. Deadline dates for completion of criminal background checks will be announced by program coordinators. Nature of Work—Although most RHITs work in hospitals, you will also find them in a variety of other healthcare settings including office-based physician practices, long-term care facilities, home health agencies, mental health facilities, and public health agencies. In fact, employment opportunities exist for RHITs in any organization that uses patient data or health information such as pharmaceutical companies, law and insurance firms, and health product vendors. Related Programs—Coding Specialist Certificate (22 credit hours); Medical Transcription Certificate (19 hours); Medical Assistant Certificate (41 hours) Related Job Titles Employment Outlook—Medical records and health information technicians held about 159,000 jobs in 2004. About two out of five jobs were in hospitals. The rest were mostly in offices of physicians, nursing care facilities, outpatient care centers, and home health care services. Insurance firms that deal in health matters employ a small number of health information technicians to tabulate and analyze health information. Job prospects should be very good. Employment of medical records and health information technicians is expected to grow much faster than average for all occupations through 2014 because of rapid growth in the number of medical tests, treatments and procedures that will be increasingly scrutinized by health insurance companies, regulators, courts and consumers. Also, technicians will be needed to enter patient information into computer databases to comply with federal legislation mandating the use of electronic patient records. The majority of new jobs are expected in physician offices as a result of increasing demand for detailed records, especially in large group practices. Rapid growth also is expected in home health care services, outpatient care centers, and nursing and residential care facilities. Additional job openings will result from the need to replace technicians who retire or leave the occupation permanently. For salary information, visit the American Health Information Management Association (www.ahima.org). Resource: Bureau of Labor Statistics. A basic salary report, based on broad national data, reported exclusively by human resources departments of employers from all sizes, industries and locations (www.salary.com), showed the median salary for medical record technicians in the Chicago area to be $37,777. The 25th percentile was $33,158 and the 75th percentile was $41,411. Accreditation—The Health Information Technology curriculum meets the basic requirements prescribed by the American Health Information Management Association. The program is accredited by the Commission of Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management Education (CAHIIM), in cooperation with the Council on Accreditation of the American Health Information Association. Credentials—Program graduates are eligible to take the national registration examination given by the American Health Information Management Association. Successful completion of this exam allows the graduate to earn the credential Registered Health Information Technician, RHIT Examination given by the American Health Information Management Association. For job and internship listings and job search assistance, contact the Job Placement Center in the Center for Contemporary Technology, T904, (708) 974-5737, www.morainevalley.edu/jpc. |
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Moraine
Valley Community College’s Health Information Technology Program prepares you
for a career that places you right where the expanding arena of health care
meets the cutting edge of technology. Health information technicians ensure the
quality of medical records by verifying their completeness, accuracy, and proper
entry into computer systems. They may also use computer applications to analyze
patient data for the purpose of improving patient care or controlling costs.
