NOTE: Due to projected changes in the certification requirements of the Council on Certification of the American Health Information Management Association, this bachelor’s program will be discontinued. The last semester for matriculation of part-time students into the program is Fall 2010. The last semester for matriculation of full-time students into the program is Fall 2011. Students should plan to complete this bachelor of science in health information management by May 2015.
Mission
The primary purpose of the program is to prepare competent entry-level health information professionals for a variety of roles. These roles are within the health care delivery system and other agencies and organizations throughout the region and state. A secondary purpose is to provide continuing education, support, and consultation for health care professionals throughout the region. These purposes are accomplished through teaching, research, and service.
The Profession
Health information management professionals manage health care data and information resources. The profession encompasses services in planning, collecting, aggregating, analyzing, and disseminating, individual patient and aggregate clinical data. It serves the health care industry including: patient care organizations, payors, research and policy agencies, and other health care-related industries. The profession addresses the nature, structure, and translation of data into usable forms of information for the advancement of health and health care of individuals and populations.
Many of the day-to-day activities of health information managers relate to their administrative and managerial responsibilities. These responsibilities include: designing, implementing, and maintaining automated and manual health information systems;
determining health information policies;
developing the departmental budget;
hiring, supervising, and evaluating employees;
providing inservice education;
serving on organizational committees; and
assisting with research.
The Degree
A degree in Health Information Management will assure you:
An exciting career with many diverse job opportunities.
A dynamic job that focuses on collecting, integrating, analyzing, disseminating, and managing information resources.
A career choice that allows you to be a part of a health care team.
An expertise that makes you the authority on health data and earns you the respect of physicians, nurses, and other health professionals.
Effective fall 2003, the Department of Health Services and Information Management at East Carolina University (ECU) is offering the professional-phase, didactic coursework for its HIM degree on-line via the Internet. Important courses in the academic course of study are the two professional practice experiences and capstone in which students have opportunities to engage in activities across the continuum of care. The faculty member who teaches these courses works with the students in scheduling each experience and the capstone. Academic considerations are the final determinants of site placement. Please see Academics for more information.
Accreditation
The baccalaureate program in health information management at East Carolina University is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management Education. The program was last surveyed in 2003, and is fully accredited. The curriculum of the health information management program is designed following the HIM Baccalaureate Degree Program Standards accredited educational program for the health information administrator.
See the accreditation standards on the CAHIIM web site.
Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management Education Accreditation Services
c/o AHIMA
233 N. Michigan Ave, Suite 2150
Chicago, IL 60601-5800
Telephone: 312.233.1131
National Registry Examination
Graduates of the program are eligible to sit for the national registration examination administered by the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA). The examination is offered on-line, on-demand, year round.
