Why Health Informatics
Students enrolled in the Health informatics program are prepared for careers in the emerging fields of informatics for health care: data analytics, insurance reimbursement, compliance, Electronic Health Record (EHR) development and maintenance, as well as medical coding and the use of clinical classification systems.
Graduates are eligible to take the Registered Health Information Technologist (RHIT) certification exam through the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA).
Our Mission
The mission of the health informatics program is to foster excellence in technical achievement, nurturing professionals to become adept in healthcare informatics. We commit to providing a dynamic and inclusive environment that empowers students of all backgrounds to acquire pivotal knowledge and skills. Emphasizing innovation and ethics, our program prepares students to create the latest healthcare software systems and information technology platforms that are essential in abstracting, classifying, and processing data for medical coding, reimbursement, and data analytics.
Application to Apply to the Health Informatics Program is Now Open!
Middle States Accreditation
CCAC's Health informatics program is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.
Status: Accreditation Reaffirmed
Last Reaffirmation: 2018
Next Self-Study Evaluation: 2025–2026
For more information, visit CCAC's institutional page.
Middle States Action Letter, June 2017
Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management Education
The Health Informatics accreditor of the Community College of Allegheny County (CCAC) is the Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management Education (CAHIIM). The college’s accreditation for the associate degree in Health Informatics has been reaffirmed through 2028–2029.
All inquiries about the program’s accreditation status should be directed by mail to:
Health Informatics, A.S.
This program provides education in Health Informatics: Development, protection and use of patient health information, medical coding, clinical quality improvement, health law and compliance, informatics, analytics, data structure, content and information governance, organizational management and leadership and insurance reimbursement. Students may select courses in the fourth semester to focus on either Revenue Cycle Management or Healthcare Data Analytics.
Students will be eligible to sit for the RHIT certification.
Take the Next Step
Admission to Health Informatics
The Health Informatics program at the Allegheny Campus of the Community College of Allegheny County is a limited enrollment program.
The following preprogram requirements must be completed with a grade of C or better before final acceptance into the Health Informatics program:
- All developmental coursework as indicated by the results of the college's placement tests.
- Introduction to Biological Science (BIO 110)
- Credit cumulative quality point average of 2.50 or better
CCAC utilizes community Advisory Committees in all of its health career programs. The HIT program Advisory Committee is comprised of health information practitioners, faculty and college administrators who provide advice regarding curriculum revisions, marketing and recruiting, changing employment opportunities, and clinical education. Advisory Committee members serve as the liaison between the health care community and the college.
Clinical experiences are provided in area health care facilities as well as the campus HIT skills laboratory.
All HIT students are required to have a physical examination, updated immunizations including the influenza vaccine, child abuse clearance, a criminal background check and FBI fingerprints prior to their first professional practice clinical placement. In addition, some facilities may require additional laboratory tests. Students are responsible for any fees incurred as a result of completing these requirements.
CCAC Health Informatics uses the latest technologies in our virtual classrooms, including Microsoft SQL Server, PostgreSQL, Tableau, Python and R programming.
Required Technology to complete the program:
Windows:
- Operating system: Windows 10 (x64), or Windows 11
- Processor: Intel Core i3 or AMD Ryzen 3 (dual core)
- Memory: 4 GB or more
- Hard disk drive: 2 GB or more of free space
Mac Computers: (not recommended unless you have strong IT skills)
- macOS Big Sur 11.4+, macOS Monterey 12.6+, macOS Ventura, macOS Sonoma
- Intel processors - Core i3 (Dual Core) or newer
- Apple Silicon processors (using Rosetta - 24.1 and below)
- Apple Silicon processors (version 24.2 or newer)
- 4GB memory or larger
- 2GB HDD free or larger
Health Informatics Graduate Spotlight
Susan Pitell, A.S., CPC, CPB
Current position: Coder Educator for the University of Southern Florida and Tampa General Physician Group
Q: How did CCAC's Health IT program help you reach your goals?
A: CCAC prepared me for my role in educating physicians by properly using ICD-10, CPT, and HCPCS codes.
Alexis Cornmesser
Artificial Intelligence Algorithm developer at BlueSpine
Jennifer Brenneman
Current position: Credentialed Trainer - Clinical Operations Training Support: Physicians
Graduation year: 2025
I came to CCAC as a stay at home mom in pursuit of a second degree in Health Informatics. Prior to that, I earned my Bachelors Degree in English Writing from the University of Pittsburgh which opened doors to valuable work experience in both fashion merchandising and training/education.
Program Outcome Statistics
- 2022–2023 Employment rate: 100%
- 2022–2023 Graduation rate: 100%
- 2022–2023 Registered Health Information Technologist (RHIT) passing rate: 100%
Contact Information
Mandy Coligan
-
Associate Professor of Health Informatics - 412.237.2682
- acoligan@ccac.edu
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