Health Information Management Case Study

672 Words3 Pages

With healthcare being one of the most robust industries in the United States today, the choice to contribute to this industry is one that could offer tremendous pay out, financially, professionally, and personally (Fried, B. J., & Fottler, M. D., 2011). In this essay, I will explore the specifications and challenges for breaking into the health information management field. Health information management (HIM) is a diverse and continuously changing field. I will describe the many opportunities for employment in the healthcare industry, today and in the future.
I started my research by first reviewing the requirements to secure an entry level position in the field of HIM. While there are many routes one could take to start their career in HIM, which I will discuss later, industry leaders are encumbered with the idea that students are not practically prepared for the workforce immediately following graduation (Jackson, K. …show more content…

One of the most difficult of these would be to decide which field or specialty to begin their career. The HIM profession has a variety of divisions and subdivisions to choose from, including medicine, law and insurance, information technology, and pharmaceuticals, to name a few. There are also many different organizations one could work in with an RHIA or RHIT certification. In 2014, “health information technicians held about 188,600 jobs” (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2015). While most of those jobs were in hospital or physician offices, these certifications allow you work at any facility that utilizes health information or patient data (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2015). Understanding the difference between academic education and practical education is key to deciding what type of career path one might take. As I discussed before, prior or following graduation, it is vital to implement practical experience in your course of