Health Care Management Degree Curriculum

This course is designed to provide a discussion of strategies for completing the Allied Health programs as an independent learner. In addition, it gives an introduction to health care, the allied health industry, and the role that allied health professionals play in that industry. Focus is on the different elements and jobs in the allied health field. The course also provides an overview of the history of medicine and documentation, health-care reimbursement, technology in health care, important professional skills, and professional organizations helpful to allied health professionals.

• Identify skills needed to be a confident and independent online learner
• Describe the United States health care industry and the professional roles within it

This course introduces students to the techniques and strategies necessary to research successfully in a cyber environment. Topics include the need for information literacy and how to formulate a search statement, navigate online search engines, cite sources, and organize and use information honestly and responsibly. 

• Identify how to formulate focused and specific research questions and the need for information
• Explain the different types of research tools, how they’re used to conduct different searches, and how to evaluate the quality and usefulness of the information found
• Explain how to cite sources properly using various citation styles in consideration of academic integrity, plagiarism, and ethical use of resources

Microsoft® Office allows people to create documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and databases. This course will teach you how to use three popular tools from the Microsoft® Office Suite — Word™, Excel®, and PowerPoint®. In this course, you'll learn how to use Word™ to create and edit text documents, insert figures and tables, and format pages for a variety of uses. You'll then learn how to use Excel® to organize and format data, including charts, formulas, and more complex tables. Next, you'll learn how to use PowerPoint® to create and deliver slide shows. Finally, you'll complete a graded project, which will test the skills acquired in Word™, Excel®, and PowerPoint®.

By the end of this course, you'll be able to:

• Create various Microsoft® Word™ documents.
• Produce a thorough Microsoft® Excel® spreadsheet.
• Identify the basic skills needed to use Microsoft® PowerPoint®.
• Synthesize what you’ve learned by integrating Word™, Excel®, and PowerPoint®.

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).

By the end of this course, you’ll be able to do the following:

• 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 how law affects healthcare practitioners, 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 healthcare information, and the laws regulating healthcare information collected and maintained by government agencies.

• Interpret civil and criminal laws related to healthcare
• Assess ethical issues healthcare professionals face today
• Assess an ethical dilemma in the medical field
• Apply confidentiality laws and regulations
• Evaluate HIPAA laws in regards to patients’ rights

The development of a vocabulary used in medicine by acquiring skills to pronounce, define, and spell word terms. Students will analyze and interpret medical reports related to specific body systems.

• Analyze the fundamentals and building methods of medical terminologies
• Categorize the medical terms and meanings related to diagnoses, interventions, and body structures
• Distinguish between the medical terms related to the musculoskeletal, circulatory, and respiratory systems
• Differentiate between the medical terms associated with the digestive, urinary, and reproductive systems
• Point out the medical terms related to the integumentary, nervous, and endocrine systems
• Choose the correct medical pronunciation based on various medical scenarios

This course will provide the student with a foundation in basic mathematical operations. Topics covered include percentages; discounts; interest; present worth; sinking funds; installment buying; pricing; depreciation; investments; insurance; use of symbols and their applications, equations and formulas; and the importance of statistics.

• 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

Developing more effective personal communication skills to increase chances for professional success; increasing skill levels involving the use and selection of words, gestures, tone of voice, facial expressions, listening skills, as well as overall physical appearance.

• Analyze various factors that help develop interpersonal communication
• Apply interpersonal communication skills in real-world scenarios

The Health Care Management course begins with an overview of management, focusing on the supervisor’s role and continuing with decision making, planning, and organizing. Additional topics include human resources management, labor relations, budgeting, and leadership.

• Identify the theories of management and the supervisor’s role in healthcare management
• Analyze the methods of planning and processing and the role of the manager in them
• Categorize the processes related to staffing and organizing in healthcare management
• Point out the role of a supervisor in imparting influence and control and conducting labor relation interactions
• Prepare a project based on your choice of hospital organization

The anatomy and physiology of the human body is presented as an integrated science. Each major body system is described and analyzed to illustrate normal function as well as pathology. Topics include basic biochemical elements, skin, bone, muscles, the nervous system, the senses, and the endocrine system.

• Analyze the basics characteristics and functions of the human anatomy and physiology
• Categorize the characteristics and functions performed by the muscular, integumentary, and nervous system
• Prepare a report of a medical disorder using the mentioned software program
• Analyze the recorded screen captures and video to complete your lab assignment

A continuation of Anatomy and Physiology 1. Topics include the cardiovascular system, the lymphatic system, immunity and infection control, respiration, digestion, nutrition, the urinary system, reproduction, and genetics.

