ICC Collaborates with Hutchinson to offer Four New Programs

Four new programs of study have been added to the Spring Semester offerings at Independence Community College through a new partnership with Hutchinson Community College. The degree and certificate programs are hybrid offerings which allow students to attend ICC and complete their programs online. The new Allied Health programs have been announced as: Pharmacy Technician, Health Information Technology, Medical Coding, and Professional Medical Transcription.

“These vocational programs are designed to get people into the workforce with the training they need to be successful,” said Denise Clark, Allied Health Coordinator at ICC. “The most exciting part about this collaboration is that each and every one of these offerings will prepare students for jobs employers in this area are trying to fill. It’s a great feeling when we can help our students get the skills for jobs that are in high demand.”

Pharmacy Technicians work under the direct supervision of a licensed pharmacist and perform many pharmacy related functions. Duties may include: preparing prescriptions, counting pills, extemporaneous compounding and preparing parenteral medications. Pharmacy technicians work in a wide variety of practice settings, including community pharmacies, hospitals, home healthcare, mail order and long-term care facilities.

Health Information Technology is offered both as an abbreviated Certificate Program and a full two-year Associate of Science Degree. Each time a patient sees a health care practitioner, the health care practitioner records information, including observations, medical test results, the diagnosis and any plans for treatment. Health Information Techs (HITs) organize and evaluate these records for completeness and accuracy and may clarify information with the practitioner. Techs assign codes to each diagnosis and procedure by consulting classification manuals as well as using their knowledge of disease processes. In large facilities, HITs may specialize in one area of health information or supervise health information employees. In small facilities, the technician may perform a wide variety of tasks in the health information department.

Medical Coding is a certificate program that prepares students for coding positions in hospitals, clinics, ambulatory surgery centers, insurance companies and other settings where diagnostic and procedural data are coded in ICD-9-CM and CPT for reimbursement purposes. Credits in this program are fully applicable to the Health Information Technology Associate in Applied Science degree.

Professional Medical Transcription is a certificate program that is designed for persons interested in pursuing careers which combine skills in operating computers and word processing, in understanding and interpreting medical information and terms and in transcribing medical reports. This certificate provides instruction and clinical experience to assist students in developing the skills required of medical transcriptionists. After working in the field for three years, transcriptionists are eligible to apply to write the certification examination for medical transcriptionists through the American Association of Medical Transcriptionists.

For more information about these programs, contact Clark at (620) 332-5498 or email at: Dclark@indycc.edu.