Health Information Management Career Outlook and Salaries

Be wary of ads promising that you can prepare for a career in medical coding in just weeks. Medical coding is a high-stakes job, and the complexity of responsibilities is why medical coders are greatly compensated. Some individuals choose to pursue certification as a Certified Professional Coder or Certified Coding Specialist in addition to their basic health information credentialing.

As part of their responsibilities, health information technicians maintain patient confidentiality. As more healthcare facilities implement electronic systems for nonclinical departments, the content manager role grows in demand. HIM professionals are perfect for this new, expanding position, according to Sandra Nunn, MA, RHIA, CHP, enterprise content and information manager at Presbyterian Healthcare Services, in Albuquerque, NM. Entry-level HIM positions can be found at many different types of healthcare agencies. Hospitals, doctors’ offices, insurance companies, and health technology companies can all employ individuals in health management positions.

How to Get Started In Health Information

HIM professionals know how data are structured, and they can look at the broad picture of capturing data while knowing how to drill down to details. These skills make HIM professionals great candidates for the emerging role, Solberg says. Some analysts mine clinical databases and establish pathways for disease processes and procedures.

• Coding professionals abstract clinical data from health records and assign appropriate medical codes.
• Management consultants help companies solve their complex business problems.
• If your medical coding career gives you the opportunity to work from home, organizational skills will keep you on task and maintain your performance.
• An HIM director’s time will be devoted much more to working with the EHR than overseeing day-to-day operations like coding turnaround time or monitoring chart completion.
• We discussed that much of what medical billers and coders do is to create a streamlined system that files and categorizes patient information.
• Some employers prefer to hire clinical documentation specialists with clinical experience, such as nursing experience.

A big issue that has arisen lately with regards to electronic medical data is the issue of security. When it comes to ethics a medical billing and coding specialist must maintain patient confidentiality. In short, a career as a health information manager is a great choice for those who want to work in healthcare but not in direct patient care. To become a health information manager, you’ll need to attend an accredited HIM program, such as the one offered through Cambridge. HI students acquire a versatile yet focused skillset incorporating clinical, information technology, leadership, and management skills.

Degree Details

With entry-level roles available for professionals with a certificate or college degree, health information also offers many pathways to career advancement. Our guide introduces 10 key health information management jobs to break into the field or advance your career. Medical record audits are a key way healthcare organizations seek to improve their clinical documentation and improve the financial health of the medical provider.

Pharmacy informatics coordinators oversee information systems for pharmaceutical companies. They maintain record systems and provide clinical information to practitioners and researchers. In addition, they manage the information systems by creating procedures to catalog data and monitor medicine dispensing. Medical research analysts collect and analyze data related to medical studies. They may specialize in analyzing data on a medication or treatment’s effectiveness.

Careers in Health Information Management: What Can I Do with a Degree?

Other networking opportunities, such as attending networking events or connecting on LinkedIn, can also help graduates find jobs. The field offers many advancement opportunities with experience or a degree. Health information specialists analyze data and protect patient confidentiality. Revenue cycle director and vice president positions are increasingly appearing to take on this task, https://wizardsdev.com/ coordinating the efforts of admitting, HIM, and billing departments to improve the reimbursement process. A physician would greatly benefit from an HIM professional’s aid in setting up an EHR system, auditing documentation practices, or determining whether the practice’s coding captures full reimbursement. Consumers could ask PHR consultants to do the leg work in PHR assembly.

Even when links are established, a terminology asset manager would still be needed to monitor them and ensure they are producing accurate and useable data. The role is a good fit for HIM professionals due to their knowledge of clinical terminologies, medical language, and their experience with ICD-9 codes, Schwarz says. An HIM professional wanting to move into the terminology asset manager role might study up on informatics and earn coding credentials. Schwarz’s position is rare in the healthcare world, but she says the growth in EHRs and increasing use of SNOMED will soon drive a need for more terminology modelers.

Get the right degree

Rasmussen University is not regulated by the Texas Workforce Commission. For additional information about Licensing and State Authorization, and State Contact Information for Student Complaints, please see those sections of our catalog. She enjoys helping people discover their purpose and passion by crafting education and career-related content on behalf of Rasmussen University. Coders first must identify important details in the record, and then evaluate numerous codes to assign the precise code to represent each detail. The Bachelor of Science in Health Information Management program is offered on campus or as an online option. Fast- online degrees offer shorter semesters which makes for an accelerated overall pace.

This role is also involved in special projects and is required to meet the appropriate accuracy standards and deadlines. Additionally, AAPC is committed to supporting you throughout your medical coding career. We offer Coding careers opportunities tonetworkand provide resources to assist you as you work to achieve professional milestones. The demand for medical coders is high and continues to rise due to the historic shift in U.S. age demographics.

But as with any system, health record banks will not exchange all data perfectly all the time. That is where HIM professionals could come in, according to William Yasnoff, MD, PhD, managing partner with Arlington, VA-based NHII Advisors and founder of the Health Record Banking Alliance. Increasingly, privacy officers will determine how to integrate external medical records into their facility’s record. Davis already faces this challenge as her facility prepares to integrate into a regional data exchange. Davis expects that privacy officers will become even more important in the new electronic age.