School Focus on American Sentinel University

The way that health records are processed and handled is changing rapidly.  Movement to an electronic format has created an opportunity for those interested in a health care career to enter  the field and be ensured of a long lasting and stable career in Health Informatics.  American Sentinel University has an online program that allows students to progress towards and complete a bachelor’s degree in Health Informatics.

Here is some of what American Sentinel University has to offer about their program:

The advent of medical records moving to electronic formats requires a substantial restructuring of how healthcare organizations gather, process and use information. That means the industry will see a great need for “health information specialists” - specially trained professionals with a degree in health informatics who understand the use and best practices of health information management, applied clinical informatics, and information technology resource management.

American Sentinel’s online health informatics degree is intended for individuals in the IT or informatics field that may not have training or experience in healthcare specifically, or those in healthcare professions who seek a degree in health informatics, increased technological skills, or public health informatics programs.

The Health Informatics program is designed to provide students with the skills needed to analyze information needs, design solutions, and manage information storage, transfer and retrieval in health care environments. Students will acquire a broad knowledge base in computer information systems as they are used in organizational settings and learn how to apply this knowledge to the specific needs of the health care information environment.

This program is specifically designed to provide billing and coding professionals with career advancement into medical records and medical information systems management.

The online healthcare informatics degree includes five courses that serve as the foundation for the Certified Health Data Analyst (CHDA) certificate.

Graduates with a Bachelor of health informatics will be able to:

• Apply fundamental systems analysis and design concepts and problem-solving strategies to information technology problems.
• Analyze, design, and implement solutions to health care information problems.
• Utilize information systems tools, techniques, and methodologies applicable to health care systems.
• Apply project management principles to information systems development efforts in health care institutions.
• Structure information collection and presentation to facilitate executive-level planning and decision-making in health care environments.
• Structure medical records departments according to ethical, legal, and regulatory guidelines.
• Develop reporting and support capabilities for health care decisions.
• Apply principles of human resource management and financial and resource management to a healthcare organization.

The fact that this is an online degree program should help any qualms you may have about returning to college. They make the process easy, and so do we.