Health Information Technology
- Mission Statment
Through strong community support, engaged learning opportunities, and remarkable faculty, the HIT program provides high quality education to prepare graduates for professional positions at the HIM technical level.
- Student Learning Outcomes
- Certificate
Learning outcomes for the Healthcare Coding & Classification Certificate are below. More details are further down on the page in the table.
Domain 1: Data Content, Structure & Standards (Information Governance)
Domain 2: Information Protection: Access, Disclosure, Archival, Privacy & Security
Domain 3: Informatics, Analytics and Data Use
Domain 4: Revenue Management
Domain 5: Compliance
Domain 6: Leadership
Supporting Body of Knowledge - Associate Degree
Learning outcomes for the Associate of Applied Science in Health Information Technology are below. More details are further down on the page in the table.
Domain 1: Data Content, Structure & Standards (Information Governance)
Domain 2: Information Protection: Access, Disclosure, Archival, Privacy & Security
Domain 3: Informatics, Analytics and Data Use
Domain 4: Revenue Management
Domain 5: Compliance
Domain 6: Leadership
Supporting Body of KnowledgeThe WSU HIT Associate degree program is externally accredited by The Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management (CAHIIM). As such, the program has significant annual program assessment requirements, including assessment of student learning outcomes. The requirements follow the annual program assessment report (APAR) as required by CAHIIM. Those requirements can be found at www.cahiim.org.
Health Information Technology, AAS degree program
- One-hundred percent (100%) of students rated the quality of the HIT 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.
- Eighty-one percent (81%) of HIT program graduates passed the RHIT certification examination on their first attempt.
- Bachelor Degree
Learning outcomes for the Bachelor of Science in Health Administration are below. More details are further down on the page in the table.
Domain 1: Data Content, Structure & Standards (Information Governance)
Domain 2: Information Protection: Access, Disclosure, Archival, Privacy & Security
Domain 3: Informatics, Analytics and Data Use
Domain 4: Revenue Management
Domain 5: Compliance
Domain 6: Leadership
Supporting Body of Knowledge
- Certificate
- Curriculum Grid
- Program and Contact Information
Health Information Technology is a program offered under Health Administrative Services:
- Health Information Technicians perform the essential functions of maintaining health data and records in acute, long-term, and ambulatory health care settings. Opportunities also exist in related health care settings, e.g., insurance companies, medical clinics, computer software vendors, and health maintenance organizations. These functions include, but are not limited to, the coding of diseases and operations, maintaining statistics, transcribing medical reports, performing DRG and utilization review procedures, supervising employees.
- In addition to classroom and laboratory course work, students participate in a supervised clinical experience in a hospital medical record department or other health information environment.
- The Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management Education accredits the Health Information Technology program.
- Successful completion of the Health Information Technology two-year program leads to an associate of applied science degree and the student is then eligible to sit for the national certification exam. Students passing this national examination may use the professional designation Registered Health Information Technician.
Contact Information:Heather Merkley3959 Stadium Way, Dept 3911Ogden, UT 84408-3911801-626-7074 - Assessment Plan
- Assessment Report Submissions
- 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 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 HIT students is generated. Faculty advisers reach out by email to all students regarding status in HIT 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 HIT 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.
- Any first-year students taking courses in your program(s).
- 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 RHIT certification examination are the most effective measure of our program outcomes. This past year we had 100% of our program graduates pass this certification examination through the first three quarters of the year (fourth quarter has not been received to date). 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 RHIT certification examination are the most effective measure of our program outcomes. This past year we had 100% 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?
- The HIT AAS Degree program has benefitted from strong evidence of student learning on certification examinations results in recent years. This year’s results are a reflection of curricular changes that we have made in the past few years. Discussions with our program advisory committee assist the program in identification of needed skills, tasks and abilities that seem to also impact results on the certification exam
- 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.
- We need to work harder on getting survey responses from our graduates and their employers so that we can make informed decisions on changes or new directions for our curriculum from these groups. The feedback that we have received was positive for this group of students.
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 HIT 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 adding more hands on practical skill activities using an Electronic Health Record during the current academic 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 HIT AAS Degree program has benefited from strong evidence of student learning on certification examinations results in recent years. We have experienced RHIT certification examination results above our 80% threshold, but this has been up and down over the last 4 years; 83% 2009-10; 100% 2010-11; 86% 2011-12; and 100% 2012-13. In 2011-12 a new test blueprint was launched and many content areas changed so the program reacted to the drop in pass rates and made some curricular changes to better match the test blueprint which appears to have been successful. Over the past 4 years the content areas that our graduate score under the national average in changes and there does not appear to be a consistent low in any one area. This is evidence of a very dynamic industry. Discussions with our program advisory committee assist the program in identification of needed skills, tasks and abilities that seem to also impact results on the certification exam.
- 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 has been rated above average using a 4-point scale however there is room for improvement.
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 HIT 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.
- 2021-2022
- Program Review