Health Information Management and Technology
Interdisciplinary Major
(Bachelor of Science)
Associate Professors – Peter Breznay, Janet Reilly
Assistant Professor – Brenda Tyczkowski (Academic Director)
Lecturer – Rebecca Hovarter
Associate Lecturers– Shauna Froelich, Amy Henniges, Patricia Kleba, Ben Kotenberg, Elizabeth Rockendorf
The Bachelor of Science in Health Information Management and Technology (HIMT) is designed to provide students with the knowledge and competencies required to meet the growing need for professionals to work in this rapidly expanding and evolving area of health care. The degree focuses on the information sector of the healthcare industry because it is one of the fastest growing and evolving segments of the industry. The new advances in health-related technologies, patient records, etc. bring with them new regulations and new concerns for privacy and security. Highly skilled professionals are needed to manage this area, and graduates of the HIMT degree will be very well positioned to meet that need. The online program is designed to meet the needs of adult learners.
HIMT is a degree completion program designed for adult learners who already have some college credits or a liberal arts-based associate degree. It is also ideal for adults who have completed a bachelor’s degree in another domain and seek a second bachelor’s in HIMT to gain entry to this high-growth field. You may be eligible for admission to this program if you have completed approximately 60 semester credits of transferable general education coursework with a 2.0 or better grade point average (GPA).
Additional admission requirements include completion of Introductory College Algebra, Introductory Biology, and Introductory Communications, or their equivalents, passed with grades of C or better; and completion of UW-Green Bay’s lower-level General Education Program requirements.
The HIMT program will prepare knowledgeable and skillful professionals to assume leadership positions within the public and private sectors. Within organizations, a HIMT professional will be able to manage and administer health information technologies that span across divisions, departments and businesses.
Graduates of the HIMT program will be able to:
- Demonstrate knowledge of healthcare billing, coding and reimbursement policies.
- Demonstrate knowledge of healthcare terminology and medical conditions.
- Demonstrate knowledge of dynamic healthcare delivery systems and regulatory environments.
- Apply principles of healthcare privacy, confidentiality, legal, ethical issues and data security.
- Apply critical and creative thinking, problem solving, and effective inter-professional communication skills related to health information management.
- Evaluate, use, and integrate information technology to support medical decision making and processes.
- Apply quantitative methodologies to process healthcare information.
- Healthcare Management Emphasis —
Demonstrate the principles of leadership and management in the HIMT environment. - Healthcare Technology Emphasis —
Demonstrate the application of information technology in the HIMT environment.
This program offers courses in conjunction with three partner campuses: UW-Parkside, UW-La Crosse and UW-Stevens Point.
Students admitted to the program will take 48 credits of core courses, designed to prepare them for the HIMT field. They will then select one of two emphases, either healthcare management or healthcare technology, to further focus their knowledge in one of these areas of specialization. Coursework will culminate in a capstone course, where students will complete an HIMT project in a field setting.
Courses
HIMT 300. Survey of Contemporary Computing. 3 Credits.
This course provides a basic overview of contemporary information technology and computers. Topics include computer concepts (e.g., hardware, system architectures, operating systems, etc.), communication technologies, Internet technologies, and data organization/structures. Special emphasis placed on database management systems and data warehousing,
Fall and Spring.
HIMT 310. Healthcare Systems and Organizations. 3 Credits.
This course provides an overview of how healthcare and public health are organized and how their services are delivered in the United States (US). Topics to be covered include: public policy (including US health reform initiatives), organization of healthcare systems, components and operation of healthcare organizations including e-health delivery, professional roles and accreditation, legal and regulatory issues including licensure requirements.
Fall Only.
HIMT 320. Survey of Information Technology in Healthcare. 3 Credits.
Essential healthcare information technologies (HIT) that are used for healthcare information systems (HISs) are examined. Popular HISs include electronic medical record systems (EMRS), the computerized provider order entry systems, telemedicine, telehealth and e-prescribing.
Spring.
HIMT 330. Healthcare I: Terminology & Body Systems. 3 Credits.
Specific terminology and vocabulary used by workers in healthcare and public health will be examined. Topics include medical terminology that broadly relates to human anatomy and physiology, body systems and diagnosis, including prefixes, suffixes, roots and combined forms. Topics will also include healthcare taxonomies and nomenclatures (e.g. ICD-9-CM, ICD-10, etc.).
