Health information management (HIM) and health information technology students complete experiential learning with an outside professional, at a hospital, clinic, payer or other organization that handles patient records. Some placements are onsite; others are virtual or simulated. Onsite placements in patient-care buildings often come with the same clearance list as clinical students.
HIM programs are accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management Education (CAHIIM). Your host sites and agreements decide the exact list.
What health information students usually need before a placement
- Confidentiality and HIPAA training. Under HIPAA, trainees are part of a covered entity’s workforce, so a host site may ask for HIPAA training and a signed confidentiality agreement before access to records. (source)
- Background check, often with healthcare sanctions screening for hospital placements. See student background checks.
- Drug screen, usually a 10-panel urine screen (ours includes oxycodone) before the first placement.
- Immunizations and TB screening for onsite placements in healthcare facilities, following CDC recommendations for healthcare personnel. (source)
What’s specific to health information programs
- Experiential learning. CAHIIM’s 2026 HIM standards require every student, before completing the program, to participate in experiential learning outside the classroom supervised by an external professional. (source)
- Virtual, onsite or simulated. CAHIIM’s compliance guide says this experiential learning can take place in a virtual, onsite or simulated environment, so requirements can differ by placement. (source)
- Trainees count as workforce. HIPAA’s definition of workforce includes trainees whose conduct is under the direct control of the covered entity, paid or not. (source)
How Drug Free Schools handles it
Everything below runs in one clinical compliance tracking portal shared by all of your school’s health science programs.
- One portal, your requirement list. Set how each item renews: flu by season, CPR through the end of the printed month, Tdap every ten years. Add another way to meet a requirement, or a declination pathway.
- Every upload reviewed within 24 hours. If something is wrong, the student sees the exact reason and what to upload instead.
- Upload guides for every requirement: an example of the right document, the common reasons for rejection, and a blank form to download.
- Deadlines and reminders by email and text, and a dashboard that shows anyone not cleared for an upcoming rotation.
- Clinical sites built in. Track affiliation agreements, assign students to rotations, log clinical hours, and block anyone who isn't cleared from being placed. Send a site exactly the records it needs through a secure link with an access code that expires in 30 days.
For health information programs: Build two requirement lists, one for virtual placements and one for onsite placements, and attach the host site’s confidentiality agreement as a blank form students download, sign and upload.
Family owned since 1995 in Memphis, with support 7 days a week by phone, text or email for students and school staff.
Students: online training courses (Healthcare Bloodborne Pathogens, HIPAA, Workplace Fire Safety and HazCom, from ProTrainings) are available for individual purchase. See the online training courses.
Want your own demo portal? We’ll email you a login.
Set up in about 5 minutes with your program’s requirements. No meeting needed.
Support 7 days a week by phone, text or email, for students and school staff: call or text (901) 517-7450 · josh.smith@drugfreeschools.net
See the director dashboard (3:06)
Recorded in the live portal: the rotation check dashboard, document review, requirement rules, clinical sites and rotations, and secure links for sending records to a site.
Loads from YouTube only when you press play. Watch on YouTube · Get a demo login
Frequently asked questions
What do health information students need before a professional practice placement?
It depends on the placement. Onsite placements at healthcare facilities often ask for a background check, drug screen, immunizations and TB screening; most host sites also expect HIPAA training and a signed confidentiality agreement.
Does CAHIIM require an onsite placement?
CAHIIM requires experiential learning outside the classroom supervised by an external professional, and its compliance guide says it can be virtual, onsite or simulated.
How much does the compliance portal cost?
$30 per student, one time for the whole program, not a yearly fee. Administrator and faculty accounts are free, and the school can pay instead of the student.
Can one portal cover all of our health science programs?
Yes. Each program gets its own requirement list and renewal rules, while the school has one portal and one support line, 7 days a week by phone, text or email, for students and school staff.
Sources
- CAHIIM HIM Standards Compliance Guide (2026 standards)
- 45 CFR 160.103, HIPAA definitions (workforce)
- CDC/ACIP: Immunization of Health-Care Personnel
This page summarizes public accreditor, federal and CDC documents as of October 2026. Requirements vary by school, clinical site and state; confirm against your current standards and affiliation agreements. Quest Diagnostics is a trademark of its owner.