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Healthcare Information Management

Franklin University Healthcare Information Management degree program banner Program OverviewProgram DetailsWhy Choose Franklin

Collect, analyze, and protect vital patient information

Now Accepting Applications for the 2013-2014 Academic Year

When you’re in the business of saving lives, getting accurate information quickly can be a life-or-death proposition. From patient data and medical notes to insurance facts and billing details, our entire healthcare system is built upon information.

As a result, the ability to securely capture and manage health information has become one of the nation’s fastest-growing occupations: Healthcare Information Management (HIM).

In fact, U.S. News & World Report ranked HIM as one of the top-9 hottest college majors, and an above-average job growth rate is projected through 2020 as employers look to fill a shortage of some 50,000 healthcare IT workers.1

Reap the rewards of your degree faster

Because our HIM Program is a degree completion program, you can finish your degree in less than two years when you transfer your associate’s degree from a community college’s CAHIIM-accredited HIM program. Franklin lets you enjoy a seamless pathway from the healthcare-related credits you already have to earning an in-demand bachelor’s degree.

Eligible applicants must have either earned a Healthcare Information Management associate's degree from a CAHIIM-accredited program within the last 5 years, or meet other requirements.

Get a career combining business, IT, and healthcare management

Franklin University’s Healthcare Information Management Major is designed to meet the real and growing need for professionally trained and educated individuals with a combination of knowledge from the fields of business, information technology, and healthcare management.

At Franklin, you’ll learn how to design and maintain information systems, as well as assess and disseminate clinical and administrative information in a manner that protects patient data and improves the quality of care. You’ll understand how to make healthcare operations more efficient and cost-effective by providing timely data to key decision-makers. You’ll also help clinicians do their most important work by providing the information they need for education and research.

Get hands-on experience that’s valued in the workplace

At Franklin, you’ll complete field projects in health information management organizations or departments, and you’ll engage in an integrative learning experience by developing a health information strategic plan for a real-world organization.

Our practical hands-on curriculum and experiential assignments are not only attractive to prospective employers, they prepare you to immediately put your skills into practice in the workplace.

Earn your degree from a university built for busy adults

Earn your degree on your terms by taking classes 100% online. Regionally accredited and nonprofit, Franklin was built from the ground-up to satisfy the needs of adult learners. A seamless transfer process and personal academic advisors help ease your transition into becoming a student, while our flexible course schedules help to balance your education with work, family, and life. Get started on your future today!

1Source information provided by Economic Modeling Specialists International (EMSI)

Gain The Skills Employers Desire

  • Healthcare Management
    • Develop strategic and operational plans for facility-wide healthcare information management
    • Perform business planning activities, such as cost-benefit analyses, to determine resource needs
    • Prepare and manage area budgets, analyzing and reporting budget variances
    • Evaluate and manage vendor and personnel contracts
    • Establish standards of productivity for healthcare information management
    • Ensure proficiency and effectiveness by promoting industry best practices, ensuring HIPAA and other compliance, and educating personnel
  • Health Data Management
    • Ensure accurate and comprehensive patient care data for patient evaluation, quality audits, and historical purposes
    • Develop and implement quality measurement to ensure accurate, timely and complete medical record keeping
    • Identify trends and improvement opportunities for select healthcare quality measures
    • Manage clinical data required for reimbursement and prospective payment systems
    • Optimize management and communication of related clinical data, information, and knowledge
    • Create and maintain organizational policies, procedures, and guidelines for the management of health information
    • Conduct data analyses using using Joint Commission and Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) datasets
    • Audit medical records, ensuring accuracy of assigned ICD-9 codes supported by written clinical documentation
    • Deliver effective briefings and make recommendations based on complex and diverse data
    • Develop and implement strategies targeted at realizing fully integrated electronic health records (EHRs)
    • Provide design and information visualization of data and large datasets
  • Healthcare Information Systems & Technology
    • Oversee development of client server and healthcare information systems, including installation, equipment, and upgrades
    • Develop and maintain applications that support patient care and clinical services
    • Interpret the use of standards to achieve interoperability of healthcare information systems
    • Identify vendors and solicit proposals for clinical, administrative, and specialty service applications
    • Analyze systems hardware and software configurations, monitoring usage and ensuring high performance
    • Research and recommend information technology systems, software, and equipment installations and upgrades
    • Identify and manage hardware and software solutions to ensure data collection, storage, analyses, and information reporting
    • Maintain information management policies and practice guidelines, ensuring standardized health information management operations
  • Healthcare Database Administration
    • Design databases and forms that meet requirements for entry and reporting of clinical data
    • Install, configure, and test new databases, performing version upgrades on existing databases
    • Implement high-availability database backup and recovery processes
    • Monitor database systems to ensure minimum downtime
    • Employ scripts, queries, and ssis packages to load and procure clinical and other health data
    • Query databases and apply data mining techniques to facilitate information retrieval
    • Investigate database and server issues, implementing solutions to enhance database performance, availability, and reliability
  • Information Security & Privacy
    • Determine the appropriate levels of user access to protected health information and personally identifiable information
    • Manage patient medical records information to ensure compliance with state and federal laws, licensing agency rules and regulations, and Joint Commission standards for quality patient care
    • Review information security plans to ensure alignment between security and privacy practices
    • Ensure software is designed and implemented according to best practice standards, avoiding security-related logic flaws and other adverse consequences
    • Research, analyze and understand log sources of key devices, such as firewalls, routers, anti-virus products, and operating systems
    • Understand how to apply threat modeling to identify relevant security threats
    • Manage network monitoring tools to prevent the corruption of information systems
    • Ensure effective use of application security controls using tools and techniques, such as source code analyses, vulnerability scanners, and manual testing

