Health Information Management

KU's health information management program is an ever-changing and evolving program in order to support a rapidly changing profession. This program is designed to attract highly motivated and enthusiastic individuals interested in a profession, which is leading health care into the 21st century. The student learns theory and practice to attain entry-level competencies related to health records in management, personnel administration, legal aspects, health information systems, information retention and retrieval systems, health statistics, research, quality improvement systems, and classification and indexing systems.

The program begins each fall when a maximum of 24 students enter their first semester of professional coursework on the KU Medical Center campus in Kansas City, Kan. The program culminates in a 4-week capstone professional experience at the end of the spring semester of the senior year. The program is approved by the Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management Education.

The schedule of courses below provides a general sense of academic workload for students during the 2-year program in Health Information Management at KU:

First Year Fall	M/W/F – 9am to 12:30pm  |   T/Th – 9am to 12:00pm
HEIM 325	Pharmacology (2)
HEIM 330	Medical Terminology (3)
HEIM 360	Record Documentation Systems (3)
HEIM 380	Principles of Healthcare Management (4)
HEIM 415	Healthcare Delivery Systems (2)
HEIM 440	Management of Information Systems (4)
First Year Spring	M/W/F – 9am to 12:00pm  |   T/Th – 9am to 1pm
HEIM 575	Applied Statistics, Research Methods and Analysis in Healthcare (3)
HEIM 435	Pathophysiology for Health Professionals (3)
HEIM 460	Data Classification Systems (3)
HEIM 480	Human Resource Management (3)
HEIM 525	Database Management E H R (3)
Second Year Fall	M/T/W/Th/F – 9am to 12:00pm T/Th – 8-10 times per semester students are required to spend an afternoon in a health care setting attaining professional practice experiences.
HEIM 510	Professional Practice Experience I (1)
HEIM 520	Legal Aspects of HC (4)
HEIM 560	Coding Systems (3)
HEIM 567	Quality & Performance Improvement in Healthcare (3)
HEIM 590	Knowledge Management (3)
HEIM 640	Health Information Systems (3)
Second Year Spring	M/T/W/Th/F – 9am to 12:00pm T/Th – 8-10 times over a ten week period students are required to spend an afternoon in a health care setting attaining professional practice experiences.
HEIM 580	Reimbursement (3)
HEIM 604	Professional Practice Experience II (2)
HEIM 660	Outpatient Coding Systems (3)
HEIM 665	Topics in HIM (2)
HEIM 675	Management Seminar (2)
HEIM 680	Management Internship (3)

Course Descriptions

Junior Year - Fall Semester

HEIM 325 PHARMACOLOGY (2) This introduction to pharmacology course is intended to provide the student with the background information necessary to practice within the field. The course covers the fundamentals of pharmacology including pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics. The classification of drugs, the use of drug reference materials, and the mechanisms of therapeutic and adverse responses to drugs will be covered in the course.

HEIM 330 MEDICAL TERMINOLOGY (3) A study of the language of medicine including word construction, definition and use of terms related to various areas of medical science, hospital service and the allied health specialties.

HEIM 360 RECORD DOCUMENTATION SYSTEMS (3) A course of study relating to the composition of the health record and the department responsible for its security, confidentiality, and availability. The student will compare and contrast the content and formats of the Health Record across the continuum of health care systems; understand the record management issues unique to the health care record; study retrieval systems, record access, record retention guidelines, and record storage options currently available; and trends to the future.

HEIM 380 PRINCIPLES OF HEALTHCARE MANAGEMENT (4) This course will examine the unique characteristics of the health care industry in order to help the students identify (1) particular management skills needed as a business leader in the health care industry; (2) participate in the theory, skills, and applications of health care management through case studies and team projects. Prerequisite: An introductory course in accounting.

HEIM 415 HEALTH CARE DELIVERY SYSTEMS (2) An introduction to the wide spectrum of health care delivery systems in which health information management professionals use their organizational and management skills. Special emphasis is placed on acute care, ambulatory care, home health, hospice care, long term care, and managed care. The student will focus on how each delivery system is structured, what data sets are collected, the reimbursement schemes used, and how each system is integrated into the current delivery of healthcare in the United States.

HEIM 440 INFORMATION SYSTEM CONCEPTS (4) This course is concerned with the organizational foundations of information systems and their emerging strategic role in health care. It provides an extensive introduction to real-world systems, focusing on how they are related to organizations and to management. The focus is on the larger environment in which systems operate and how systems relate to organizational design, strategy, and operations.  In addition, the course should reinforce and expand the students' understanding of the MS Office applications including project management software applications such as VISIO and use of word processing applications (MS WORD), presentation applications (POWERPOINT), spreadsheets (EXCEL), and database applications (ACCESS) to an intermediate level. 

Junior Year - Spring Semester

HEIM 420 STATISTICS (3) Emphasis is on the statistical analysis of healthcare data. Content includes hospital-based statistics, an introduction to basic epidemiological concepts, univariate and bivariate descriptive statistics, sampling distributions, statistical estimation, and hypothesis testing for one or two sample designs. Research design and methodology will also be discussed.

HEIM 435 FUNDAMENTALS OF MEDICINE (3). An in-depth study of the fundamentals of medical science, medical essentials and the language of medicine, signs, symptoms, and test findings of disease processes and the current therapy employed in the treatment of diseases presented through health care professionals' lectures in the clinical specialties. Prerequisites: Courses in Anatomy & lab, Physiology & lab, HEIM 325, and HEIM 330 or consent of the department chairperson.

