What Can We Study in Health Information Technology?

As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (2009), a massive coordinated effort is underway to train thousands of health information technology (IT) professionals over the next five years. A number of colleges and universities across the U.S. have received grants to design and implement one-year study programs, beginning in September, 2010, to train and certify new health IT personnel.

Function

• Estimates based on Bureau of Labor statistics and other sources project a need for approximately 50,000 additional health IT professionals over the next five years, as more hospitals and doctors begin implementing the use of EHR (electronic health records) systems. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), action must be taken now to meet the demands the changeover will require. The curricula for study will focus on health industry information systems.

Medical Coding

• Core subjects of study for a health IT professional interested in medical coding would require the individual to acquire a basic working knowledge of medical terminology, pharmacology, and disease processes. Certified medical coding professionals must maintain expertise in CPT (current procedural terminology) and ICD-9-CM ("International Classification of Disease, 9th Edition, Clinical Modification") coding systems. Coding associates and specialists will also need to be prepared as the ICD-9 system undergoes the planned transition to ICD-10.

RHIT and RHIA

• In addition to the core subjects listed above for medical coding, a registered health IT technician (RHIT) studies computer basics and data entry and learns the workings of specialized medical management software systems. A registered health information administrator (RHIA) studies the core subjects listed for medical coder and RHIT, plus classification and computer systems. In addition, an RHIA would be expected to possess basic accounting skills for budget preparation and be knowledgeable about how the health insurance industry functions.

Nursing Informatics

• Another program that falls under the health IT umbrella is nursing informatics. The contemporary term for information science (study concerned with retrieving, gathering, classifying, and distributing computer data), informatics have been slowly integrated into the nursing profession for the past several years. Current and future nursing students study computer science and information science, along with nursing science, as part of the core curriculum. Standard coordinated teams of nurses trained in IT and IT professionals trained in health care are projected to be the norm in the future.

Security Coordinators

• Other vital health IT professionals are security coordinators, privacy and security specialists who work as part of a team to ensure that all health IT personnel understand and abide by healthcare standards of protecting patient confidentiality as the industry transitions from paper files to EHRs. In addition to a working knowledge of the health IT industry as a whole, subjects of study for the security coordinator include data mining, security software systems, and project management.