Career Opportunities

  • Business Process Engineer

    Business Process Engineers collaborate with internal customers to scope projects, benchmarking best practices, assigning resources, documenting requirements, and planning implementation.

    View Salary Trends
  • Clinical Data Analyst

    Clinical Data Analysts ensure consistent completion of experiments and protocols, and capture and record verifiable scientific data and validation.

    View Salary Trends
  • Clinical coders

    Clinical Coders input appropriate medical diagnostic and procedures codes into classification systems software in order to determine insurance reimbursement for services.

    View Salary Trends
  • HIM Project Manager

    Health Information Management (HIM) Project Managers seek optimal solutions to improve work processes, redesign information management practices, and implement operational policies and procedures.

    View Salary Trends
  • Health Data Manager

    Health Data Managers manage all aspects of the content of medical records and patient information systems, ensuring that databases are complete, accurate, and secure from unauthorized use.

    View Salary Trends
  • Health Information System Application Designer

    Health Information System Application Designers design, develop, test, and manage computer systems to facilitate the secure exchange of patient information.

    View Salary Trends
  • Privacy Officer

    Privacy Officers create policies and procedures to govern the storage, retrieval, and management of patient information, ensuring adherence to best practices and compliance with federal and state regulations.

    View Salary Trends
  • HIM Director

    HIM Directors oversee the maintenance of patient medical records, ensuring accuracy, privacy, and security.

    View Salary Trends
  • Assistant HIM Director

    Assistant HIM Directors manage the day-to-day activities of staff charged with maintaining patient medical records.

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  • Data Quality Manager

    Data Quality Managers ensure compliance of organizational privacy policies, maintain data quality goals and standards, and resolve data quality problems through process design strategies.

    View Salary Trends
  • Patient Information Manager

    Patient Information Managers manage and secure patient records, ensuring compliance with federal mandates for electronic storage.

    View Salary Trends

Employment Outlook

From 2010-2020 jobs in Healthcare Information Management are expected to increase by 17%.

Source information provided by Economic Modeling Specialists International (EMSI)

Our Recipe For Your Success

Academic & Industry Experts

Classes are taught and designed by credentialed professionals with real-world experience.
 

  • Programs are designed by combining the insight of industry leaders with the academic expertise of our faculty, ensuring what you learn translates into on-the-job success.

  • Academic concepts and theories are brought to life through our teaching faculty’s professional expertise, and can be immediately applied in your career.

  • Faculty with industry experience teach our courses, not graduate students or life-time academics, so you learn not only the theories behind the practice but also how to apply them in real-world situations.

Relevant & Consistent Curriculum

What you learn is a reflection of the program you choose, not the format in which it’s applied.
 

  • All programs are designed for learning outcomes to flow from the program level into actual coursework.

  • This top-down approach allows credentialed professionals to customize assignments based on trending industry topics without deviating from a program’s core outcomes.

  • Regardless of your professor or the format of your class, you receive the same quality education.

Hands-On Learning Experience

Franklin's coursework teaches not only theories and concepts, but also how they apply to practical situations.

 

  • Professional course designers ensure that class activities such as learning simulations, case studies, interactive videos, and group exercises are relevant and appropriate.

  • A curriculum development team is dedicated to making sure all courses are intuitively designed so content is taught in a logical manner that facilitates your success in the classroom and beyond.

Continuously Evolving Programs

Consistent program reviews ensure our programs stay at the forefront of industry trends.
 

  • Survey results and feedback from student and faculty assessments are reviewed regularly so that our programs are always improving and up-to-date.

  • A structured review process helps identify industry gaps that guide curriculum enhancements allowing our academic and industry experts to regularly implement new industry trends.

  • Regular assessment provides hard data that is used to improve student learning and teaching methods.

Get the details

Read course descriptions, learn about degree options, and meet program faculty.

View Program Details