College of DuPage (COD) has introduced a new Associate in Applied Science degree in Healthcare Management, the first two-year degree of its kind offered by an Illinois community college. The program is designed to give students a pathway into the business side of healthcare, without requiring them to pursue clinical training or commit to a four-year degree from the start.
The degree grew out of COD’s decision to phase out its Health Information Technology program, said Andrea Brus, Health Information Technology assistant professor and leader of the development. The older program struggled to attract students unfamiliar with medical records, billing and coding, and its name itself was misleading.
“When we think of health information technology, most of us think of computers,” Brus said. “The technology was born out of when this degree dealt with medical record technologists, when medical records were on paper.”…