Career Paths
Explore the diverse, dynamic career opportunities available to you with a degree in health information management.
Health information management is a growing field, incorporating health care, business and technology into an in-demand career. This dynamic profession offers you a variety of employment options.
Health information, simply put, is a massive amount of data. It can include an individual's medical history. This can include things like a patient's symptoms, diagnoses, procedures and outcomes. Health records can also consist of a patient’s history, lab results, X-rays, clinical information, demographic information and notes.
As a HIM professional, you can view patient’s health information individually to determine how the patient’s health has changed. Or you can view it as a part of a larger data set to understand how a population’s health has changed and to determine how medical interventions can change health outcomes.
AHIMA, the leading voice and authority in health information, offers an array of tools to help you explore career paths.
Here to Help You
As a HIM student at KU, your advisor and faculty team will work with you to find your niche in the broader field of health information management. You will be in high demand as the health sector continues to expand and career opportunities evolve with changing health policy initiatives, technologies and regulations.
This fast-growing field will provide you opportunities for lifelong learning and continued professional development. AHIMA anticipates an increased demand for health information professionals in industries such as health care organizations, academic institutions, consulting agencies, government agencies and health care software companies. Health information managers, who are specialized medical and health services managers, are in one of the fastest-growing occupations in the US, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, with an anticipated growth of 32 percent between 2019-2029. AHIMA’s recently salary survey indicates that the average salary for HIM professionals with the RHIA credential is $91,450, and a 2020 Bureau of Labor Statistics report indicates the median pay as $104,280.
"I think there is a misinterpretation of HIM that it is only coding, but you learn databases, health care quality and the many aspects of HIM that cover how hospitals get paid, documentation, legal guidelines and compliance, administration and management. HIM is a very diverse field."- Kelly Clodfelter, RHIA, CCS, CRC, Class of 2015