• Identify the characteristics and functions of the organs in various body systems
• Prepare a report of a medical disorder using the mentioned software program
• Prepare a lab assignment using the recorded screen captures for this assignment

This course meets the needs of students who need to understand accounting language but aren’t planning on becoming accountants. Students will learn what accounting information is, what it means, and how it’s used. Topics covered include financial statements, return on investment, bookkeeping process, cost accounting, and report systems.

• Define accounting and identify and describe its different classifications
• Analyze transactions that affect current assets, including applications of valuation and matching
• Interpret financial statements and describe how listed factors impact net income and cash flow
• Analyze cost-volume-profit relationships and apply cost accounting principles to financial decision-making

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Music Appreciation

In this course, the student will understand how to appreciate music and learn about the roles of the composer and the listener, the principles of music theory and instrumentation, musically significant historical periods, and varying styles of music.

• Identify the building blocks of music a composer can use to create a piece, such as rhythm, melody, harmony, texture, form, and timbre
• Differentiate between the music of the baroque era and the musical styles of previous time periods
• Recognize the major characteristics of classical music, including form, melody, and instrumentation
• Describe the musical trends and innovations that occurred during the romantic era
• Relate musical styles of the early twentieth century to comparable movements in art and literature
• Explain the evolution of American popular music in the twentieth century
• Recognize the influence of world music on modern western composition
• Write an essay researching composers’ influence in their respective genres

Introduction to Literature 

This course will allow you to develop your critical thinking skills and broaden your knowledge of the main genres of literature—fiction, poetry, and drama.

By the end of this course, you'll be able to do the following: 

• Explain how to effectively read fiction for both knowledge and enjoyment
• Identify different styles and forms of poetry
• Use what you’ve learned in this course to discuss, write about, and understand literature
• Prepare a critical interpretation of fiction or poetry based on what you’ve learned in this course
• Discuss how literary dramas differ from fiction and poetry
• Identify different strategies of critical literary analysis

Art Appreciation

In this course, the student will gain an understanding of artistic media, historical periods and artistic movements, the roles of the artist and the viewer, and the principles of art criticism.

• Define the language, visual elements, and principles of design of art
• Identify two-dimensional media
• Identify three-dimensional media
• Explain the evolution of art from ancient Mediterranean cultures through eighteenth century Europe
• Identify features and popular examples of art throughout the history of African, Asian, Pacific, and American cultures
• Compare the genres of the Modern and Postmodern eras of art from around the world

An overview of Human Resources Management (HRM), as it’s understood today. This course illustrates the dynamic interaction of the personnel functions with each other and with the objectives of an organization.

• Describe the elements of human resource management, including labor considerations, regulation, and management of workflow
• Explain how companies should prepare for and implement HRM to hire new employees and create training programs
• Identify the aspects of employee, career, and turnover management
• Summarize how employees are paid, including legal requirements, performance-based pay, commissions, salaries, and benefits
• Describe other HRM functions including collective bargaining, labor relations, global HRM, and building a high-performance organization
• Explain key aspects of the field of human resource management

This course is designed to introduce the health information technology student to principals of clinical quality management and performance improvement in the healthcare industry. Focus is on standards and implementation of quality programs and principals and concepts of performance improvement. The course also covers additional areas such as utilization management, risk management, and tools and techniques used in performance improvement and quality management.

• Show the principles required for quality management of systems
• Analyze the effect of policy, goals and customer requirement on establishing system direction
• Show the methods to improving system efficiency and performance
• Apply the concepts you’ve learned to real-life scenarios

The Electronic Medical Records course provides a basic overview on how to successfully manage electronic medical records (EMRs) in different health care settings. Students will learn EMR concepts, terminology, regulations, and procedures, and receive hands-on training using electronic medical record software.

• Describe the contents of the Electronic Health Record and the security, privacy, and confidentiality associated with medical records
• Complete simulated appointments and patient registrations in SimCharts
• Explain the administrative and clinical roles in the medical office and functions within the EHR that are utilized routinely in these roles
• Complete administrative and clinical reports in SimCharts
• Describe the billing and reimbursement process and the use of both patient portals and personal health records in continuity of patient care
• Complete reimbursement and personal health records in SimCharts
• Complete simulated medical records in SimCharts

In this course, you’ll begin with an overview of coding concepts, terms, and procedures. You’ll start by exploring the history of the ICD-10-CM. You’ll code diagnoses in the ICD-10-CM and use the chapter-specific coding guidelines to code diseases and conditions with specific and unique rules. You’ll then learn how to code procedures in the ICD-10-PCS, rounding out your training in the basics of coding with ICD-10.

