With Herzing University, you have several potential options to consider:

• Master of Science in Healthcare Administration. After earning a bachelor’s degree in HIM, this online 16-month program can help you qualify for job opportunities in health administration which may require a master’s degree.
• Master of Business Administration (MBA). You may also choose an MBA pathway to strengthen your business acumen. Our bachelor’s degree program features a dual credit option in which you can apply credits earned towards an MBA degree.

There are a few primary differences between medical billing and coding and health information management.

Those who work in medical billing and coding, who may be referred to as medical records specialists, play a key role in the healthcare revenue cycle, ensuring Electronic Medical Records (EMR) are assembled accurately and entered into health information systems properly. They communicate with healthcare staff, insurance companies, and patients to best represent services provided (coding) and secure payment for those services (billers).

Health Information Management professionals (sometimes referred to as Health Information Technology – HIT) are responsible for maintaining, analyzing, and optimizing these systems. Their role is more on the backend, emphasizing informatics and Information Technology (IT). These professionals create, manage, and analyze the systems billers and coders rely on to maintain the Electronic Health Record (EHR). They can also play a wider role in data analysis, management, protection, and administration of patient health information.

Working with kids can be incredibly rewarding—particularly for primary care pediatric NPs who can help their patients have a healthy childhood and grow from infancy, through adolescence, and into adulthood.

Even within pediatrics alone you’ll encounter great patient diversity in the age range from birth to roughly 21 years old. Every day will bring new challenges with young people at different stages of development and health issues for you to solve.

Kids are fun!—and some of the most determined, impressive patients you’ll ever work with.

This will depend largely on the board of nursing stipulations in your state. In some instances, it may be permissible for PNPs to see patients past the 18-21 age range who are typically transitioning from pediatric to adult care.

Current RNs can potentially become a pediatric nurse practitioner in 2-3 years.

• Associate degree RNs can complete our Accelerated RN to MSN-PNP program in as few as 28 months
• Bachelor’s degree RNs can earn an MSN-PNP in as few as 24 months, or 2 years. BSN nurses may also elect a BSN to DNP-PNP program, which can be completed in as few as 32 months.
• Master's degree RNs can earn a post master's certificate in as few as 20 months

For those who have yet to become an RN, you’ll need additional time to first earn an associate, bachelor’s, or master's degree in nursing before pursuing an MSN.

The primary difference between pediatric nurse practitioners and family nurse practitioners is the patient population. Pediatric NPs focus their care on only pediatric patients, while FNPs provide care across the lifespan, including adults and elderly patients.

If you are also interested in treating older patients—and not only children—you may choose to work towards becoming a family nurse practitioner.

While there are many different types of nurses who work with the pediatric patient population, there are two specific types of pediatric nurse practitioners: primary care pediatric NPs (PNP-PC) and acute care pediatric NPs (PNP-AC).

The PNCB Pediatric Nursing Demographic Report, published in December 2022, states there were 20,254 certified CPNP-PC professionals and 4,419 certified CPNP-AC professionals. Most CPNP-PCs work in private practice, while most CPNP-ACs work in inpatient treatment at children’s hospitals.