P: BIOLOGY 201/202 with a C or better
Fall Only.
HIMT 340. Ethical issues, Security Management and Compliance. 3 Credits.
This course introduces three broad subjects: 1? evidence-based medical ethics pertaining to healthcare information management, 2) framework of healthcare information security management including security principles, policies and procedures, security management models, risk assessment, and protection mechanisms, 3) healthcare regulations and compliance with focuses on the legislative systems, policies, and legal environment in the U.S. and the existing health information laws, regulations and standards. Also addressed are the elements and development of compliance programs.
Spring.
HIMT 345. Programming and Software Development. 3 Credits.
Introduction to: object-oriented (OO) programming paradigm, OO systems analysis and design, fundamental data structures, and n-tier software design. Examination of the role of each in the software development process.
P: HIMT 300 or conc enr; HIMT major
Fall Only.
HIMT 350. Statistics for Healthcare. 3 Credits.
This is an introductory course in statistical methods for the health sciences. The course will emphasize the principles of statistical reasoning, underlying assumptions, hypothesis testing, and careful interpretation of results. Some topics covered; major study designs, descriptive statistics, graphical displays of data, probability, confidence intervals and tests for means, differences of means, sample size and power, differences of proportions, chi-square tests for categorical variables, regression, multiple regression, and non-parametric statistics.
P: MATH 101; HIMT major
Fall and Spring.
HIMT 355. Principles of Management for HIMT Professionals. 3 Credits.
This course provides an overview of basic principles involved in management and communication. Topics include basic management principles, communication skills, interpersonal communication competence, negotiation technique, team/consensus building, professional development, and problem solving/decision-making processes.
Fall Only.
HIMT 360. Healthcare II: Survey of Disease & Treatments. 3 Credits.
This course further investigates the topics covered in HIMT 330 Health Care I. Based on each body system the course will further expand into the topics of human disease, human health issues and classification of disease/health issues. Diagnostics, Treatment and Clinical procedures that are currently in practice. In addition, the course will incorporate Pharmacotherapeutic concepts (drugs and therapies to treat/prevent/control human disease/health issues), investigating the variety of drugs used for disease treatment for each body system, this will include the current biologicals that are used for treatment. Topics will include how the drugs and biologicals work, their limitations, and the current diversity of available drugs and biologicals.
P: HIMT 330; HIMT major
Spring.
HIMT 365. Healthcare Economics. 3 Credits.
Applications of microeconomic theory to analyze the behavior of health and health care markets. Topics will include: supply and demand of health care services, private health insurance markets, government provision of health care services and health insurance, and health care policy.
Fall Only.
HIMT 370. Healthcare Systems: Analysis & Design. 3 Credits.
This is the first course in a two-course sequence that addresses methods and techniques of healthcare information system (IS) analysis and design as performed within the system development life cycle. Included will be techniques for problem definition, requirements gathering, analysis, logical design, selection and evaluation of alternative healthcare information systems solutions from the point of view of the health provider and user. An emphasis is placed on analysis, selection, and evaluation of information systems as they relate to healthcare.
P: HIMT 300; HIMT major
Spring.
HIMT 375. Database Structures and Management Systems. 3 Credits.
Analyze and design databases to support computer-based information systems. Develop and implement relational database management systems using SQL. Topics include: data modeling techniques such as entity-relationship modeling, extended entity-relationship modeling, database constraints, database normalization techniques, and basic and advanced features of database query language SQL, etc.
P: HIMT 345; HIMT major
Spring.
HIMT 380. Healthcare Billing, Coding and Reimbursement. 3 Credits.
This course examines the coding and reimbursement connection; topics include managed care plans, prospective payment systems, Medicare-Medicaid reimbursement, resource-based Relative Value Scale, case mix management, and revenue cycle management.
P: HIMT 330 & 360; HIMT major
Fall Only.
HIMT 400. Healthcare Information and Technology - Data. 3 Credits.
This course explores the sources and data contents of health-care information as well as the proper presentation of it for different usage levels. Topic addressed include: 1) data structure and use of health information (individual, comparative and aggregate), 2) type and content of health record, 3) data quality assessment, 4) secondary data sources, 5) healthcare data sets, 6) Health information archival systems, and 7) National Healthcare Information Infrastructure (NHII). The course will also cover topics in bioinformatics.
