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The bachelor’s degree is the center of gravity in health information management. It is the level at which the field’s management-track credential lives, the level most hospital HIM leadership postings ask for, and the level where the curriculum covers the whole data life cycle rather than one slice of it. Common titles include Bachelor of Science in Health Information Management and BS in Health Information Administration; some schools offer it as a health informatics and information management degree.
One structural detail separates this degree from most others on this site: the Registered Health Information Administrator (RHIA) credential typically requires a bachelor’s degree from a program accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management Education (CAHIIM). If you plan to sit for it, program accreditation is not a quality signal you weigh alongside others – it is a gate. Verify status directly with CAHIIM and confirm current eligibility requirements with the credentialing body before you enroll.
Clinical foundations (medical terminology, anatomy and physiology, pathophysiology), classification systems (ICD-10-CM, ICD-10-PCS, CPT and HCPCS), EHR and health information systems, HIPAA privacy and security, data quality and governance, healthcare statistics and analytics, revenue cycle and reimbursement methodologies, and HIM department management – usually finishing with a supervised professional practice experience.
If you intend to pursue the RHIA credential, yes – eligibility typically requires a bachelor’s degree from a CAHIIM-accredited program. If you do not plan to credential, a non-accredited program may still be a legitimate degree, but you are giving up the field’s most portable signal. Verify accreditation status with CAHIIM directly.
Approximately 120 semester hours, typically four years full-time. Degree-completion tracks designed for students who already hold an associate degree in HIM or a related field are common and can be substantially shorter.
Generally no. Most programs admit students with no clinical or healthcare background and build the needed clinical vocabulary through required coursework. Some degree-completion tracks do expect a prior HIM associate degree or an existing coding credential.
Usually there is a supervised professional practice experience, and it typically takes place at a healthcare facility near you rather than online. Schools differ substantially on whether they arrange the placement or expect you to secure it. Ask before enrolling.
Both are health information credentials, but they sit at different degree levels: the RHIA is the administrator-level credential associated with a CAHIIM-accredited bachelor’s, and the RHIT is the technician-level credential associated with a CAHIIM-accredited associate degree. Confirm current eligibility rules with the credentialing body, since requirements are periodically revised.
For a full map of this program area, start here: Health Information Management Program Guide
Every school list on this site is ordered by the BOC Score, computed from the most recent school-level data published by the U.S. Department of Education (College Scorecard and IPEDS). To qualify, a school must be currently operating and accredited by an agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Each eligible school is then scored on five measures, percentile-ranked against schools at the same credential level:
Schools without enough outcome data appear after ranked schools, without a score. Advertising never affects these rankings. Read the full methodology.
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:Accreditor: Northwest Commission on Colleges and UniversitiesIPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:Accreditor: Middle States Commission on Higher EducationIPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:Accreditor: Middle States Commission on Higher EducationIPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:Accreditor: Northwest Commission on Colleges and UniversitiesIPEDSCollege Scorecard
| Course Topic | What You Learn |
|---|---|
| Medical Terminology | The vocabulary of clinical documentation – the prerequisite to reading a record accurately |
| Anatomy, Physiology & Pathophysiology | Body systems and disease processes, enough to interpret diagnoses and procedures |
| ICD-10-CM & ICD-10-PCS Coding | Diagnosis and inpatient procedure classification, coding conventions, and official guidelines |
| CPT & HCPCS Coding | Outpatient and physician service coding, modifiers, and payer-specific rules |
| Reimbursement Methodologies | Prospective payment systems, diagnosis-related groups, claims, denials, and the revenue cycle |
| Electronic Health Records | EHR architecture, master patient index integrity, workflows, and interoperability standards |
| Health Data Privacy & Security | HIPAA privacy and security rules, breach response, retention, and release of information |
| Healthcare Statistics & Analytics | Facility statistics, data quality auditing, registries, and reporting for quality programs |
| Health Information Systems Management | Department operations, workflow design, vendor management, and project work |
| Professional Practice Experience | Supervised applied work in an HIM department or comparable setting |
The clinical foundation courses are what gate the rest of the degree, and they are the most common place a plan slips. Coding courses assume anatomy and pathophysiology; the professional practice experience assumes the coding sequence. Before you enroll, confirm:
If you are moving faster than a standard four-year plan, compare accelerated HIM programs.
Transfer credit is a large lever at this level, particularly for students who already hold an HIM associate degree or a coding certificate. Rules vary by institution, so confirm:
See Affordable Online HIM Degrees for more on managing total program cost.
Two separate checks apply. Institutional accreditation from a recognized accreditor such as HLC or SACSCOC can be verified through the U.S. Department of Education database. Programmatic accreditation from CAHIIM is the one specific to this field, and it is the one tied to credential eligibility.
A bachelor’s is the standard entry credential for HIM management-track work and the level tied to RHIA eligibility. A master’s generally shifts the emphasis toward health informatics, analytics, data governance strategy, and executive-level department leadership, and it is a common route for people already working in healthcare who want to move from operations into information leadership.
Compare degree options:
Data verified: August 11, 2026. Salary, employment, and tuition figures on this page are sourced from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (OEWS May 2025; Employment Projections 2024–2034) and the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard (2023 cohort). The source agency and data year are cited inline with every statistic.
Back to Online Health Information Management (HIM) Degrees (2026)
