healthcare management degrees online

I have been trying to find information on online programs for healthcare management. I am currently a medical transcriptionist but would like to earn an associates degree to go into healthcare management. I am a mother of 2 young kids and work at home so it is hard for me to attend regular classes and the closest community college is 30 miles away. I found informatoin on Ashworth College but I am afraid that employers will not look favorably on an associate degree through distance learning. I would like to earn a degree at home within 2-3 years and definitely would need financial aid. Anyone have suggestions on a distance learning college that offers this type of degree that is widely recongnized and accepted by employers or do I just need to bite the bullet and earn an associate degree in applied science (health information management) through a regular 2 year community college program. Thanks for any suggestions.

 

Just to clarify, are you looking for a program in the more general area of healthcare management, or healthcare information management; i.e.: medical records? Your message refers to both areas and I wanted to make certain your area of interest before giving some advice.

Regards,

Michael Lloyd

 

Oops, sorry.
I am looking to be able to work in health information management and would like to become certified to begin working in billing, records management, etc but also would like to go further later on when my kids are older into health care management, perhaps earn a bachelors in Health Care Administration/Management.

Thanks for you input

 

There are several courses available for an AS in health information management. Go to the American Health Information Management Association web site at

http://www.ahima.org/careers/colleges02.html

There is a search option for schools with a distance learning option. I think there are about 10 programs. Weber State University in Utah has both an AS and a BS in health information management offered by distance learning.

The class at PCDI is not a program for medical records that is a program developed for medical office managers.

Hope this helps.

Jeremy

 

Try St. Joseph's College in Maine

 

I note that from Jeremy's post above, he must work in the business also. His advice on using the AHIMA website to find programs in healthcare information management was absolutely spot on and I cannot really improve upon it.

I would offer a different opinion as to choice of program. And to give some background to my opinion, I am a healthcare risk management consultant who spends much of my time onsite in clinics ranging from solo practices to multi-specialty groups comprising hundreds of providers. I speak with clinicians and managers of all specialities and all departments.

Having said that, if you go into medical records, you will find it very difficult to ever break out of it. It will be difficult to break the typecast of one of those people down in the basement who shuffles paper and loses charts all day. An unfair stereotype no doubt, but one that does exist.

I think that going into medical group management offers much more potential for jobs and future growth. I just did a google search using the terms "medical office management degree distance learning" and noted a large number of institutions offering everything from certificates to associates to bachelors to masters. I think you may find it somewhat difficult to find a program that is totally distance learning, except for Ashmead.

But an important issue to consider is that getting that first job in medical management will likely depend heavily on networking; and one of the best ways to network is through classes and meetings of professional organizations. So think about taking a mix of classes both distance and face-to-face insofar as your personal situation permits.

I realize that this response may not be exactly on point to what you asked for, but thought it may be of some value to you.

My $ 0.02 USD.

Regards,

Michael Lloyd
Mill Creek, Washington USA