HIM 685 Advanced Topics in HIM II sample papers, module by module

Reviewed by Delia Ravenscroft, MSN, RN

HIM 685 asks graduate health information students to lead a department through a change that reaches beyond its walls. The samples below follow one composite HIM director at a 180-bed hospital in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, preparing to join a statewide exchange that keeps some data centrally and queries the rest from members, while a release-of-information team that still mails and faxes most records worries what the change means for them, with research on exchange models, standards and organizational change behind each step.

HIM 685 is SNHU’s Advanced Topics in HIM II course. It centers on advanced topics for health information leaders: case analysis of a department's strengths and weaknesses, centralized, federated and hybrid exchange models, record locator services and master patient indexes, data dictionaries built on HL7, C-CDA, LOINC, SNOMED CT and RxNorm, HIM leadership roles, strategic analysis, change management theory from Lewin and Kotter, organizational readiness and implementation planning. Every module below opens a full sample paper or takes a free request for one; searches like "him 685 module 3", "HIM685 sample paper" and "HIM 685 milestone example" land on this page.

What HIM 685 is really about

In SNHU's MS Health Information Management, HIM 685 is the second advanced-topics course, and it blends technical exchange questions with the leadership needed to carry them out. Its rubrics reward students who judge exchange models on how data are stored and found, define every data element against a recognized standard, build strategy from an honest case analysis and plan change with a theory that tells them what to do next, not only what to call it.

Every sample here follows a composite HIM director at Longleaf Regional Medical Center, a 180-bed hospital with eight clinics in Hattiesburg. The state's exchange holds a master patient index, a record locator and a central store of laboratory results and admissions, while full documents stay on members' servers until queried. Longleaf sends almost nothing today, its release-of-information team of seven handles about 2,300 requests a month mostly by mail and fax and two clinic systems use different patient identifiers. The director and hospital are illustrative.

What HIM 685’s modules ask for

Across ten modules, HIM 685 typically asks for journals on a case and on a team facing change, a discussion of leadership roles, short papers on exchange models and change theory, a data dictionary, a closing reflection and a final project built through two milestones, a strategic analysis and a change plan, combined into an integration and change management plan.

Where students lose points in HIM 685

The most common HIM 685 deduction is describing exchange models by name without explaining where data live, how a record is found and who controls it. The second is a data dictionary whose elements have no standard, format or source. Graders also mark down strategies that skip the case analysis, change plans that name Lewin or Kotter but never say what will happen on a given week and plans that ignore the staff whose jobs the change will alter. The fix is to tie every recommendation to the case facts and every change step to a date and an owner.

The HIM 685 drawers

Module 1

HIM 685 Module 1 Journal example

An opening journal in which the composite Hattiesburg HIM director takes stock of a 180-bed hospital about to join a statewide exchange: strengths in an experienced team, clean coded data and a leadership that wants the change, weaknesses in a release-of-information process built on mail and fax, two clinic identifiers and no one who has managed an interface, and asks which weakness will matter most, drawing on Vest and Gamm on why exchange efforts stall, Adler-Milstein and colleagues on the state of exchanges and Menachemi and colleagues on their benefits. Full sample paper, read it free.

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Module 2

HIM 685 Module 2 Exchange Model Short Paper example

A short paper that explains where data live and how a record is found in centralized, federated and hybrid exchange, then analyzes the hybrid design of a composite statewide exchange, a central patient index, record locator and store of lab results and admissions with full documents queried from members, judging it on speed, control, cost, privacy and what it asks of a 180-bed Hattiesburg hospital, drawing on Vest and Gamm, Adler-Milstein and colleagues, Menachemi and colleagues and Benson and Grieve. Full sample paper, read it free.

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Module 3

HIM 685 Module 3 Data Dictionary example

A data dictionary for what a composite Hattiesburg hospital will send to a statewide hybrid exchange: twelve elements from patient identifiers and admission notices to lab results, problems, medications and the discharge summary document, each with a definition, the industry standard it follows, its format, source system, whether it is required, a quality rule and why it matters to the patient record, drawing on Benson and Grieve on HL7 and SNOMED CT, federal USCDI guidance, the DAMA body of knowledge and Kahn and colleagues on quality rules. Full sample paper, read it free.

