HIM 660 Module 1 Discussion Example

Reviewed by Delia Ravenscroft, MSN, RN

This HIM 660 Module 1 Discussion sample argues that a health information department needs a strategic plan of its own rather than a line in someone else's. It was written for SNHU HIM 660 (HIM-660), where the first module invites MS Health Information Management students to explain why strategic planning matters for HIM and how it connects to an organization's finances. The composite director leads health information at a two-hospital system near Charleston, West Virginia, whose system plan mentions HIM once, under technology. Meanwhile, discharged bills wait almost a week for coding and contract coders cost far more than budgeted. The post connects planning to financial results, warns that plans grow stale when written once and filed, and asks classmates whether their departments appear in their organizations' strategic plans at all.

CourseHIM 660 HIM Strategic Planning and Financial Management
ModuleModule 1
Paper typegraduate discussion post on strategic planning for an HIM department
LengthAbout 370 words, 3 pages
FormatAPA 7 student paper
SchoolSouthern New Hampshire University
ProgramMS Health Information Management
UpdatedOctober 2026

Free sample paper for HIM 660 Module 1

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Module One Discussion

One Sentence in Someone Else's Plan

Kanawha Ridge Health's five-year strategic plan is 34 pages long. Health information appears once, on page 22, in a sentence promising to "modernize technology across the enterprise." Yet our department decides how quickly the system gets paid for nearly every patient it treats. Right now a discharged account waits close to seven days for final coding, and we have spent far more on contract coders this year than anyone budgeted.

What this page is doingThe post opens with the gap between the plan and the department's impact.
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Kaissi and Begun (2008) surveyed 138 Texas hospital chief executives and found that having a strategic plan, giving the chief executive responsibility for it and involving the board were associated with stronger financial performance, though the study could not prove which came first. For a department, the lesson I take is that planning works when it is owned by someone with authority and connected to the people who allocate money. Our department has neither. We react to each month's backlog instead of deciding where we want to be in three years and what it will cost to get there.

Money is the language of that conversation. Tseng et al. (2018) used time-driven costing at an academic system and found that the billing and insurance effort behind a single encounter ran from roughly twenty dollars for an office visit in primary care to above two hundred for a surgical admission. Those costs live partly in our department, and so do the delays that hold up cash. An HIM plan with measured baselines, targets and costs would let me show the chief financial officer what a day less of waiting for coding is worth.

Begun and Heatwole (1999) warned that strategic planning becomes complacent when it repeats the same process every cycle, producing documents that change little. That is a real risk for a department plan too. I would rather write a short plan reviewed each quarter than a long one filed for five years.

What this page is doingResearch links planning to finances and warns against stale plans.
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My view is that an HIM department needs its own plan, nested under the system's goals and expressed in the same financial terms the executives use. For classmates: does your department appear in your organization's strategic plan, and if so, is it there as a cost or as a contributor?

What this page is doingThe post takes a position and asks a question.
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References

Begun, J., & Heatwole, K. B. (1999). Strategic cycling: Shaking complacency in healthcare strategic planning. Journal of Healthcare Management, 44(5), 339-352. https://doi.org/10.1097/00115514-199909000-00005

Kaissi, A. A., & Begun, J. W. (2008). Strategic planning processes and hospital financial performance. Journal of Healthcare Management, 53(3), 197-208. https://doi.org/10.1097/00115514-200805000-00011

Tseng, P., Kaplan, R. S., Richman, B. D., Shah, M. A., & Schulman, K. A. (2018). Administrative costs associated with physician billing and insurance-related activities at an academic health care system. JAMA, 319(7), 691-697. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2017.19148

What the HIM 660 Module 1 instructions ask for

The first HIM 660 discussion asks why strategic planning matters for health information management and how a department's plan relates to the organization's finances. A single-page post with a few APA 7 sources is the norm, and replies follow during the week. Start from your own organization or the course case: is HIM in the strategic plan, and how? Explain what a department-level plan adds, using research on planning and performance. Show the link between HIM work and money, such as coding delays, denials or the cost of billing, so the plan speaks the language executives use. Note a risk in how plans are made or kept. Finish with your position and a question that lets classmates compare their settings.

How this HIM 660 Module 1 discussion example is built

Kanawha Ridge Health's 34-page plan names HIM once, on page 22, while discharged accounts wait about seven days for coding and contract coders run over budget. Kaissi and Begun's survey of 138 Texas hospital chief executives connects planning ownership and board involvement with financial results, read carefully because the study is cross-sectional. Tseng and colleagues' time-driven costing, from about $20 for a primary care visit to over $200 for an inpatient surgical stay, shows why HIM belongs in financial conversations. Begun and Heatwole's warning about complacent planning leads the HIM 660 post to prefer a short plan reviewed quarterly. It closes by asking whether classmates' departments appear in plans as costs or as contributors.

Where the HIM 660 Module 1 rubric puts the points

In HIM 660, the opening discussion is usually judged on a clear explanation of why departments plan, an accurate use of research on planning and organizational performance, a connection between HIM operations and financial outcomes, attention to how plans succeed or fail and a position the writer actually holds. The better posts use specific facts from the writer's setting, such as days waiting for coding or contract spending, rather than general claims. Graders give credit for reading studies carefully, for instance noting when an association cannot show cause. Correct APA 7 citations and a professional tone also count. Replies earn points when they push a classmate toward a measurable baseline or a financial link.

HIM 660 Module 1 help: the mistakes that cost points

HIM 660 opening posts often lose credit by defining strategic planning from a textbook without applying it, treating HIM only as a cost center, overstating what a correlational study proves or skipping the link to finance that the course is built around. Some also praise planning without noting why plans fail. If your prompt asks instead about mission and vision statements, the planning process itself or the relationship between HIM and the chief financial officer, send it along with a few facts about your department so the post fits. Any number you can share, such as coding backlog days, helps. Our HIM 660 posts connect planning to measured performance and to dollars.

Get HIM 660 Module 1 written to your instructions

Send the HIM 660 Module 1 prompt and a few facts about your department, such as backlog, budget or where HIM appears in your organization's plan. The post will explain why a department plan matters, link HIM work to financial results with sound research and take a clear position, returned in a day or two with the first one free. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Southern New Hampshire University document.

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HIM 660 Module 1 questions, answered

Where can I find a free HIM 660 Module 1 Discussion sample?

This page has the full HIM 660 Module 1 post. It argues that a two-hospital system's HIM department needs its own plan, tied to the system plan and expressed in financial terms.

Why does an HIM department need a strategic plan?

HIM work drives how quickly and accurately an organization is paid. A department plan with baselines, targets and costs lets HIM leaders compete for resources and show their contribution.

Is strategic planning linked to hospital financial performance?

A survey of Texas hospital chief executives found that having a plan, chief executive ownership and board involvement were associated with stronger finances, though the design could not prove cause.

How often should a department strategic plan be reviewed?

Many leaders prefer a short plan reviewed quarterly, because plans written once and filed quickly fall behind changes in payment, staffing and technology.

What sources work for the HIM 660 first discussion?

Research on strategic planning and organizational performance, plus a study on revenue cycle or billing costs, gives the post both a planning and a financial footing.