Then, you'll concentrate on the diagnoses or procedures that don’t seem to fit into any specific coding category. You’ll also learn about general coding guidelines for inpatient and outpatient procedures and physician office coding using CPT, HCPCS Level I, and HCPCS Level II procedure coding.

• Explain how to use the ICD-10-CM to assign codes for medical diagnoses
• Identify the purpose of the ICD-10-PCS and how it's used
• Outline the procedure for assigning codes from the E/M and Anesthesia sections of CPT
• Outline the types of services and procedures described in the CPT
• Explain the types of procedures coded in the hemic, lymphatic, digestive, reproductive, and urogenital systems
• Describe the procedures coded in the endocrine, nervous, ocular, auditory, radiology, pathology, and medicine sections of the CPT
• Assign CPT and HCPCS codes for physician procedures and services

This course is designed to introduce the student to major reimbursement systems in the United States. The focus is on prospective payment system, third-party payers, and billing and insurance procedures. The course also covers additional information including prepaid health plans, fee-for-service methodologies, chargemasters, fee schedules, and managed care.

By the end of this course, you’ll be able to:

• Examine the basics of health insurance
• Summarize the health insurance claims process
• Identify the concept and goals of managed care and other government-sponsored health programs that integrate managed-care concepts into their plans
• Examine the proper use of medical codes for reimbursement and coding practices for procedural coding, evaluation, and HCPCS
• Explain electronic reimbursement processes and the differences between physician office and hospital billing and coding
• Manage a patient’s record as well as coding and billing information
• Recognize uses of medical codes and reimbursement in the healthcare industry

The process of leadership involves much more than having a supervisory title or a managerial position. This course will teach you that leadership is a complex process involving many facets. Leadership involves methodology, psychology, evaluation, and influence. This process can occur anywhere in the chain of authority, regardless of the position. The most successful organizations integrate these leadership elements throughout the workforce to achieve maximum business goals.

This course will give you an understanding of relevant leadership issues, theories, and principles with real-life examples. This course will also provide you with the latest supervision and leadership research, in addition to illustrating the evolution and development of modern leadership principles. The course is broken down into four lessons, each with individual assignments and examinations to be completed and submitted for grading at the completion of each lesson.

• Analyze the fundamentals of four major approaches to leadership
• Point out the intricacies of path-goal theory, leader-member theory, and transformational leadership theory
• Categorize various principles of advanced leadership as well as the importance of morals and ethics in leadership and followership
• Analyze the role of leadership involved with gender, culture, and globalization
• Prepare responses to the essay questions about your results from the Leadership Behavior Questionnaire

Presents the management and supervisory functions and skills of a health information management department. Focus is on fundamentals of management, basic management functions, principals of supervision, and supervision of  specific health information management functions. The course also covers organizational structure, human resources management, staff development, and management budgeting and finance functions.

• Explain the various roles in the healthcare profession and the legal structure for healthcare delivery
• Describe the purpose, various functions, and various processes for administrative management
• Analyze the legal issues and fraud in healthcare, HIPAA, and compliance programs
• Discuss the importance of professional communication, professional behavior, and project management skills
• Analyze performance-improvement methods in health services administration
• Analyze leadership styles in health services administration

This course is designed to introduce the health information technology student to the calculation, compilation, analysis, and presentation of healthcare statistics. Focus is on basic descriptive and inferential statistics and the concepts of data validity and reliability. The course also covers data collection methods, interpretation of data, calculation of statistical formulas, and uniform reporting requirements.

• Distinguish between descriptive statistics and inferential statistics.
• Apply basic statistical principles.
• Identify valid and reliable data.
• Calculate, analyze, and report routine institutional statistics and institutional health-care quality indicators.
• Collect, interpret, prepare, and present research data.
• Design reports using database information.
• Perform statistical analysis of patient information.
• Participate in committees utilizing health record information.

This course covers biology and behavior, consciousness, memory, thought and language, intelligence, personality and gender, stress, and community influences. 

• Explain various states of consciousness, learning theories, and thought processes and development
• Summarize the nature of human motivation and development, the human development cycle, and approaches to understanding and assessing personality
• Prepare an essay on the topic of conditioning, memory, or motivation and emotion
• Recognize psychological disorders and available treatments
• Explain social psychology as it relates to attitudes, influences, behaviors, and stress
• Use critical thinking skills to determine the likely causes of behaviors of individuals and groups discussed in case studies

A comprehensive overview designed to prepare the Health Care Management student to perform functions and demonstrate competencies related to health care management services in a variety of settings. Students will be tested on health care management knowledge, perform project and research work, practice skills, and gain workplace experience in a variety of settings under the supervision of an externship site supervisor.

• Demonstrate proficiency in skills related to professional development, human resource management, policies and procedures, and acute care correspondence management