AS Health Administrative Services at Colorado Technical College

Degree Requirements: Colorado Technical College offers an exceptional degree program that intertwines both business and medical practices and applications in order to prepare students wanting to pursue careers in the administrative sector of the healthcare industry. In addition to prepping students to become successful healthcare administrators, this program prepares students with the preliminary knowledge needed to pursue a bachelor’s degree in the same area of study and also to take the Certified Medical Administrative Assistant (CMAA) exam. Throughout the core curriculum, students will become proficient in finance and accounting and know the ins and outs of the healthcare system, including reimbursement systems and healthcare records, and the ethical and legal issues of healthcare industries. Students will take courses in medical terminology, medical Office procedures, medical records, and fundamentals of healthcare technology. Students must complete a total of 90 credit hours to earn this degree. You must contact a school financial advisor to make exact cost estimates, though tuition is typically $385-$692 per credit hour, depending on program. Financial aid is available for eligible students and may reduce costs. This degree should take full-time students about two to three years to earn.

Degree Benefits: Those who pursue this associate degree tend to do so because they want to be involved in the healthcare industry, but favor the business sector rather than the direct treatment of patients. While most high-salaried positions in this field typically go to bachelor’s and master’s degree holders, there are still plenty of career opportunities for associate degree holders. As job growth in the healthcare industry as a whole is expected to steadily increase greatly within the next decade or so, healthcare administration graduates are most likely to find employment in smaller physician offices and outpatient care centers as medical office managers, administrative managers and health information technologists. Health information technologists and medical records personnel held 172,500 jobs in 2008, most of which worked in surgical and general hospitals, according the most recent figures available from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Bureau predicts that employment for those who work in these specific areas will see a job growth of 20 percent, creating 35,100 new jobs during the 2008-18 decade. While salary typically varies depending on place of employment and region, health information technologists and medical records employees earned a median average of $30,610 in 2008. The Federal Executive Branch and general medical and surgical hospitals offered the highest salaries that year.