What is Health Information Technology?
“Health Information Technology (HIT) is the use of electronic systems to store, share and analyze health data,” explained Guttman HIT Professor Laquan Black.
Think of just about any health-related task on your to-do list in the last 24 hours: Make a telehealth appointment to get a prescription for a cough that won’t go away. Check with the pharmacist that the medication doesn’t interfere with your allergies. Look at your employer’s website to see if they reimburse the cost of an eye exam. Help your grandfather find out if he’s eligible for Medicaid. If you accomplished any one of these things, a health information technician was in some way involved in the process to support you and you can thank them for it.
“A career in health information technology is very exciting, and there are a lot of opportunities in organizations including hospitals, physician offices, insurance companies, long-term care facilities, consulting, HIT vendors, hospice, law firms, ambulatory care and skilled nursing facilities, home care providers, government agencies, and pharmaceutical companies,” said HIT Professor Patricia Jones.
36 of the 61 degree credits students earn for this fully online degree are in core courses like Medical Terminology, Legal & Ethical Aspects of Healthcare, Computer Applications in Healthcare and Data Security, Clinical Classifications Systems: ICD-10-CM/PCS Coding that teach the essential skills defined by the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA). Mastering these skills, students get to apply them in 40 hours of industry experience with project-based, supervised professional practice.
Working closely with the Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management Education (CAHIIM), New York State Education Department and Middle States Commission on Higher Education, Professor Black is leading the work to ensure programmatic accreditation. “There are many moving pieces in progress,” she stated. “Once we attain accreditation, graduates will qualify to take the Registered Health Information Technician (RHIT) exam. They get to put those letters behind their name, like RNs and MDs do. That is an amazing accomplishment to confirm their hard work!” According to Black, with their associate degree and RHIT certification, graduates can go on to acquire a bachelor’s degree or enter the field in medical records, coding, billing or patient services.
“This is a critical time of accelerated change in health information technology, and our newly designed program is ensuring that first-time students and individuals already in the field who are looking to upskill are equipped with the knowledge and judgment to navigate these changes,” said Black. The College’s HIT program is aligned with Guttman’s commitment to offer new programs for which graduates can enter the workforce earning a livable wage in growing occupations.
A big shift in the way health information specialists are trained includes, of course, AI — driving a “massive educational overhaul,” as Black described it. Professor Jones elaborated, “The way we do things in the HIT field is changing with AI technologies helping lift some of the administrative burdens [of medical coding and data entry, for instance]. People working in health information roles need to be willing to upskill by being aware of the different AI platforms so they can become adept in workflow as well as delivery. With these perspectives, they can support healthcare processes and help everyone understand the areas being changed by AI.”
Going forward, RHITs must now play a more pivotal role in data validation, governance, and analytics; areas that have been a consistent part of their curriculum but have increased in importance. In the program’s coursework and required Professional Practice Experience, HIT students can gain competence with AI tools in ensuring data accuracy, compliance and ethical decision-making as they contribute to healthcare data policies.
With a “soft launch” in last year’s spring semester, the very first cohort of eight HIT-AAS students began the program in Fall 2024, and the program aims to have 20 students a year from now.
Why would prospective students choose Guttman’s HIT program?
“Our program is distinguished from others preparing individuals for careers in the field in a number of exciting ways,” according to Jones. Here are some of them:
- Guttman’s HIT was selected as one of the inaugural programs to participate in the CUNY Online Initiative. As such, students in the HIT program benefit from the expertise of instructional designers, learning technologists and multimedia designers who support online course development.
- “Our students start their core courses for the program in their first term. Most programs put their general education courses first, and they lose a lot of students [who] want to begin their core classes early in the program,” explained Jones.
- The College undertook a national search to hire faculty who can build a solid and forward-looking online degree program. Professors Jones and Black, both Registered Health Information Administrators (RHIA), possess unquestionably deep and diverse academic and professional expertise that, with combined decades of experience in healthcare IT roles, afford their students a rich entreé to the profession. Jones stated, “We have industry experience, so we’re able to bring real work experience into the curriculum and classroom.”
Hired by Guttman in 2022 to launch the college’s AAS-HIT program, Jones holds a master’s in healthcare administration/education and an MBA. In addition to being a certified pharmacy technician (CPhT), she has earned four additional credentials in medical auditing (CPMA) and professional coding (CPC and CPC-I). Jones’ instructional background includes teaching courses in Medical Terminology, Legal & Ethical Aspects of Healthcare, Pharmacology and Pathophysiology, Clinical Classifications, and Introduction to CPT and HCPCS Coding.
Black, who joined Guttman in 2023, holds a Master of Science in Health Informatics & Analytics. With her certifications as a Release of Information Specialist (CRIS) and an Associate in Healthcare Information and Management Systems (CAHIMS), she not only enjoys teaching Health Law, Computer Applications in Healthcare, Data Security and Healthcare Management in health information technology but also courses in public health and information technology (IT). As a HIPAA subject matter expert, she brings her knowledge to bear in teaching cybersecurity issues, a topic for which Black was interviewed at a recent Healthcare Cybersecurity Forum in Washington, D.C.
Learn more about Guttman’s Health Information Technology program.
