How To Become A Health Information Manager: What It Is and Career Path

What is a health information manager and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted Expert

Jamie Rauscher RVT

So you want to be a Health Information Manager? Your position will be vital to the efficiency of health care. Your job will be to ensure patient's medical records are available, correct, and safe. As a Health Information Manager, you will be responsible for analyzing and securing digital and traditional health records. You will need an understanding of IT, clinical knowledge, and administrative management.

You may design, implement and maintain computerized health, help educate coworkers about procedures and technology, and supervise other employees. You may be asked to help with budgets and create health information policies. You may work in a hospital, private clinics, nursing homes, and doctor's offices. You could even work in healthcare system technology companies, law firms, and research organizations.

Most employers would like you to have an associate's or bachelor's degree in the healthcare field and be aware of medicine, information technology, management, law, and finance. Job prospects are high and will continue to be in demand. You can make an average salary of $39,000 a year.

What general advice would you give to a Health Information Manager?

Jamie Rauscher RVT

Medical Manager, Animal Hospital of Towne Lake and Cat Clinic of Woodstock

I would advise new graduates to look at their career as a whole. Do not get bogged down in the negativity of so many others. You will be told everything from you cannot survive on your own salary, the pay is terrible, clients are ungrateful, you will become burnt out within the first 5 years, etc. All that is part of a negative mindset. I have been in the field for 25 years. I love it. I have earned the salary I make due to hard work and determination. I am constantly looking for ways to grow myself, so I will be able to develop my career into what I am physically able to do, as well as mentally as I age. I can help to support my family, even if I was not able to have my husband's income to add in, I would be able to take care of myself and my son with no problem.

ScoreHealth Information ManagerUS Average

Salary

5.0

Avg. Salary $63,401

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

4.8

Growth Rate 11%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.1

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.24%

Asian 8.27%

Black or African American 9.10%

Hispanic or Latino 16.01%

Unknown 4.16%

White 61.21%

Gender

female 83.10%

male 16.90%

Age - 46

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 46

Stress Level

4.8

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

6.0

Complexity Level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

8.6

Work Life balance is excellent

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a health information manager

Explore health information manager education requirements

Most common health information manager degrees

Bachelor's

42.8 %

Associate

34.9 %

Master's

9.5 %

Start to develop specific health information manager skills

Skills	Percentages
Patients	22.85%
Transcription	9.79%
Patient Care	6.98%
Rehabilitation	5.99%
Chart Completion	5.18%

Complete relevant health information manager training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New health information managers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a health information manager based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real health information manager resumes.

Research health information manager duties and responsibilities

Manage discharged medical records and confidentiality of records as per HIPAA regulations.
Achieve this goal by providing clear policies/justification for initiatives which impact designated FTE's.
Maintain integrity of CPT coding, payer contracts and library builds.
Compile & generate statistical reports for ROI purposes & physician re-appointments.

Prepare your health information manager resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your health information manager resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a health information manager resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Health Information Manager Resume templates

Build a professional Health Information Manager resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Health Information Manager resume.

Apply for health information manager jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a health information manager job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do health information managers rate their job?

-/5

5 Stars

4 Stars

3 Stars

2 Stars

1 Star

Health Information Manager reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Aug 2019

Cons

Being taken over by computers, job is going away office staff is becoming smaller and smaller or out sourced to 3rd party companies.