What is the best route to take to get a bachelor's degree in Health Information Management? I'd like to take my general classes at a local community college and transfer them to a school that will give me a bachelor's in HIM. That would be my preference.
Or would it be best to complete my general studies at the school I will get the HIM degree from?
Also, will what I am taught in the HIM classes be adequate enough for me to be a good coder, or should I take a separate coding course?
Also, I looked at the AHIMA website for a list of schools that offer bachelor's degrees in HIM, and some of them are community colleges. I thought you could only get a bachelor's degree from a four-year university? Sorry if any of these are dumb questions, but I'm semi-new to higher education. I went to a university for a few years and dropped out because I didn't know a lot about college, didn't know what I wanted to do, and didn't know why I was there. So I'm doing a lot of research now.
That depends on your overall goal. If your goal is to become a Medical Coder and then at some point possibly advance to the various different areas of Medical Coding, the best way is to become a credentialed coder. That's not the focus of an HIM degree. Preparing coding students to the level necessary for coding credentials is the focus of The Andrews School coding course.
Another possibility is to get the coding course through Andrews, get your CPC and CCS credentials and a coding and/or coding-related career including some advancement opportunities. Then, when you are ready, go to WGU or somewhere that would consider your credentials and let you test out of the coding courses, A&P, terms, etc., and go on at that point to advanced management that might require a degree. Some management positions would still be more interested in your coding credentials than degree status. Some want the degree too. I probably wouldn't consider any college that wouldn't consider your professional coding CREDENTIALS, especially CCS. Many times (most) credits don't transfer from school to school, college to college. Credentials should. If they are going to make a credentialed coder go through basic terms, A&P, etc., again, I simply wouldn't go there. Andrews doesn't accept credits through other schools or colleges and your studies here won't transfer to many other schools or colleges. However, the CREDENTIALS you get as a result of your studies here ought to take you where you need to go.