“Health information technology can improve quality of care and reduce medical errors, even as it lowers administrative costs, Secretary Thompson said. It has the potential to produce savings of 10 percent of our total annual spending on health care, even as it improves care for patients and provides new support for health care professionals." (U.S. DHHS; 7/21/2004)

Health Information Management (HIM)

  -  professionals collect, analyze, code, manage and maintain patient health information. They are responsible for ensuring the quality of the medical record by verifying its completeness and accuracy (Abdelhak; 2001).

"…security and privacy of electronic medical records would be improved over protections of paper-based records, Secretary Thompson said. And health information technology also offers much greater access and control of health records by consumers themselves.”  (U.S. DHHS; 7/21/2004)

 Career Opportunities
 
Hospitals                                         Insurance Companies
Physician Offices                             Consulting Firms
Home Health Agencies                    Self-employment
Nursing Homes                               Legal Practices
Cancer Registry                              Health Care Vendors
 

“Employment is expected to grow faster than average…technicians
with a strong background in medical coding will be in particularly
high demand. Employment of medical records and health information
technicians is expected to increase by 18 percent through 2016…technicians will be needed to enter patient information into computer databases to comply with Federal legislation mandating the use of electronic medical records.” Bureau of Labor Statistics