Our Health Information Technology (HIT) program is a perfect fit if you’re interested in working in the healthcare field but not directly with patients. This program incorporates clinical, information technology, leadership, and management skills and explores the digital/computer side of health care. After a patient meets with their healthcare provider, all the information collected from their medical history, exam, diagnosis, and everything in between has to be processed, analyzed, compiled, and maintained to support the patient and the hospital or doctor’s office.
This is a certificate program and requires fewer credits and less time to complete than a degree or diploma program. Certificate programs can be taken alone but may be taken along with other Health programs.
The HIT program also offers a degree option.
This certificate is also available to high school students through our Career & College Promise program.
Learn more about this program’s student outcome data.
Skills You’ll Learn
The Health Information Technology program is focused on job-related skills in the following areas:
- Demonstrating that patient health information is complete, accurate, and protected
- Understanding how to effectively use computer applications to assemble and analyze patient data for the purpose of improving patient care or controlling costs
- Mastering how to code, classify, and index diagnoses and procedures for the purpose of reimbursement, standardization, retrieval, and statistical analysis
Career Opportunities
There are many employment opportunities for Health Information Technology graduates, including:
- Health insurance organizations
- Hospices
- Hospitals
- Insurance companies
- Law offices
- Mental health facilities
- Nursing homes
- Outpatient clinics
- Physicians’ offices
- Rehabilitation facilities
- Research
- Veterinary clinics
- Law offices
- Governmental agencies
- Research organizations
- Software vendors
- Prison system
- Remote positions
Plan of Study
The recommended course sequence for this program and a complete list of related classes are available in the Academic Catalog. Click the button below to view a copy of this plan of study, which is also available as a PDF.
Questions others are asking.
We offer several credentials that provide the flexibility you need. Most degree programs last two years and provide the most in-depth study of a particular subject. Diplomas and certificates take less time and are often taken in conjunction with other degree programs. Specialized training is also available for workforce development programs that are completed in less than a year.
The HIT program teaches a wider spectrum of billing and coding, that qualifies an individual to do billing and coding in both a hospital and a doctor’s office or clinic. MOA graduates focus on the outpatient services billing and coding associated with a doctor’s office, clinic, or outpatient hospital services, and not inpatient hospital care. The HIT program is accredited by CAHIIM, so graduates are eligible to take the RHIT certification exam through AHIMA. The MOA program is approved by the state, and students are eligible to take the CPC certification exam through AAPC.
The certificate programs do provide some foundational knowledge but are not sufficient to qualify for a national certification exam in Medical Office Administration, Medical Assisting, or Health Information Technology. Medical Assistants are eligible to sit for the national certification exams with a diploma, while both Medical Office Administration and Health Information Technology require an associate degree to be eligible for their national certification examination.
This program is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management (CAHIIM). CAHIIM strives to provide the public with effective and consistent quality monitoring of academic programs in health information management and health informatics through maintenance of accreditation policies and processes.
The college’s accreditation for associate degree in Health Information Technology has been reaffirmed through 2023-2024. All inquiries about the program’s accreditation status should be directed by mail to:
CAHIIM
200 East Randolph Street, Suite 5100
Chicago, IL 60601
312-235-3255
Email CAHIIM
You can view it here:
The 2019-2020 program outcomes are as follows:
- The RHIT exam pass rate for the Health Information Technology program for the 2019-2020 reporting period is 100%.
- For the reporting period of 2019-2020, the Health Information Technology program had an 82% graduation rate.
- For the reporting period of 2019-2020, 87% of graduates were employed in a healthcare-related field within one year of graduation.