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Health Information Management Certificate

Programs and Classes

Health information management instructer teaching a Health Information class

What is Health Information Management?

Health Information Management (HIM) is the collection, analysis, storage and protection of the quality of patient health information.

HIM technicians ensure that patients' medical records are accurate, complete, and timely.

Health information employees assure that medical records are maintained in a secure manner to protect patients' rights to privacy. They expedite patient requests for information, as well as transmission of information from physician to physician, provider to insurance company and/or facility to government funded programs and agencies (Medicare, Medicaid, Center for Disease Control).

HIM technicians may become release of information officers, computer software specialists, informatics technicians, trainers and managers.

Apply Now

Visit the College Catalog for program details

Contact Us

Laurie Vilord, Program Advisor
lvilord@berkshirecc.edu
413-236-4682

Health Information management class

Learn More

  • National Trends
  • Healthcare Facilities
    • 88% of Health Care Facilities surveyed recently had immediate openings in their Health Information Management Departments.
    • 67% of these facilities anticipated openings in their Health Information Departments in the coming year.
    • 78% of Hiring Managers anticipated openings within the next two to five years.
    • 64% of Hiring Managers required Auditors to have a credential upon hire.
    • 14% of Hiring Managers required Release of Information personnel to have HIM education and/or a credential upon hire.
  • Local Employers
    • Baystate Health Systems
    • Berkshire Health Systems
    • Columbia Memorial Hospital
    • Ellis Medicine
    • Holyoke Hospital
    • St. Peter's Health Partners
    • Saratoga Hospital
    • Veteran's Affairs Medical Center; Leeds, MA
    • Stratton VA Medical Center; Albany, NY
  • Expected Outcomes

    Graduates of this program should be able to:

    • Describe health care organizations from the perspective of key stakeholders.
    • Apply policies, regulations, and standards in the management of information.
    • Identify policies and strategies to achieve data integrity.
    • Determine compliance of health record content within the health organization.
    • Explain the use of classification systems, clinical vocabularies, and nomenclatures.
    • Apply privacy strategies to health information.
    • Apply security strategies to health information.
    • Identify compliance requirements throughout the health information life cycle.
    • Describe the concepts of managing data.
    • Determine diagnosis and procedure codes and groupings according to official guidelines.
    • Evaluate revenue cycle processes.
    • Evaluate compliance with regulatory requirements and reimbursement methodologies.
    • Apply legal processes impacting health information.
    • Demonstrate compliance with external forces.
    • Identify the components of risk management related to health information management.
    • Identify the impact of policy on health care.
    • Demonstrate fundamental leadership skills.
  • Graduation Requirements

    Program Courses

    AHS-115 Fundamentals of Human Disease 3
    AHS-121 Essentials of Pharmacology 3
    HIM-106 Medical Coding II 3
    HIM-108 Electronic Health Record 2
    HIM-132 Reimbursement Methodologies 3
    HIM-203 Medical Coding Professional Practice 2
    EXL 225 Experiential Learning 1 – 6
    Total Credit Hours: 17 – 22

    For additional graduation requirements, see the College Catalog

Testimonial

As a 2015 graduate of the HIM Associate Degree program at BCC, I am very grateful for the education and training I received. The HIM and Coding classes were taught by respected and knowledgeable experts working in the HIM field, and were a great introduction to all the different pathways this profession can lead to, including coding, reimbursement and many more. The BCC program not only assisted me with passing the coding certification exams I took post graduation, but also prepared me for a career in inpatient medical coding; which I have been proudly maintaining since shortly after I graduated. Becoming a certified professional coder was the best career change I could have made for myself, and I owe a world of thanks to the education and support I received in my time at BCC.

Ann Marie Perry CPC, CIC, CCS, Beth Israel Lahey Health-Senior Hospital Coder II, Northwestern Medicine-Inpatient Coder III

BCC HIM student

Berkshire County Partner

We have had a successful partnership with BCC for more than eight years that allowed us to recruit successful coding staff members. The CAHIIM/AHIMA credential affiliation would be beneficial in the future given our growth in new Revenue Cycle positions; auditors and Chargemaster analysts. Additional feedback as an effort to help BCC: offering online course work would be helpful to recruit candidates and instructors.

The profession of HIM in the current environment requires individuals with higher learning, credentials and degrees more now than ever before. Many experienced professionals at BHS alone that are moving toward retirement age within the next three to five years will leave a gap.

Judy Jansen, Director of Health Information Management, Berkshire Health Systems