HEIM 460 DATA CLASSIFICATION SYSTEMS (3) The study of medical vocabularies, classification systems, and nomenclatures used in health care. Students will develop an understanding and ability to recognize appropriate clinical classification systems and nomenclatures as to their uses and sources and apply that knowledge to healthcare information systems to promote effective and efficient communication for research and reimbursement. Students will explore Case Mix, Health Care Data Sets, government regulations impacting reimbursement, and specific classifications used by the various healthcare organizations. In addition, the roles of the HIM professional in Medical Staff credentialing and privileging, the physician office setting, Risk Management, and ethics will also be addressed.

HEIM 480 HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT (3) This course provides students the opportunity to obtain the knowledge of human resources management skills. The course will study the people within various business organizations and their training, development, retention, motivation, and legal rights within the rapidly changing business and health care sectors. Prerequisite: HEIM 380 Principles in Healthcare Management.

HEIM 525 DATABASE MANAGEMENT FOR EHR (3) This course is designed to help students understand databases and database management systems. Students will learn to model and understand database design, in conjunction with learning methods to structure data as records, tables, or objects. Students will also learn how query languages are used for searching, sorting, reporting, and other “decision support” activities to best utilize the available data. Along with acquiring knowledge fundamental to management of the electronic health record (EHR), students will develop general technical knowledge to become capable health information professionals.

Senior Year - Fall Semester

HEIM 510 PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE EXPERIENCE I (1) Through supervised learning situations, students are given opportunities to visit different types of healthcare facilities in the area. These opportunities vary from year-to-year based upon availability. Opportunities might include (but not be limited to) developing competence while practicing a specific medical record procedure in an actual HIM department, exploring nontraditional HIM career roles, or visiting with and interviewing a long term care, behavioral health, rehabilitation, or managed care HIM department manager. Prerequisites: HEIM 415 and HEIM 360.

HEIM 520 LEGAL ASPECTS OF HEALTH CARE (4) This course is designed to introduce the students to fundamental concepts of the American legal system in healthcare, to the process of legal change, and to the healthcare practitioner's potential legal interactions with patients, law enforcement officers, and governmental agencies. Topics will include informed consent, malpractice liability, corporate negligence, employment in the hospital, and licensure of professionals.

HEIM 560 CODING SYSTEMS (3). Concepts, specifics, and guidelines for coding diseases, operations and other procedures by ICD-9-CM are demonstrated, along with practice and application through the use of coding cases and examples. Emphasis is placed on the importance of utilizing these coding guidelines and conventions along with the newly learned coding skills to achieve accurate and precise coding. The course will reinforce the importance of adequate coding policies and procedures in all healthcare facilities. Prerequisite: HEIM 435 or permission of the instructor.

HEIM 567 HEALTHCARE QUALITY CONTROL (3) A study of the requirement of the JCAHO with a focus on health information standards, quality improvement methodologies, utilization review, and medical staff credentialing and privilege delineation. In addition, Utilization Management is approached from the theoretical and practical application of the SI/IS criteria for the hospital setting. Prerequisites: HEIM 415 and HEIM 460.

HEIM 590 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT (3) This course will look at the study of Knowledge Management as a way for an entity to generate, communicate, and leverage their intellectual assets. Topics will focus not only information technology applications but also the human side of knowledge creation, diffusion of innovation, and the application of knowledge. Classroom discussion will be supplemented with labs that encourage the student to manipulate data sets to derive various perspectives from the same information. Prerequisites: HEIM 340, HEIM 420, HEIM 490, and HEIM 540.

HEIM 640 HEALTH INFORMATION SYSTEMS (3) The focus of this course is to provide a hands-on progression from the theories developed in HEIM 540 Information System Concepts. This course will require the student to apply this knowledge to real world problems with emphasis on Health Information Management Systems as well as Clinical Information Systems. Prerequisite: HEIM 540.

Senior Year - Spring Semester

HEIM 580 REIMBURSEMENT (3) This course will examine the complex financial systems within the health care industry. The student will gain a thorough knowledge of the diverse reimbursement methodologies utilized throughout the governmental and private insurance entities with application through: (1) case studies, and (2) information systems integrated within the course work. Prerequisite: HEIM 460.

HEIM 604 PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE EXPERIENCE II (2) Continuing to build on the experiences the student received in HEIM 510, supervised opportunities are given to the student for practicing both inpatient and outpatient coding skills, visiting and performing utilization review, and hearing of and practicing performance improvement in an area hospital. Student should be able to demonstrate understanding of the concepts about these areas presented in class while at these different sites. Prerequisites: HEIM 560, HEIM 567, and concurrently in HEIM 660.

HEIM 660 OUTPATIENT CODING SYSTEMS (3) Introduction to Physicians' Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) for outpatient coding of medical and surgical procedures will be emphasized. Guidelines, conventions, and the unique characteristics of CPT will be explained along with extensive student practice and utilization of the CPT manual in coding outpatient services and procedures. Prerequisite: HEIM 430 or permission of the instructor.

HEIM 665 TOPICS IN HEALTH INFORMATION MANAGEMENT (2) The course utilizes case studies and guest lectures to address the latest developments in the management of healthcare information. Knowledge and skills learned will be applied to real-world problems. Students will research selected topics culminating in written and oral presentations. Prerequisites: HEIM 460 and HEIM 490.

HEIM 675 MANAGEMENT SEMINAR (2) This course will provide application of the health care and business management skills obtained from previous management courses within the Health Information management track. Student teams will be introduced to key management issues within the business sector through a series of seminar topics and presentations. The student teams will also participate in field projects within the local business sector. Prerequisites: Senior status and permission of the instructor.

HEIM 680 MANAGEMENT INTERNSHIP (3) A four week internship that provides the student with a management capstone experience in the activities and responsibilities of the health information administrator. Students are responsible for all costs to include: room, board, and transportation. Management sites are selected based on the experience and credentials of the student. Prerequisite: Successful completion of all HIM professional coursework.