Activities	Health information managers are responsible for the maintenance and security of all patient records. Recent regulations enacted by the Federal Government require that all healthcare providers maintain electronic patient records and that these records be secure. As a result, health information managers must keep up with current computer and software technology, as well as with legislative requirements. In addition, as patient data become more frequently used for quality management and in medical research, health information managers must ensure that databases are complete, accurate, and available only to authorized personnel. Health Information Managers and Administrators interact with all levels of an organization—clinical, financial, administrative—that utilize patient data in decision-making and everyday operations.
Outlook	Faster-than-average-job growth
Median Income	$80,200 per year in 2008
Work Context & Conditions	Opportunities are found in numerous settings such as acute care general hospitals, and managed care organizations, consulting firms, government agencies, private industry, and health care IT/ computing companies. Many medical and health services managers work long hours.
Minimum Education Requirements	Master's Degree
Skills	Persuasion, Social Perceptiveness, Learning Strategies, Monitoring, Management of Personnel Resources, Critical Thinking, Instructing, Active Listening, Writing, Service Orientation, Time Management, Active Learning, Complex Problem Solving, Judgment and Decision Making, Coordination, Reading Comprehension, Speaking
Abilities	Oral Expression, Speech Recognition, Deductive Reasoning, Problem Sensitivity, Written Comprehension, Information Ordering, Inductive Reasoning, Written Expression, Oral Comprehension

Job Category		Management
Job Description		According to the American Medical Association (AMA )Health Care Directory: "The tasks or functions performed by health information administrators are numerous and are continually changing within the work environment. Although the job title and work setting will dictate the actual tasks performed by the health information administrator, in general this individual performs tasks related to the management of health information and the systems used to collect, store, process, retrieve, analyze, disseminate, and communicate that information, regardless of the physical medium in which information is maintained. In addition, health information administrators assess the uses of information and identify what information is available and where there are inconsistencies, gaps, and duplications in health data sources. They are capable of planning and designing systems and serving as pivotal team members in the development of computer-based patient record systems and other enterprise-wide information systems. Their responsibilities also include serving as brokers of information services. Among the information services provided are a design and requirements definition for clinical and administrative systems development, data administration, data quality management, data security management, decision support design and data analyses, and management of information-intensive areas such as clinical quality/performance assessment and utilization and case management."
Working Conditions		Opportunities for practice are found in numerous settings such as acute care general hospitals, managed care organizations, consulting firms, claims and reimbursement organizations, accounting firms, home healthcare agencies, long-term care facilities, corrections facilities, drug companies, behavioral health- care organizations, insurance companies, state and federal health care agencies, and public healthcare computing industries. Practice opportunities are unlimited.
Salary Range		Median annual earnings for health information administrators were $80,200 in 2008. The middle 50 percent earned between $62,200 and 104,100. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $48,300 and the highest 10 percent earned more than $137,800.

Education Required		According to the AMA, a health care information managers have a baccalaureate degree and a post-baccalaureate/certificate that includes coursework in biomedical sciences, computer applications and data analysis. Medical and health services managers must be familiar with management principles and practices. A master's degree in health services administration, long-term care administration, health sciences, public health, public administration, or business administration is the standard credential for most generalist positions in this field. However, a bachelor's degree is adequate for some entry-level positions in smaller facilities, at the departmental level within healthcare organizations, and in health information management. Physicians' offices and some other facilities hire those with on-the-job experience instead of formal education. Bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree programs in health administration are offered by colleges; universities; and schools of public health, medicine, allied health, public administration, and business administration. In 2008, according to the Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education, there were 72 schools that had accredited programs leading to the master’s degree in health services administration. For people seeking to become heads of clinical departments, a degree in the appropriate field and work experience may be sufficient early in their career. However, a master's degree in health services administration or a related field might be required to advance. For example, nursing service administrators usually are chosen from among supervisory registered nurses with administrative abilities and graduate degrees in nursing or health services administration. Health information managers require a bachelor's degree from an accredited program. In 2008, there were 48 accredited bachelor's degree programs and 5 master's degree programs in health information management, according to the Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management Education. Some graduate programs seek students with undergraduate degrees in business or health administration; however, many graduate programs prefer students with a liberal arts or health profession background. Candidates with previous work experience in healthcare also may have an advantage. Competition for entry into these programs is keen, and applicants need above-average grades to gain admission. Graduate programs usually last between 2 and 3 years. They may include up to 1 year of supervised administrative experience and coursework in areas such as hospital organization and management, marketing, accounting and budgeting, human resources administration, strategic planning, law and ethics, biostatistics or epidemiology, health economics, and health information systems. Some programs allow students to specialize in one type of facility—hospitals, nursing care facilities, mental health facilities, or medical groups. Other programs encourage a generalist approach to health administration education. Medical and health services managers advance by moving into more responsible and higher paying positions, such as assistant or associate administrator, department head, or chief executive officer, or by moving to larger facilities. Some experienced managers also may become consultants or professors of healthcare management. New graduates with master's degrees in health services administration may start as department managers or as supervisory staff. The level of the starting position varies with the experience of the applicant and the size of the organization. Hospitals and other health facilities offer postgraduate residencies and fellowships, which usually are staff positions. Graduates from master's degree programs also take jobs in large medical group practices, clinics, mental health facilities, nursing care corporations, and consulting firms. Graduates with bachelor's degrees in health administration usually begin as administrative assistants or assistant department heads in larger hospitals. They also may begin as department heads or assistant administrators in small hospitals or nursing care facilities.
Recommended High School Courses		Computers and Electronics, Biology, Mathematics, English, Health, Foreign Language, Government, Sociology and Anthropology
Postsecondary Instructional Programs		Law, Government and Jurisprudence, Education and Training, English Language, Psychology, Personnel and Human Resources, Administration and Management, Public Safety and Security, Mathematics, Therapy and Counseling, Customer and Personal Service, Computers and Electronics, Medicine and Dentistry
Certification and Licensing		According to the AHIMA, "a certification examination is based on an explicit set of competencies. These competencies have been determined through a job analysis study conducted of practitioners. Examinations last for 4 hours, and consist of 180 questions consisting of 160 scored questions and 20 pretest questions. All States and the District of Columbia require nursing care facility administrators to have a bachelor's degree, pass a licensing examination, complete a State-approved training program, and pursue continuing education. Some States also require licenses for administrators in assisted-living facilities. A license is not required in other areas of medical and health services management.

