Students seeking to enroll in the Health Information Technology (HIT) Coding Certificate program must have two current and consecutive years of full-time hospital inpatient coding work experience and be currently employed as a full-time hospital inpatient coder. Priority admission to this program will be given to ECC HIT Clinical Affiliate Hospitals. Students do not need prior formal coding education but must be ready for college-level course work as evidenced by placement testing and college transcripts. After a year of study, graduates of this program with the three years of hospital inpatient and outpatient coding experience, as recommended by the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA), may sit for the mastery level national “CCS” and “CCS-P” coding certification examinations, respectively. This program does not meet the course requirements of AHIMA as the North Carolina Community College System guidelines limit “Certificate” programs to a maximum of eighteen (18) semester hours; therefore, the ECC HIT program requires as a pre-requisite two current and consecutive year’s full-time hospital inpatient coding experience and current employment in a hospital inpatient coder position. Students must follow the HIT program progression policy.

Graduates of this program may transfer all course credits to higher level programs of study offered by the Health Information Technology program.