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CAREERS IN HEALTH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY Institute Research Number 200 ISBN 1-58511-200-3 DOT Number 079.167-014, 079.362-014, O*Net SOC Code 29-2071.00 CAREERS IN HEALTH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY MEDICAL RECORDS SPECIALISTS ARE YOU SEARCHING FOR A ROCK SOLID CAREER WITH TREMENDOUS POTENTIAL? Does medicine interest you, but you’re not looking forward to the rigors and expense of medical school? One of the best ways to participate in the fast-paced world of healthcare is behind the scenes, in the health information technology field. It’s one of the few jobs in healthcare that doesn’t involve direct patient care. We have all glimpsed the drama of modern medicine either on television or through personal experience. On ER, we see highly skilled hands frantically working to keep up with the fast pace of an urban emergency room. While not all healthcare is delivered in such intense surroundings, one thing is certain: providing quality medicine requires teamwork. There are no nonessential jobs in healthcare. There is plenty of drama, challenge and satisfaction to go around. There are two giant industries that are huge and still growing: healthcare and information technology. Put them together and you’ve got the ingredients for a career with loads of opportunity. Consider this: every time a healthcare professional treats a patient, there is a paper trail. From admission to a doctor’s office to payment from an insurance company, every detail of that patient’s medical history must be documented. In order to provide the highest level of patient care, doctors, nurses, and other healthcare providers will rely on you, the professional health information technician, to provide them with accurate and complete information. 2 Your duties while performing your job will vary depending on where you work. But in general, health information is collected electronically and on paper, transcribed into reports, coded so it can be uniformly understood, cross-indexed so it can be accessed in various ways, organized, and maintained. If you think that’s a lot of work, you’re right. It actually takes a team of several people to pull it all together. Last year Americans spent one trillion dollars on healthcare, and that incredible amount is predicted to continue growing. That translates into tremendous opportunity for health information professionals who will continue to be in demand for the foreseeable future. In fact, experts predict health information technology as one of the 20 fastest growing occupations in the US today. There are a variety of job specialties within this field including medical coders, health information technicians, and health information administrators. They work in a variety of medical settings including hospitals, clinics, insurance companies, and doctors’ offices. Medical coders assign codes to medical treatments and then post those codes to records. The coded records are then passed on to insurance companies for proper reimbursement. Health information technicians make sure that medical records are accurate and complete. They may also coordinate reimbursement. Sometimes they specialize in maintaining disease registries for research. Administrators supervise teams of technicians and coders within larger healthcare settings. Sometimes they are responsible for the hiring and training of health information workers within their departments. Every year Americans are becoming more concerned about their health. The growing demand for quality healthcare leads to increased need for health information specialists. If you choose a career as a health information specialist, you will become a part of this movement towards better health. If you think you’d like the satisfaction of playing a significant role in helping to keep people well, take a closer look at this career. 3 HOW TO START YOUR EXPL