Basic Skills Assessment
All degree applicants are required to complete two Basic Skills Assessments, one in reading and one in math, to determine the level of readiness for beginning their selected program. Additional studies may be required.
Succeed by learning how to use your Penn Foster program, and get an introduction to health care, the health information management industry, and the role that health information technicians play in that industry.
Objectives:
- Understand how to use your Student Portal.
- Access the Penn Foster Community and use it to find answers.
- Connect with Penn Foster on various social media sites.
- Describe reimbursement systems and the role health information management technicians play in reimbursement.
- Describe how technology is used in health information management.
- Discuss different professional organizations and certifications for health information management technicians.
- Explain the different roles, opportunities, and settings for health information management technicians.
In this course, you'll learn how law affects medical offices, the origin of law that affects medical professionals, the basics of the process of litigation and its alternatives, the common-law basis for the confidentiality of health-care information, and the laws regulating healthcare information collected and maintained by government agencies.
Objectives:
- Describe civil and criminal law, sources of law, and the steps of litigation
- Distinguish between liability, negligence, and malpractice and explain how they relate to medical professionals
- Explain the impact of healthcare legislation changes on medical professionals
- Explain defenses against medical malpractice and criminal charges
- Identify the various ethical issues that medical professionals face
- Explain the uses and content of medical records
- Describe the legal significance of confidentiality obligations
- Explain the core concepts of HIPAA's final Privacy Rule
- Summarize the role of peer review in confidentiality issues
- Describe confidentiality and security issues related to electronic medical records
Get better at finding and using information!
Objectives:
- Search the Internet more effectively.
- Get tips about search engines and reliable websites.
- Learn how to search libraries and other information centers for important, useful information.
This course teaches the skills and techniques of effectively developing, drafting, and revising college-level essays toward a specific purpose and audience: active reading, prewriting strategies, sentence and paragraph structure, thesis statements, varied patterns of development (such as illustration, comparison and contrast, and classification), critical reading toward revision of structure and organization, editing for standard written conventions, and use and documentation of outside sources. Students submit two prewriting assignments and three essays (process analysis, comparison and contrast, and argumentation).
Objectives:
- Use writing skills to construct well-written sentences and active reading skills to understand and analyze text.
- Develop paragraphs using topic sentences, adequate detail, supporting evidence, and transitions.
- Contrast the revising and editing steps of the writing process.
- Distinguish between different patterns of development.
- Write a process analysis essay using prewriting, drafting, revising, and editing skills.
- Recognize how to determine the reliability of secondary sources and to give proper credit to sources referenced in an essay.
- Write a comparison and contrast essay by using persuasive writing techniques to defend a claim.
- Create a sound written argument using techniques of drafting and evaluating sources.
This course covers the medical terms that you will encounter in your field. You will complete a research project at the end of the course.
Objectives:
- Define word elements, roots, prefixes, suffixes, combining vowels, and combining forms.
- Describe the basic rules for building a medical word.
- Describe the uses and effects of drugs on the body.
- Distinguish among generic drug names, official drug names, trade names, and chemical names.
- Identify and spell word elements, names of diagnostic procedures, diagnoses, treatment procedures, and abbreviations related to the integumentary and musculoskeletal systems; cardiovascular system; the blood and lymph system; the respiratory system; the digestive and urinary systems; the reproductive system; the endocrine system; and the nervous system.
- Define terms related to the psychology and psychiatry fields.
- Identify and define terms associated with conditions of the eyes and ears.
- Identify and define terms commonly used on operative reports.
Additional Course Material:
- Textbook: Medical Terminology, A Living Language
This course will provide you with a foundation in basic mathematical operations, including percentages, discounts, interest, present worth, sinking funds, installment buying, pricing, depreciation, investments, insurance, symbols, and statistics.
Objectives:
- Analyze functions of whole numbers, fractions, decimals, and percents.
- Show calculations involved in simple interest, compound interest, and time value of money.
- Prepare various business math applications involving financial reports, installment buying, and depreciation.
- Analyze various financial concepts related to taxes, insurance, financial investments, and basic business statistics.
Additional Course Material:
Textbook: Practical Business Math Procedures
This course will allow you to build your computer skills through a combination of reading and hands-on practice. You will navigate popular software tools such as Windows® and Microsoft® Office.
Objectives:
- Create, edit, and illustrate Microsoft® Word™ documents.
- Apply formulas and functions to large data sets in Microsoft® Excel.®
- Incorporate useful charts and graphs to summarize data.
- Add, delete, sort, and lay out table data.
- Create presentations in Microsoft® PowerPoint® using advanced tools, tables, and charts.
Proctored Examination
You will be required to complete a proctored exam on selected courses each semester. These assessments will evaluate the knowledge and skills that you learned during the semester. You choose the time, the location, and the qualified exam supervisor.
