2010 Catalog - Delaware County Community College

COURSE DESCRIPTIONS 79
• Follow the stages through which a criminal case must
pass from arrest to the verdict and explain how and
why cases leave the process.
• Identify the Rules of Civil or Criminal Procedure and
Evidence relevant to the judicial process.
• Describe the theory underlying those rules which then
forms the legal basis for a wide range of decisions
made by the judge.
4 Credits 4 Weekly Lecture Hours
ADJ 280
Organized Crime
A foundation course in systematic criminality that
addresses those organizations whose method of
operation includes fear, violence and corruption to
achieve strategic and financial goals. These organizations
are highly structured and staffed by hard-core, disciplined
career criminals operating in secrecy and anonymity
through the legal, quasi-legal and criminal activities.
Governmental agencies responsible for investigating
organized crime as well as legal sanctions employed by
these agencies will also be examined.
Upon successful completion of this course, students
should be able to:
• Define Organized Crime.
• Explain the history of organized crime in America.
• Identify and explain the areas of influence employed by
organized crime.
• Prepare an overview of the international impact of
organized crime.
• Discuss the tactical and strategic response of
governmental entities to counter the influence of
organized crime.
Prereq. ADJ 101 and ADJ 110
3 Credits 3 Weekly Lecture Hours
(AHA) Health Administration
AHA 206 Reimbursement and
Financing Methods
Health care is the largest service industry in the United
States. Health care managers are controllers of significant
financial resources that must be managed with an eye
toward the bottom line in a highly competitive marketplace.
They must be well versed in the areas of financial planning,
budget controls and reimbursement for services provided.
This course provides information and detailed
approaches for the construction and monitoring of a
budget in a health care setting. It also explores reimbursement
trends and issues from the perspectives of
providers, payers and consumers of health care.
Upon successful completion of this course, students
should be able to:
• Define terminology used in discussing the financial
aspects of health care.
• Describe strategies and processes for projecting supply
expenses, as well as costs related to personnel salaries
and fringe benefits.
• Develop a format for capital budget planning.'
• Formulate a budget request.
• Explain the steps necessary to monitor and control a budget.
• Identify the implications of managed competition and
global budgeting on reimbursement initiatives.
• Analyze the impact of health care reform and changed
reimbursement strategies on department management.
• Evaluate the effects of cost containment measures used
by multiple entities in the health care continuum.
• Describe the emerging methods of reimbursement in
fee-for-service and managed care environments.
Prereq. AHA 209
3 Credits 3 Weekly Lecture Hours
AHA 207 Ethical/Legal Aspects of
Health Care Management
Rapid advances in medical technology challenge legal
and ethical standards, and create situations requiring
moral decisions. This course provides students with an
introduction to law, ethics and bioethics as they apply to
decision making in the health care setting. It is not the
intent to provide students with right or wrong answers
for ethical issues. Emphasis is on use of appropriate
language, application of ethical principles, and use of
critical-thinking skills to articulate a point of view on
current issues in health care.
Upon successful completion of this course, students
should be able to:
• Use appropriate terminology to discuss ethical/legal
issues in health care.
• Explain the nature of human value development.
• Analyze common theories and methods used in making
ethical decisions.
• Evaluate ethical/legal positions that pertain to current
controversies in health care.
• Describe legal concepts of concern to the health
care manager.
3 Credits 3 Weekly Lecture Hours
AHA 209
Philosophy of Managed Care
Managed care is now mainstreamed in America's
health care system and has changed the delivery of
health care services. Individuals working in the health
care arena need to understand the impact of managed
care on patients and providers. This course will review
the evolution of managed care explore how it works,
contemplate its future and discuss the ethical issues
surrounding it today. Also in the course the roles and
responsibilities of the case manager will be investigated,
as well as the tools used to coordinate the delivery of
cost-effective quality care.
Upon successful completion of this course, students
should be able to:
• Describe key concepts of the philosophy of managed care.
• Explain the paradigm shift from fee-for service to capitation.
• Define specific terminology utilized in managed care models.
• Specify the roles and responsibilities of the case manager.
• Identify critical components in developing and
implementing treatment plans.
• Explain the role of critical paths and disease
management strategies.
• Describe the role of the case manager and/or health
care provider in client advocacy and ethical
decision making.
Prereq. AHM 100, AHM 233, AHM 140, AHA 207
3 Credits 3 Weekly Lecture Hours
AHA 210 Outcomes Measurement
and Management
Health care providers constantly gather data to reach
diagnostic conclusions and guide a patient through a
treatment course that will optimize the eventual outcome.
The driving forces of health care economics mandate that
practitioners monitor and evaluate clinical effectiveness
as well as the performance of the health care
organization. This course addresses measurement as a
basis for making judgments and decisions about
outcomes as well as measurement as a basis for future
improvements. The results of outcomes and their interest
to providers, accrediting bodies, purchasers and users of
providers' services are used both to stimulate
contemporary thinking about important dimensions of
outcomes measurement as well as the design of patientcentered
frameworks for managing and improving care
and services.
Upon successful completion of this course, students
should be able to:
• Apply the concepts and methods of outcomes measurement.
• Identify the benefits and barriers to measurement
of outcomes.
• Relate the interconnected processes that affect patient
health outcomes.
• Describe current techniques is assessing clinical and
organizational effectiveness.
Prereq. AHA 209
3 Credits 3 Weekly Lecture Hours
AHA 213
Managing Utilization and Risk
It is essential for health care facilities to be able to control
and manage the use of their services to minimize the risk
of financial loss. Utilization review monitors and provides
appropriate incentives to influence the use of health care
services. Risk management employs proactive efforts to
prevent adverse events related to clinical care and facility
operations, especially malpractice. The proper use of utilization
review and risk management measures has the
potential to achieve significant containment of health care
costs, an essential outcome in our present health care system.
This course explores the concepts of risk management
and utilization review in payor and provider organizations.
Upon successful completion of this course, students
should be able to:
• Trace the history and development of utilization review
and risk management processes.
• Describe the requirements for utilization review
procedures in relation to various payor organizations
(managed Medicare, Medical Assistance and private
insurers). Analyze the role of the physician and other
health care personnel in utilization review.
• List the various mechanisms used in the utilization
review process by payor and provider organizations.
• Explain the role of the health care manager in the
utilization review process.
• Trace the development of legal doctrines and concepts
of individual responsibility.
• Cite landmark court decisions that have increased the
liability of health care institutions.
• Identify the procedures used for documenting and
reporting deviations from institution policy or
accepted standards.
• Develop a description of the role and rationale for a
health care institution manager's participation in the
risk management process.
Prereq. AHA 209
3 Credits 3 Weekly Lecture Hours
AHA 217 Quality Improvement and
Accreditation Process
As the health care delivery environment changes, regulatory
systems evolve to meet consumer mandates for objective
measure of organizational performance, and the quality
and effectiveness of health care services. Quality of care
is more than a vague concept; it is how an institution and
its care providers perform. Measuring performance requires
managing both processes and outcomes, quantifying
performance results and taking action to improve results.
This course presents a design for performance
assessment and improvement planning, goals and
objectives, essential elements and a cultural climate for
change. It also presents a practical introduction to
accreditation processes. The requirements of the Joint
Commission for Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations
(JCAHO) and other accrediting bodies are explored.
Current accreditation trends and issues are also discussed.