Dakota State University (DSU) has been offering degrees in health information management (HIM) since 1975.  We started with an associate's degree in medical record technology and have evolved to providing an associate's degree in health information technology (HIT) and a bachelor's degree in health information administration (HIA) as well as a certificate in healthcare coding and a specialization within the MSIS degree.

DSU has made these educational opportunities available via distance delivery.  It is possible for students to obtain these degrees and/or certificate without traveling to the DSU campus through the use of distance courses offered by DSU and the other South Dakota state universities.  The HIM-specific courses are available only from DSU.   The South Dakota Electronic University Consortium website (SD EUC) displays all distance statewide courses available.

Is Health Information Management right for you?

A career in Health Information Management is right for you if you:

• want to work in health care, but not directly with patients.

• have an inclination toward science, but also like computers, management, and law.

• like to work with professionals:  physicians, nurses, lawyers, administrators.

• desire a career with a diverse variety of career opportunities.

• seek a field with an excellent outlook for future positions.

• wish a career where you can choose to either work on your own, with others or some of both.

The field of Health Information Management (HIM) combines the disciplines of medicine, management, finance, information technology, and law.  Because of this unique mixture, HIM graduates can select a variety of work settings with varying responsibilities.  The positions range from security officer responsible for the privacy of patient health information throughout a multi-facility health system to a manager of a medical information department in a hospital, physician's office, home health agency or long term care facility, to a health information consultant or reimbursement specialist. 

An important aspect of the Health Information Management Programs is the supervised professional practice component. These field experiences provide students the opportunity to participate in supervised clinical activities in hospitals and other health care settings designed to reinforce the classroom and laboratory learning experiences.