Use this guide to quickly find reputable sources and save time on your research! Contact your subject librarian or the reference librarians if you need more help. For an overview of how to research efficiently, see Steps of the Research Process.
Health Care Technology
Finding Materials in the Library
Search CityCat to find books, e-books, disks and more. There are many ways to search, such as Title, Author and Keyword.
Books in the library are organized by call number according to the Library of Congress classification system which groups items by subject, so you can often simply browse the shelves.
Examples of Subject searches include: medical records management, medical information systems, hospital information system, medical transcription, diseases classification, health information management (HIMS)
Relevant areas in the collection to find materials on Health Information Technology include:
SUBJECT HEADING |
CALL NUMBER RANGE |
| Medicine--Terminology | R123 |
| Medical Records | RA976 |
| Medical Transcription | R728.8 |
| Nosology | RB115 |
Reference Sources
Reference books are great for short overviews and background information. There are also reference resources in our database section.
American Medical Association . Current procedural terminology: CPT. Chicago : AMA Press.
RB115 .C17 John Adams Reference
American Medical Association ICD-9-CM: international classification of diseases . Chicago : AMA Press.
RB115 .I493 John Adams Reference
Jablonski, S. (Ed.). (2001). Dictionary of medical acronyms and abbreviations. (4th ed.) Philadelphia : Hanley & Belfus.
R123 .J24 2001 John Adams Reference
O’Toole, M. (Ed..). (2003). Encyclopedia and dictionary of medicine, nursing, and health. (7 th ed.) Philadelphia : Saunders.
R121 .M65 2003 John Adams Reference
Venes, D. (Ed.). (2001). Taber's cyclopedic medical dictionary. (19th ed.). Philadelphia : Davis.
R121. T18 2001 John Adams Reference
Use databases for specialized and the most up-to-date information, especially academic (scholarly) sources that are not available for free on the Web. See the Articles & Databases page for a full list of databases available.
EbscoHost
Ebscohost is a brand name for more than 25 multi-disciplinary databases with coverage from 1980 to the present.
Gale Powersearch
Gale Powersearch is a brand name for several databases with coverage from 1980 to the present. Two databases are good for HIT topics:
Health Reference Center Academic
Health & Wellness Resource Center
These two databases partially overlap in coverage, but each one has some unique resources.
Pubmed
"PubMed Central (PMC) is the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) free digital archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature." Indexes the Journal of AHIMA.
e-Journals
Advance for Information Professionals
http://health-information.advanceweb.com
Bi-weekly publication with articles on the HIM field. Affiliated with the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) and the American Association for Medical Transcription (AAMT).
HIM Connection
http://www.hcpro.com/pub.cfm?oc_id=865
Weekly newsletter on health information management issues, such as coding and reimbursement, medical record documentation, JCAHO IM standards, etc.
Websites
Use websites for government information, statistics and current events. It's very important to carefully evaluate websites for accuracy, currency, bias and credibility.
Non-Acute Health Care Settings
The following are a sampling of recommended sites for learning about non-acute care health care settings. Sites chosen by faculty and students in the HIT program at CCSF.
Cancer/Tumor Registry
American Cancer Association
http://www.cancer.org
Center for Disease Control. Cancer and Tumor Registry
http://www.cdc.gov/cancer/npcr/
Stern and Associates
http://www.stern-associates.com
C.H.I.S, Inc.
http://www.chis-inc.com
ACHSA: American Correctional Health Services Association
http://www.achsa.org/
American Correctional Association
http://www.aca.org
Dental Care
American Dental Association
http://www.ada.org
Dental Education and Licensure in the United States and Canada: A Comparison
http://www.ada.org/prof/prac/licensure/factsheets_compare.pdf
Home Health Care
Community Health Accreditation Program
http://www.chapinc.org/
National Association for Home Care
http://www.nahc.org
Hospice
American Cancer Society
http://www.cancer.org
California Pacific Medical Center: Coming Home Hospice
http://www.cpmc.org/services/chh-tour.html
CMS: Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services
http://cms.hhs.gov/medicaid
Hospice Association of America
http://www.nahc.org/HAA/home.html
Hospice Education Institute
http://www.hospiceworld.org
Hospice Net
http://www.hospicenet.org
HospiceWeb
http://www.hospiceweb.com
Medicare: The Official Site for People with Medicare
http://www.medicare.gov
National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization
http://www.nhpco.org
National Institute of Nursing Research
http://www.nih.gov/ninr
Pain and Palliative Care Reporter
http://www.painlaw.org
Long Term Care
ALTHA: Acute Long Term Hospital Association
http://www.altha.org/
ALFA: Assisted Living Foundation of America
http://www.alfa.org/
Consumer Information About Long Term Care
http://www.longtermcareliving.com
American Health Care Association
http://www.ahca.org
Mental Retardation or Development Disabilities
AAMR: American Association on Mental Retardation
http://www.aamr.org
The ARC of the United States
http://TheARC.org
Council on Quality and Leadership
http://www.thecouncil.org
Rehabilitation
American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
http://www.aapmr.org
American Medical Rehabilitation Providers Association
http://www.amrpa.org
International Academy of Life Care Planners
http://www.internationalacademyoflifecareplanners.com/
National Institute on Disability Research and Rehabilitation
http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/osers/nidrr/index.html?src=mr
Veterinary
American Animal Hospital Association
http://www.aahanet.org
AHIVMA: American Veterinary Health Information Management Association
http://avhima.org/
American Veterinary Medical Association
http://ww.avma.org
Coding References
The Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy. 17th ed.
