Overview

Every time health care personnel treat a patient, they record what they observed and how the patient was treated medically. This record includes information the patient provides concerning his or her symptoms and medical history, as well as the results of examinations, reports of X-rays and laboratory tests, diagnoses, and treatment plans. Increasingly this information is maintained electronically in healthcare information systems. Health Information Management professionals capture, analyze and protect digital and traditional medical information vital to providing quality patient care.  

Health information management is one of the nation’s fastest-growing health occupations. Health information managers typically earn a salary of $30,000 to $80,000 per year with increases commensurate with higher education and experience.

To learn more, watch the video profile of "Medical Records and Health Information Technicians."

You can download, save and print a PDF of this career profile:

Health Information Manager October 1, 2010 [PDF 52KB]

Working Conditions

Health information management professionals usually work a 40-hour week, although some overtime may be required. Options for home-based work or evening and night-shift schedules may be available in hospitals. Other work environments include pharmaceutical firms, insurance companies, long term care facilities, public health settings, physician group practices, consulting firms, computer systems design firms, and many more settings.

The US Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics has projected a 49 percent growth in the number of HIM workers by 2010, making HIM one of the nation’s fastest-growing health occupations. Nearly 75 percent of respondents to a 2002 study reported that there are not enough qualified applicants to fill open HIM positions in their organizations.