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Module 4

HIM 685 Module 4 Discussion example

A discussion in which the composite Hattiesburg HIM director lists the roles the exchange project has quietly handed health information management, identity steward, document quality owner, disclosure decision maker, translator between IT and clinicians and leader of a team whose work will change, and argues that the last role matters most and is the one no project plan names, drawing on Kotter on why change efforts fail, Weiner on readiness and Vest and Gamm on organizational barriers to exchange. Full sample paper, read it free.

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Module 5

HIM 685 Module 5 Final Project Milestone One example

The first milestone of the HIM 685 final project analyzes the strategy behind a Hattiesburg hospital's entry into a statewide hybrid exchange: why the hospital is joining, what the environment rewards, the department's internal position from the case analysis, a stakeholder map with interests and influence, four integration goals with dates, critical success factors and the risks that could derail them, drawing on Menachemi and colleagues, Adler-Milstein and colleagues, Vest and Gamm and Kaissi and Begun. Full sample paper, read it free.

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Module 6

HIM 685 Module 6 Change Theory Short Paper example

A short paper that compares Lewin's three-stage model, Kotter's eight steps and Weiner's theory of readiness for leading a Hattiesburg release-of-information team from mailing records to managing exchange queries, explains what each model tells a leader to do next, chooses Kotter's sequence checked against Weiner's two readiness questions and translates the choice into actions for the first ninety days, drawing on Lewin, Kotter and Weiner. Full sample paper, read it free.

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Module 7

HIM 685 Module 7 Final Project Milestone Two example

Milestone Two lays out how a Hattiesburg hospital will carry out its exchange integration: five workstreams with owners, a twelve-month timeline, a communication plan built on Kotter's steps and aimed at each audience, role-based training, readiness checkpoints using Weiner's two questions before each phase, measures tied to the strategic goals and steps to anchor the new work once it is running, drawing on Kotter, Weiner, Lewin and Vest and Gamm. Full sample paper, read it free.

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Module 8

HIM 685 Module 8 Journal example

A journal entry in which the composite Hattiesburg HIM director hears a release-of-information specialist with twenty-two years of service say that the exchange is a slow way of firing her, and reflects on what that resistance is telling a leader, drawing on Ford and colleagues on resistance as a resource, Oreg on how personality and context shape it and Weiner on readiness, then changes one part of the plan in response. Full sample paper, read it free.

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Module 9

HIM 685 Module 9 Final Project example

The HIM 685 final project combines the strategic analysis and change plan into one document for a Hattiesburg hospital's entry into a statewide hybrid exchange: the case for joining, the hybrid model and what it asks of HIM, four dated goals, five workstreams, a twelve-month roadmap, a change approach built on Kotter's steps with Weiner's readiness gates, a promise to the release team, measures, a budget near $142,000 and the request to leaders, drawing on Menachemi and colleagues, Vest and Gamm, Kotter, Weiner, Ford and colleagues and Benson and Grieve. Full sample paper, read it free.

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Module 10

HIM 685 Module 10 Reflection example

At the end of HIM 685, the composite Hattiesburg HIM director admits to having seen the exchange as an interface project and describes what changed: asking where data live before judging a model, hearing resistance as a report on the plan and promising only what can be kept, with Vest and Gamm, Ford and colleagues and Kotter, plus a commitment to retire the mail and fax workflow only when the team says it is ready. Full sample paper, read it free.

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Using a HIM 685 sample the right way

Read an HIM 685 sample by checking whether exchange models are explained by where data live and how records are found, whether each dictionary element names a standard and a source and whether change steps carry dates, owners and a theory that justifies them. For HIM 685, bring the prompt, your organization's situation or the course case and the rubric; a first custom sample is returned free in 24-48h.

HIM 685 questions, answered

What does HIM 685 cover?

Health information exchange models, interoperability standards, data dictionaries, HIM leadership roles, strategic analysis, change management theory, readiness and implementation planning.

Is HIM 685 technical or managerial?

Both. It joins exchange and standards questions with the leadership needed to carry out a change.

What makes a strong HIM 685 paper?

Recommendations tied to case facts, standards named for every data element and change steps with dates, owners and a reason drawn from theory.