Interest Area		Enterprising Involves starting up and carrying out projects, leading people, making many decisions, and dealing with businesses, and it sometimes requires risk taking.
Work Values		Security Have steady employment. Working Conditions Good working conditions. Autonomy Plan work with little supervision. Authority Give directions and instructions to others. Responsibility Make decisions on your own.
Skills		Persuasion Persuade others to approach things differently. Social Perceptiveness Be aware of others' reactions and understand why they react the way they do. Learning Strategies Use multiple approaches when learning or teaching new things. Monitoring Assess how well someone is doing when learning or doing something. Management of Personnel Resources Motivate, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job Critical Thinking Use logic and analysis to identify the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches. Instructing Teach others how to do something. Active Listening Listen to what other people are saying and ask questions as appropriate. Writing Communicate effectively with others in writing as indicated by the needs of the audience. Service Orientation Actively look for ways to help people. Time Management Manage one's own time and the time of others. Active Learning Work with new material or information to grasp its implications. Complex Problem Solving Solving novel, ill-defined problems in complex, real-world settings. Judgment and Decision Making Be able to weigh the relative costs and benefits of a potential action. Coordination Adjust actions in relation to others' actions. Reading Comprehension Understand written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents. Speaking Talk to others to effectively convey information.
Abilities		Oral Expression Able to convey information and ideas through speech in ways that others will understand. Speech Recognition Identify and understand the speech of another person Deductive Reasoning Able to apply general rules to specific problems to come up with logical answers, including deciding whether an answer makes sense. Problem Sensitivity Able to tell when something is wrong or likely to go wrong. This doesn't involve solving the problem, just recognizing that there is a problem. Written Comprehension Able to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing. Information Ordering Able to correctly follow rules for arranging things or actions in a certain order, including numbers, words, pictures, procedures, and logical operations. Inductive Reasoning Able to combine separate pieces of information, or specific answers to problems, to form general rules or conclusions. This includes coming up with a logical explanation for why seemingly unrelated events occur together. Written Expression Able to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand. Oral Comprehension Able to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.

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Job Outlook		Employment of medical and health services managers is expected to grow faster than average for all occupations through 2018, as the healthcare industry continues to expand and diversify. Job opportunities will be especially good in offices of health practitioners, general medical and surgical hospitals, home healthcare services, outpatient care centers, healthcare IT application companies, pharmaceutical firms, and consulting firms. Applicants with work experience in the healthcare field and strong business and management skills should have the best opportunities. Competition for jobs at the highest management levels will be keen because of the high pay and prestige. Managers in all settings will be needed to improve quality and efficiency of healthcare while controlling costs, as insurance companies and Medicare demand higher levels of accountability. Managers will also be needed to computerize patient records and to ensure their security as required by law. Additional demand for managers will stem from the need to recruit workers and increase employee retention, to comply with changing regulations, to implement new technology, and to help improve the health of their communities by emphasizing preventive care. Hospitals will continue to employ the most medical and health services managers over the 2008 to 2018 projection period. Employment will grow fastest in practitioners’ offices and in home healthcare agencies. Medical and health services managers also will be employed by healthcare management companies that provide management services to various health related organizations.
More Information		American Health Information Management Association, American Medical Association - Health Care Careers, Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management Education (CAHIIM)
References		American Medical Association Health Care Careers Online at http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/16038.html Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010-11 Edition, Medical and Health Services Managers, on the Internet at http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos014.htm O*Net on the internet at http://online.onetcenter.org/link/summary/11-9111.00