Career Description: Healthcare Administrative Specialist is ideal for individuals who would like a career in healthcare, but are not interested in the hands-on patient care. The medical community depends on educated staff to collect, interpret, analyze, protect and organize medical information so that it may be used for continuity of care, reimbursement, and quality improvement. Health administrative professionals work closely with providers, nurses, researchers, and other healthcare staff to contribute to the quality of patient care behind the scenes. Employment opportunities exist in hospitals, clinics, long-term facilities, nursing homes, physician offices, medical group practices, behavioral health facilities, insurance agencies, home health agencies, consulting firms, government agencies, insurance based healthcare companies, and medical supply organizations.

Program Information: The 60-credit Healthcare Administrative Specialist Associate of Applied Science (A.A.S.) program graduate is prepared to assume duties in the field including basics of ICD and CPT coding, reimbursement methodologies, quality assessment, legal, accreditation, and electronic health record systems. In addition to the diploma skills, graduates of the A.A.S. program will be able to use and maintain electronic applications and work processes to support healthcare business procedures, workflow, and reform; identify and prevent fraud and abuse while maintaining corporate compliance including HIPAA and HITECH; conduct analysis to ensure the documentation in the health record supports the diagnosis and reflects the patient’s progress, clinical findings, and discharge status; and to support physician reimbursement and revenue cycle management.

Program Outcomes:
Graduates will be able to:

• Demonstrate understanding of how their role fits into and affects their department, other departments, and the organization;
• Identify and utilize appropriate technologies used to capture, retrieve, and maintain information from internal and external sources;
• Apply knowledge of human structure and function, diseases and disorders, and medical terminology as it relates to their healthcare role;
• Apply policies, procedures, and regulation standards surrounding issues of access and disclosure of protected health information and organizational compliance;
• Evaluate the revenue cycle management process (emphasis on billing procedures);
• Analyze documentation in the health record to ensure it supports the diagnosis and reflects the patient's prograss, clinical findings, and discharge status;
• Demonstrate effective verbal and written communication within the healthcare environment;
• Describe positive work behaviors, personal traits and attitudes desirable in members of a healthcare team; and
• Explain accepted ethical practices with respect to cultural, social, religious and ethnic differences within the healthcare environment.

Special Program Requirements:

In addition to the program requirements listed above, students must meet the following conditions in order to graduate:

1. College Cumulative GPA Requirement: The cumulative grade point average (GPA) must be at least 2.0
2. College Technical Core GPA Requirement: The cumulative GPA of credits in the technical core of the diploma or degree must be at least 2.0
3. Residency Requirement: students must complete 25% of their credits at Central Lakes College.

Admissions: The A.A.S. degree and diploma are offered as full-time programs. Students can start at the beginning of fall or spring. This program is a combination of in-class room, hybrid (both in-class, LiveOnline and online), and online formats. Students pursuing the A.A.S. degree will find the second year courses are offered in an online format to allow for employment while completing the degree.