By Susanne Reynolds

Special to The Post-Searchlight

The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) will honor and celebrate health information professionals during the 28th Annual Health Information Professionals (HIP) Week, slated for March 26-April 1, 2017. This year’s theme is “Leading the way to quality data.”

“Health information management professionals understand the volumes of health data and information being generated, and they know how to manage it and what it is saying,” says AHIMA CEO Lynne Thomas Gordon. “This year’s HIP Week theme reflects AHIMA’s vision of leading the way to improving health through trusted information.”

To go along with this year’s theme, Bainbridge State College is “leading the way” in preparing quality future HIP professionals through the Health Information Technology (HIT) program. 

Elantra Clark of Donalsonville is currently in the program and said it helped her find where she was comfortable in the workplace and classroom.

“I’ve always wanted to work in the medical field and this program is teaching me how to be comfortable in the field,” she explained. “I’m comfortable working in a medical office. It’s challenging, but I really like it. My instructor, Ms. Pashnyak makes the course interesting. I’ve progressed from my first semester of being in the course because of the way she teaches. She shows us how to work together.”

The program is structured to accommodate the students’ busy schedules.

Online and on-campus classes are offered.

Tatyana Pashnyak, the Professor of Health Information Management Technology, keeps the class as “hands on” as possible with the result of students being hired after completing the course.

She said, “Some of my students have been hired before they finish the class or as soon as they graduate. I like to make sure they are well prepared and ready to go to work.”

One student in the program, Jennifer Glass of Donalsonville, currently works in a local dentist office as a receptionist and agrees that the HIT program better prepared her for the position.

“I enjoy working with people and the program isn’t all about paperwork,” said Glass. “I learned how to do my job through this class. It made it a lot easier to catch on.”

Clark and Glass are two of the top students in the program and will have one year of certified medical coding experience through AAPC when they graduate the program.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (www.bls.gov), employment of health information professionals is projected to grow 15% from 2014 to 2024, much faster than the average for all occupations. The demand for health services is expected to increase as the population ages.

For more information on the Health Information Technology program at Bainbridge State College, please contact Tatyana Pashnyak, Professor of Health Information Management Technology, at 229.243.4259 or tpashnya@bainbridge.edu.

Registration for summer and fall classes begins April 3. Visit BSC online at www.bainbridge.edu.