Health Information Programs Department

The Health Information Technology Programs (formerly Medical Record Technology) deal with the study of patient's medical records in any type of healthcare setting. Once a person seeks medical attention, a medical record is created for each visit to the hospital, doctor, emergency department, nursing home or any other healthcare provider. Health Information Technology professionals work with the patients' medical record either by collection, processing, storage, retrieval, analysis, and interpretation of clinical data. Medical coders take written descriptions of diseases and procedures and transform them into numbers, which are used for billing/reimbursement, statistics, research, education and classification of health information. Medical insurance specialists process claims for reimbursement and follow-up or denial of claims. Medical transcriptionists take verbal information dictated by the physician/provider and turn it into a written document, either paper or electronic.

Walters State Community College has four programs of study in the Health Information Technology Programs Department: Associate of Applied Science in Health Information Technology, Medical Coding Technical Certificate, Medical Insurance Specialist Technical Certificate, and Medical Transcription Technical Certificate. All four professions include extensive use of computer software. As the healthcare industry comes closer to a complete electronic health record our computer usage is increasing. The opportunities are numerous for either of these exciting and challenging professions.

For program descriptions and curriculum information regarding each of the Health Information Technology Programs please select from the programs listed.

For a one-page listing of courses in proper sequence without description please click here.

Health Information Technology Programs:

Full-Time Faculty:

Jane Shrader, RHIA
Assistant Professor of Health Information Technology
(423) 318-2364
Jane.Shrader@ws.edu