Health Information Management

• Certificate

  Students completing the Health Information Management Certificate will be able to demonstrate introductory to intermediate level competancies of the outcomes listed in the curriculum grid section below. 

• Associate Degree (Not Applicable)

   

• Bachelor Degree

  Health Information Management, BS degree and/or Post-Baccalaureate Certificate program:

  • One-hundred percent (100%) of students rated the quality of the HIM program, as related to their preparation, as an HIM professional as good to excellent.
  • One-hundred percent (100%) employer respondents rate our graduates' level of competency as adequate to excellent concerning the entry-level student performance on the HIM competencies.
  • Ninety-four percent (94%) of HIM program graduates passed the RHIA certification examination on their first attempt.

   

  Students completing the Bachelor of Science in Health Information Management will be able to demonstrate the learning outcomes listed in the curriculum grid section below.

Health Information Management Practice Definition:

• Health information management represents a continuum of practice concerned with health-related information and the management of systems to collect, store, process, retrieve, analyze, disseminate, and communicate information related to the research, planning, provision, financing, and evaluation of healthcare services.

Health Information Management is a program offered under Health Administrative Services:

• The Utah State Board of Regents approved the development of a Health Information Management (HIM) program for the College of Health Professions in 1993 based upon evidence of a demonstrated need and strong support for the program by the Utah Hospital Association and the Utah Health Information Management Association.
• Successful completion of the Health Information Management program leads to a Bachelor of Science degree in Health Administrative Services: Health Information Management emphasis.  The HIM program is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Health Informatics and Information Management Education, allowing graduates to sit for the national registration exam.  Students passing this national examination may use the professional designation of Registered Health Information Administrator (RHIA).

• 2021-2022

   

• 2019-2020

  1) First year student success is critical to WSU’s retention and graduation efforts. We are interested in finding out how departments support their first-year students. Do you have mechanisms and processes in place to identify, meet with, and support first-year students? Please provide a brief narrative focusing on your program’s support of new students:

  • Any first-year students taking courses in your program(s).
    • As a student applies to our program in their freshman year, an adviser is assigned to them.  At this time, students are provided a HIM degree map that outlines the course sequencing.  Students are encouraged to meet with their adviser or other HIM faculty with questions. 

   

  • Students declared in your program(s), whether or not they are taking courses in your program(s)
    • Each fall a list of declared HIM students is generated.  Faculty advisers reach out by email to all students regarding status in HIM program.  Their progress toward completion of the degree is assessed and appropriate advisement is given. 

  
  
  2) A key component of sound assessment practice is the process of ‘closing the loop’ – that is, following up on changes implemented as a response to your assessment findings, to determine the impact of those changes/innovations. It is also an aspect of assessment on which we need to improve, as suggested in our NWCCU mid-cycle report. Please describe the processes your program has in place to ‘close the loop’.

  • We report to the HIM advisory committee and CAHIIM accreditation the results of our assessment processes annually.  As part of this process, curricular items below threshold will be followed by program director to ensure changes have been implemented.  Other program measures are monitored closely for measured targeted outcomes achievement and appropriate actions taken as necessary by program faculty.  

   

  The full report is available for viewing.

• 2017

  1) Based on your program’s assessment findings, what subsequent action will your program take?

  • Ongoing changes are being made to course curriculum. The annual assessment process has led to meaningful discussions among faculty regarding innovative methods of instruction and consistencies across the program.

   

  2) We are interested in better understanding how departments/programs assess their graduating seniors or graduate students. Please provide a short narrative describing the practices/curriculum in place for your department/program. Please include both direct and indirect measures employed. Finally, what were your findings from this past year’s graduates?

  The full report is available for viewing.

• 2016

  1. Based on your program’s assessment findings, what subsequent action will your program take?

  • Program faculty has adopted the recommend action for each of the courses assessed. Implementation of the recommendations will occur over for the next semester that the course is taught. In addition, productive conversation has evolved around overall course improvement and adaptation to the increased demands of the online environment. Increase collaboration is occurring regarding the curriculum within the program. Also, faculty “leads” will be assigned to coordinate each course.

   

  2. Are there assessment strategies within your department or program that you feel are particularly effective and/or innovative? If so, what are those strategies and what do you learn about your students by using them?

  • We believe that the results of the RHIA certification examination are the most effective measure of our program outcomes. This past year we had 93% of our program graduates pass this certification examination. In addition, these graduates scored at or above the national average in all domain areas.

