Module 4 Associate Degree Competencies

As part of your health Information Technology program, you were required to complete a course in the legal aspects of health information. This course, HIT 72, included a broad scope of HIM legal issues from the structure of the United States legal system to workplace law and regulations governing medical staff. The most important topics in this course centered around HIPAA and the privacy and security of protected health information (PHI). Additional important topics detailed tort law, a civil process under which most medical cases fall.

The AHIMA Council for Excellence in Education (CEE) establishes curricula for HIM programs at the associate, baccalaureate and graduate level. The CEE has approved the 2018 AHIMA HIM Curricula Competencies for implementation in the CAHIIM accreditation process. As the law and interpretation of laws change, updated competencies must be implemented.

Background

Many changes have occurred in the AS Degree competencies. Most of the significant changes have been necessary based on industry standards, changing regulations, and the advent of the electronic health record. CAHIIM and AHIMA review competencies and revise according to the industry needs in order to be certain that emerging professionals are well-prepared for the job market. Sometimes this means strengthening existing competencies, revising the Bloom's level, or combining domains. Please listen to the following video for more discussion on these changes. If you would like to use closed captioning for the video, please click on the gear wheel , and select captions and then "English."

CAHIIM Associate Degree Competencies

When students review material and prepare for the RHIT exam, of they wonder "where did I learn this"? Students who completed the program part-time due to work or family responsibilities may be at an even more significant disadvantage becasue foundational material was studied several years before graduation.

Access, use, and disclosure skills have been part of the AS degree competencies and now are even more important. With a an EHR and the commonplace transmission of PHI electronically, HIM professionals face new and more complex challenges. In addition, many states have enacted "sensitive services" laws designed to give minors more control over the release of health information. This reflects modern social mores as well as encouraging a greater confidence between a minor patient and the healthcare provider. If you plan to work in California, for example, you should be familiar with the California Confidentiality of Information Act.

The table below details the AS Degree competencies. Those rows highlighted are related to various legal HIM matters. Also indicated is the CCSF course number where the material was presented. The course assignments may change each semester but generally if you are wondering in which course the material was covered, this chart will help refresh your experience.