For Students

What You Should Know About Accreditation

Accreditation is a mechanism for assuring academic quality in higher education.

The institution that sponsors an accredited CAHIIM program, is required to have institutional accreditation by a regional or qualified institutional accreditor which must be recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and must have provisions for Title IV Eligibility. This allows that institution to provide:

Eligibility for Federal Financial Aid

• Ability to Transfer Credits: Accreditation provides for establishing the acceptability of credits from school to school.

• Ability to enroll in Graduate education: If your undergraduate degree was earned at an unaccredited institution you run the risk that the graduate school in which you would like to enroll will not accept your degree.

Protection against fraud and abuse for students.

Professional programmatic accreditation means that in addition to the college or university's regional or national accreditation, programs in health information and health informatics may choose to seek CAHIIM accreditation, which is a voluntary peer review process to evaluate the program of study against CAHIIM Standards.

Please refer to the following video from the Association of Specialized and Professional Accreditors (ASPA) for information on accreditation.

Why Attend a Program Accredited by CAHIIM?

CAHIIM accredited programs are quality programs that provide professionally required knowledge and skills, and employment marketability.

Graduating from a CAHIIM accredited program offers employers assurance that you have the expected professional knowledge and skills and have experienced a curriculum that is relevant to today's electronic health record (EHR) environment.

Professional programmatic accreditation means that in addition to the college or university's regional or national accreditation, programs in health information management and health informatics may choose to seek CAHIIM accreditation, which is a voluntary peer review process to evaluate the program of study against CAHIIM Standards.

Benefits of Programmatic Accreditation:

Academic programmatic accreditation in health informatics and health information management education benefits students by:

• Encouraging confidence that the educational activities of an institution or program have been found to meet accreditation standards supported by the profession.

• Assisting with student mobility by indicating to institutions that transfer students or graduate school applicants have met the expected thresholds of educational quality.

• Signaling to prospective employers that a student’s educational program has met widely accepted professional standards; graduation from an accredited program is often a prerequisite for entering the profession.

• Providing access to available federal and state financial aid to qualified students attending accredited institutions.

• Protecting the efficacy of learning to make the educational investment worthwhile.

• Assuring that programs reflect changes in knowledge and practice. 

The Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) provides national advocacy and an institutional voice towards self-regulation of academic quality through accreditation. As a CHEA Recognized accreditor, CAHIIM’s accreditation practices and policies meet the highest quality standards and rigor to advance academic quality.