  
  The full report is available for viewing.

• 2015

  1) Based on your program’s assessment findings, what subsequent action will your program take?

  • Program faculty has adopted the recommend action for each of the courses assessed. Implementation of the recommendations will occur over for the next semester that the course is taught. In addition, productive conversation has evolved around overall course improvement and adaptation to the increased demands of the online environment. Increase collaboration is occurring regarding the curriculum within the program. Also, faculty “leads” will be assigned to coordinate each course.

   

  2) Are there assessment strategies within your department or program that you feel are particularly effective and/or innovative? If so, what are those strategies and what do you learn about your students by using them?

  • We believe that the results of the RHIA certification examination are the most effective measure of our program outcomes. This past year we had 93% of our program graduates pass this certification examination. In addition, these graduates scored at or above the national average in all domain areas.

   

  The full report is available for viewing.

• 2014

  1) Reflecting on this year’s assessment(s), how does the evidence of student learning impact your faculty’s confidence in the program being reviewed; how does that analysis change when compared with previous assessment evidence?

  • It has been a challenging year for the HIM program in that Congress delayed the implementation of the ICD-10-CM/PCS coding systems once again.  This delay has resulted in program faculty having to continually alter the curriculum to reflect the current coding system changes in many areas – coding course, data analysis, etc. Because of this change, we have limited time to implement and update other portions of our curriculum.  This delay also impacted a change to the certification examination test blueprint for our students, this change was delayed until July 1, 2014. This is the reason why we have not received our full year certification examination report for the program to date. Our outcomes seem strong for the HIM BS Degree program but this constant state of flux is difficult for faculty and students to handle. 
  • Graduates on exit (the year they completed) and 1-year later have consistently rated our program above average in preparing them for entry-level HIM positions and providing a quality curriculum.
  • Competency of graduates by employers is still being rated as above average using a 4-point scale however there is room for improvement which is indicating that we are preparing our graduates to take on roles in the HIM industry. 

   

  2)With whom did you share the results of the year’s assessment efforts?

  • All program assessment activities are shared with the program advisory committee, posted on our program website for the community at large, and reported to the Commission on Accreditation of Health Informatics and Information Management Education (CAHIIM), our accrediting body.

   

  3)Based on your program’s assessment findings, what subsequent action will your program take?

  • The faculty feel that our HIM program consists of strong curriculum but our industry is in a continual state of change and we always have room to improve. The program will be looking at our practical skill develop activities to see what we can do to improve them in the coming year. In addition, we are working diligently to improve response rates on all program evaluation surveys.

   

  The full report is available for viewing

• 2013

  1) Reflecting on this year’s assessment(s), how does the evidence of student learning impact your faculty’s confidence in the program being reviewed; how does that analysis change when compared with previous assessment evidence.

  • The HIM BS Degree program has benefited from strong evidence of student learning on certification examinations results in recent years. We have experienced RHIA certification examination results above our 80% threshold, and scores at or above the national average in all domains areas for the past 4 years which indicates consistency in the program.

   

  • Graduates on exit (the year they completed) and 1-year later have consistently rated our program above average in preparing them for entry-level HIM positions and providing a quality curriculum. This is the first year, we have asked employers to rate graduate competency at the certification examination domain level.  Adding this level of granularity has provided the program with valuable information on graduate skills. Competency of graduates by employers is still being rated as above average using a 4-point scale however there is room for improvement. It is also interesting to see that the individual domain areas are much lower than the overall assessment by of entry-level competency. This can be interpreted that employers are satisfied with the graduates’ level of competency but the graduates’ skills could be better. 

  
  2) With whom did you share the results of the year’s assessment efforts?

  • All program assessment activities are shared with the program advisory committee, posted on our program website for the community at large, and reported to the Commission on Accreditation of Health Informatics and Information Management Education (CAHIIM), our accrediting body.
     

  
  3) Based on your program’s assessment findings, what subsequent action will your program take?

  • The faculty feel that our HIM program consists of strong curriculum but our industry is in a continual state of change and we always have room to improve. The program will be looking at our practical skill develop activities to see what we can do to improve them in the coming year.  In addition, we are working diligently to improve response rates on all program evaluation surveys.
     

  The full report is available upon request.

2020-21

2016-17

2011-12