Health Information Management
By Deborah Knight
Let’s face it: medical records don’t make exciting reading. But knowing how to manage them can land you a multifaceted, well-paid job. If health care, but not hands-on care, is your interest, check out Health Information Management.
Two different fields, one important profession
Today, two career fields are merging: medical records administration and computer science. Learn them both, and you’ll find yourself in demand as a health information manager, at the hub of a number of hospital activities, interacting with doctors, researchers, department administrators, and business managers.
An essential job
When was the last time you lost sleep worrying about your medical record? Probably never. Yet behind the scenes, when you show up for a doctor’s appointment, someone makes sure that your medical record:
• is in your doctor’s hands
• is up-to-date, accurate, and legible
• is kept confidential.
An accurate medical record helps ensure that any doctor treating you knows your medical history.
Think about this: one particular ambulatory care clinic in San Diego actively maintains the records of up to 300,000 patients. On any given day, 1,500 records are coming or going. Daily, doctors make voice recordings about their appointments, transcriptionists type up the reports, and the information is entered into the record. Coders must figure out the primary and secondary diagnoses for insurance billings. The record must be accessible but kept secure. Analyses and reports must be compiled for hospital staff.
In short, the people who oversee all this are jugglers: the disorganized need not apply!
What does the job involve?
Health information managers design and manage the systems that make this all work. They . . .
• supervise staff members who transcribe, code, and enter information
• train and supervise other staff
• compile statistics that are required by various government agencies
• analyze data to evaluate patient care or implement research studies
• make sure regulations governing patient privacy are observed.
Today, medical records on paper are on their way out, and electronic records are on their way in. Enter another aspect of the job: knowing the latest computer software and applications.
Recent federal legislation requires the privacy of patient records and computer security of electronic records. This has added new responsibilities to the job.
Traditionally, most medical records administrators worked in hospitals, but today they also work in doctors’ offices, HMOs, home health agencies, nursing homes, and insurance companies.
What does it take?
As with most fields, the more you learn, the more you earn. The field is exploding with new opportunities and new sub-specialties. A bachelor’s degree is a minimum requirement; a master’s is preferable. Look for a program accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management Education (CAHIM). Graduates of an accredited program can take the national certification exam to become a Registered Health Information Administrator (RHIA). The median salary in 2007 was $55,000, according to the American Health Info-mation Management Association, but with advanced degrees and experience, salaries are much higher.
You can also enter the field with an associate degree and become certified as a Registered Health Information Technician (RHIT) doing lots of hands-on work under the supervision of an information administrator. The median salary for RHITs in 2007 was about $29,000.
For more information, check out the American Health Information Management Association website at www.ahima.org, from which much of this information was drawn. Under “Schools/ Jobs,” click on “Accredited and Approved HIM Programs” to search for programs by state.
2009
