Health Information Technology

Oakton’s Health Information Technology program offers several curricula in academic and technological studies designed to provide students with marketable skills within the health care industry. The program offers opportunities to combine disciplines of medicine, computer technology and information management. In addition to an A.A.S. degree, the program offers a certificate in Medical Coding and Billing. The full-time degree program is offered in a hybrid format online and on the Des Plaines campus. The part-time degree program and Medical Coding and Billing certificate are offered fully online.

Employment opportunities for individuals skilled in health information technologies exist in hospitals, ambulatory care, long-term care, managed care and physician practices, as well as non-traditional areas such as consulting, legal offices, industry vendors, insurance companies and pharmaceutical firms.

Admission is limited for the A.A.S. degree and Medical Coding and Billing Certificate. For additional information, contact a health career specialist. Those admitted to the program will be required to submit proof of medical insurance coverage. Students must receive a minimum grade of C in all HIT, BIO and MAT courses.

Health Career curricula are governed by specific objectives, rules and regulations formulated by the College, accrediting bodies and participating clinical facilities. Students should familiarize themselves with these standards. Students should also be aware that failure to maintain satisfactory progress in technical courses may significantly delay completion of the curriculum or may result in the student being dropped from the curriculum. Each student’s right to participation in the clinical portion of the curriculum is also contingent upon compliance with the rules of the clinical facility. The clinical facility has sole discretion to determine when its rules have been violated.

Clinical placements require a health assessment, certain immunizations, yearly vaccines, substance abuse testing, criminal background check, specific skill certification (i.e., CPR/BLS) and health insurance. The requirements represent an additional cost to the student.

All Oakton College Health Career students in a program with a clinical component must have “clear” criminal background checks and drug screens in order to participate in any and all clinical components of any health career program courses.

To comply with state statutes and clinical affiliation agreements, and to provide a safe environment for students, employees, and patients cared for by students, those accepted into Oakton’s health career programs will be required to complete a criminal background check and drug screening through a company contracted by the College. Health Career students will be charged a fee for this service.

Timelines for completing criminal background checks and drug screens may vary among the various programs. Deadline dates for each program will be provided by the individual department chairs at the time of a student’s acceptance into a health career program.

Students without a clear criminal background check and/or clear drug screen will not be allowed to enroll in clinical practicum courses or attend clinical programs. This would further necessitate that the student withdraws from the health career program at that time.

Students who refuse a criminal background check and/or drug screen will not be considered “clear” and will not be authorized to participate in the clinical component of the health career program, necessitating withdrawal from the program at that time. Individual results of student background checks and drug screens are considered confidential.

Determination of whether or not a student can participate in the clinical component of a particular health career program will be communicated to the respective department chairs by the Background Check/Drug Screen vendor. Students may view their personal results on the vendor’s website.

HIT Curriculum Learning Outcomes

Oakton’s Health Information Technology program follows the American Health Information Management Association’s (AHIMA) curriculum and is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management Education (CAHIIM) which is the accrediting organization for the degree-granting programs in health informatics and information management. AHIMA’s mission is followed by the Health Information Technology program.

CAHIIM DOMAINS AND SUBDOMAINS (Learning Outcomes per CAHIM)

I. Data Content, Structure, & Standards

1. Classification Systems
2. Health Record Content and Documentation
3. Data Governance
4. Data Management
5. Secondary Data Sources

II. Information Protection: Access, Disclosure, Archival, Privacy, & Security

1. Health Law
2. Data Privacy, Confidentiality, and Security
3. Release of Information

III. Informatics, Analytics and Data Use

1. Health Information Technologies
2. Information Management Strategic Planning
3. Analytics and Decision Support
4. Health Care Statistics
5. Research Methods
6. Consumer Informatics
7. Health Information Exchange
8. Information Integrity and Data Quality

IV. Revenue Management

1. Revenue Cycle and Reimbursement

V. Compliance

1. Regulatory
2. Coding
3. Fraud Surveillance
4. Clinical Documentation Improvement

VI. Leadership

1. Leadership roles
2. Change Management
3. Work Design & Process Improvement
4. Human Resources Management
5. Raining and Development
6. Strategic and Organizational Management
7. Financial Management
8. Ethics
9. Project Management
10. Vendor/Contract Management
11. Enterprise Information Management

Health Information Technology Courses