http://www.merck.com/pubs/mmanual/
Searchable online version, based on the 1999 edition, but with some topics updated more recently. This medical text is intended for health professionals. Access information through the table of contents or through keyword searching
DRG Weights
Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services. Acute Inpatient Prospective Payment System
http://www.cms.hhs.gov/providers/hipps/ippspufs.asp
DRG Weights. Access to the Federal Register and DRG weights for 2004 and other years as well
DRG Trees
MindTools: Decision Tree Analysis
http://www.mindtools.com/dectree.html
Information about decision trees. Important to review for national exam
HCPCS Codes
Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services. Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS)
http://www.cms.hhs.gov/medicare/hcpcs/default.asp
Includes the latest HCPCS Codes
Coding and Reimbursement Products
Ingenix Online
http://www.ingenixonline.com
Formerly St. Anthony/Medicode/CHIPS/Delmar Publications
Coding Ethics
AHIMA: American Health Information Management Association
http://www.ahima.org
Search for coding ethics at this site.
Coding Guidelines
Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services
http://www.cms.hhs.gov
Search for coding guidelines through this agency’s homepage
AHA Central Office: ICD-9-CM coding
http://www.hospitalconnect.com/ahacentraloffice/coding/icd-9-cm.jsp
Coding Certification Preparation
CCS Prep Column
http://www.advanceforhim.com
Select link for CCS Prep. Published in Advance for Health Information Professionals
Legal References
California Hospital Association – Consent Manual
http://www.calhealth.org/public/pubs/gms/consent.html
California State Senate Bills
http://info.sen.ca.gov/cgi-bin/pagequery?type=sen_bilinfo&site=sen&title=Bill+Information
California State Budget
http://www.dof.ca.gov
http://www.medi-cal.ca.gov
California State Budget Project—analysis of state budget (by non-profit group)
http://www.cbp.org
California State Government Reform
California Performance Review
Health & Human Services Recommendations:
http://www.report.cpr.ca.gov/cprrpt/issrec/pdf/hhsfiscal.pdf
Education, Training and Volunteerism:
http://www.report.cpr.ca.gov/cprrpt/issrec/etv/index.htm
Statewide Operations:
http://www.report.cpr.ca.gov/cprrpt/issrec/pdf/sofiscal.pdf
Consumer information and PHR (personal health records) products:
CapMed: Personal Health Record, Personal Health Key
http://www.capmed.com
DoctorsForPain.com: Personal Health Records
http://doctorsforpain.com/capmed.html
Electronic Privacy Information Center: Medical Records
http://www.epic.org/privacy/medical/
Health Records Online
http://www.healthrecordsonline.com
LAXOR: “The Personal Health Record Service”
http://www.laxor.com
My Patient Education
http://www.mypatienteducation.com/
National Council on Patient Information and Education
http://www.talkaboutrx.org
Personal Health Records on the Internet
http://www.informatics-review.com/records.html
Personal Records Organizer
http://www.promasterorganizer.com
Synchart: It’s Your Health
http://www.synchart.com/index.html
YourHealthRecord
http://www.yourdiagnosis.com/yourhealthrecord
YouKeepTrack
http://www.youkeeptrack.com
The American Association for Medical Transcription
http://www.aamt.org
The American Health Information Management Association
http://www.ahima.org
The California Health Information Association
http://www.CaliforniaHIA.org
Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management Education (CAHIIM)
The is the accrediting body for degree-granting programs in health informatics and information management.
http://www.cahiim.org
Education
Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management Education (CAHIIM)
The is the accrediting body for degree-granting programs in health informatics and information management.
http://www.cahiim.org
Jobscience: Specialized Health Resource
http://www.jobscience.com
Job board for health information management and other healthcare professions. Includes link to the Jobscience.com newsletter (registration required) which includes helpful tips and other information for job seekers.
Medical Records and Health Information Technicians
http://bls.gov/oco/ocos103.htm
from the Occupational Outlook Handbook, U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.