P: HIMT 360; HIMT major
Spring.
HIMT 410. Healthcare Sytems: Implementation and Integration. 3 Credits.
Covers the back-end stages of healthcare systems development lifecycle through the procurement route: development of technical design specifications, procurement procedures (RFP, RFQ, vendor evaluation and selection, and contracting), systems configuration and integration, installation, conversion, operation, and maintenance. Pre-installation testing and post-conversion auditing and monitoring will be emphasized to address the upcoming requirements of federal certification of EHR systems.
P: HIMT 300 & 370; HIMT major
Spring.
HIMT 415. Human Resource Management in Healthcare. 3 Credits.
This course examines the role of HIM staff in managing human resources to facilitate staff recruitment, retention and supervision.
Spring.
HIMT 420. Healthcare Systems: Project Management. 3 Credits.
This course addresses the phenomenal impact information system (IS) projects have had on healthcare delivery. Students learn how healthcare IS projects affect organizations, doctors, patients, and chronic-illness treatments, as well as individuals interested in managing their own healthcare. Concepts and tools for effective healthcare IS project management, process re-engineering and work redesign are introduced. The purpose of this course is to expose students to IS project management activities in healthcare settings. Topics covered include recent healthcare IS project trends, budgeting, scheduling, resource management, scope, risk analysis, and deployment controls. The genesis of healthcare project management is covered using specific cases and examples.
Fall Only.
HIMT 425. Data Warehousing and Mining. 3 Credits.
Examine the concept of data warehouse and its effectiveness in supporting strategic decision making. Address the process of creating data warehouse/data-mart solutions from the identification of the enterprise informational and analytical needs to producing business intelligence by extracting information from the data warehouse by using data mining methods and models.
P: HIMT 375; HIMT major.
HIMT 430. Quality Assessment and Improvement. 3 Credits.
This course examines the Quality Assessment and Quality Improvement cycle (Plan, Do, Act, Check) and the role of the HIT/HIM in the process. Tools used in quality and risk management processes will be examined.
P: HIMT 350; HIMT major
Spring.
HIMT 435. Data Communications and Networks in Healthcare. 3 Credits.
This course provides fundamentals of data communications and networking techniques, and examines the linkage of information technology strategies and technological solutions enabling effective communication within and between health care organizations. Major topics include fundamental concepts of data communications and applications, network communication devices, basic technologies of the Local Area Network, Wireless Local Area Network, Wide Area Network, Internet and the Web, the OSI stack, health care information systems standards, and the HIE, RHIN, and the NHIN.
P: HIMT 300; HIMT major
Fall Only.
HIMT 440. Group Processes, Team Building and Leadership. 3 Credits.
This course introduces students to the necessary group/team processes that are at the root of building, developing, and maintaining medical/healthcare work teams and the effective functioning of such teams. The course also provides an overview of leadership development techniques. Also included is a focus on the uses of various communication technologies in the team building and functioning processes.
P: None.
HIMT 445. Application of Leadership & Management in Healthcare Technology. 3 Credits.
This course assimilates and integrates concepts and applications of management and leadership in the healthcare advancing on the topics covered in HIMT 355, 365 and 415. Topics will include strategic leadership concepts, exploring key factors that impact management and planning, change management, critical organizational behaviors for leadership and management focusing on best practices and organizational accountability and assessment models.
P: HIMT 355, HIMT 365 & HIMT 415; HIMT major.
HIMT 450. Healthcare Information and Technology - Standards. 3 Credits.
This course will be an introduction to healthcare information technology standards including standards and regulations for documentation, and will cover health information standards. The course will also investigate soft-ware applications and enterprise architecture in health-care and public health organizations.
P: HIMT 400; HIMT major
Fall Only.
HIMT 490. Capstone. 3 Credits.
This course is capstone course for both tracks of the degree program. Students are required to find an internship site that is related to healthcare and set up a semester long project from which they can gain hands-on experience in the areas of their concentration. Project set-up will be jointly done by the student, site sponsor, and the faculty of this course, whereas internship supervision will be performed by the projedt supervisor and the course instructor.
Fall and Spring.
