BestOnlineCollege.org is an advertising-supported website. Many of the school and program listings that appear on this site are from partners who compensate us, and this compensation may affect how, where, and in what order listings appear (such as featured placements). This compensation does not influence our editorial content, evaluations, or rankings, which are determined independently using publicly available data. We do not review or feature every school or program available in the marketplace. Our goal is to provide accurate, unbiased information so you can make informed decisions. Read our full Advertiser Disclosure.
What Can You Do With a Health Information Management Degree? Jobs
Key takeaway: Health information management leads to three related occupations: medical and health services manager at a median annual wage of $123,860, health information technologist and medical registrar at $68,020, and medical records specialist at $51,140 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025 OEWS national medians). The spread between them is largely the difference between managing a department and working inside one, and professional certification matters as much as the degree in this field.
HIM is the discipline that sits between clinical care and the data that documents it. Graduates are responsible for the accuracy, privacy, security, and usability of the health record: making sure documentation supports the care delivered, that coded data is correct, that release of information follows HIPAA, and that the information systems holding all of it are governed properly. It is a healthcare career without direct patient care.
Jobs you can get with a health information management degree
| Occupation | Median annual wage |
|---|---|
| Medical and health services manager | $123,860 |
| Health information technologist and medical registrar | $68,020 |
| Medical records specialist | $51,140 |
View the data behind this chart
| Occupation | Avg. annual openings |
|---|---|
| Medical and Health Services Manager | 62,100/yr |
| Medical Records Specialist | 14,200/yr |
| Health Information Technologist and Medical Registrar | 3,200/yr |
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025 OEWS national medians. Median means half of workers in the occupation earned more and half earned less; the manager category spans many healthcare management roles beyond HIM specifically.
Medical and health services manager. This is the management tier, covering HIM directors, revenue cycle managers, coding and clinical documentation improvement managers, privacy officers, and informatics managers. The work is running a department: staffing and productivity, audit and compliance programs, system implementations and upgrades, denial and documentation quality initiatives, and reporting to executive leadership. Note that this federal category is broad and includes healthcare management positions well outside HIM, so the median reflects a wide mix of roles.
Health information technologist and medical registrar. These specialists handle the technical and analytic side of health data: managing electronic health record workflows and data quality, running registries such as cancer or trauma registries, abstracting and validating clinical data for reporting, supporting release-of-information and audit requests, and producing data for quality measurement. Registrar roles in particular carry their own credentialing expectations.
Medical records specialist. Often titled medical coder or health information technician, these positions assign diagnosis and procedure codes from clinical documentation, review records for completeness, query providers when documentation is unclear, and process record requests. Coding accuracy directly drives reimbursement and quality reporting, which is why employers weight coding credentials heavily for these jobs.
What the degree level changes
The credential structure in HIM is worth understanding before you choose a program level. There is no state license to practice health information management, but the field is organized around professional certifications, and eligibility for the main ones is tied to graduating from a program accredited by CAHIIM, the Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management Education. An associate degree from an accredited program leads to the RHIT credential; a bachelor’s leads to the RHIA. Coding-specific credentials such as the CCS follow their own eligibility rules. Many employers list one of these credentials as a requirement rather than a preference, so program accreditation is the first thing to verify.
The online bachelor’s in health information management is the standard preparation for RHIA eligibility and for supervisory and analyst tracks. It typically covers coding systems, health data standards, privacy and security law, revenue cycle, statistics and quality reporting, and information systems.
The online master’s in health information management is aimed at department director, informatics, privacy officer, and system-level leadership roles, and at people moving in from clinical or IT backgrounds. Advancement into the health services manager tier usually depends on a combination of credential, experience, and demonstrated department leadership rather than the master’s alone.
Common questions
What jobs can you get with a health information management degree?
Graduates work as medical records and coding specialists, health information technologists and clinical registrars, and, with experience, as HIM directors, revenue cycle managers, privacy officers, and other medical and health services managers. Employers include hospitals and health systems, physician groups, insurers, government health agencies, and health IT vendors.
How much do health information management majors make?
Bureau of Labor Statistics May 2025 OEWS national medians are $123,860 for medical and health services managers, $68,020 for health information technologists and medical registrars, and $51,140 for medical records specialists.
Do you need a master’s degree?
No. Most HIM careers are built on an accredited bachelor’s degree plus professional certification and experience. A master’s is most relevant for informatics, executive, and system-wide leadership roles.
Does the degree need to be CAHIIM accredited?
For the main HIM credentials, yes. RHIA and RHIT eligibility is tied to graduating from a CAHIIM-accredited program, and many job postings require one of those credentials, so confirm a program’s accreditation status before enrolling.
Is a health information management degree worth it?
It is a defined path into healthcare that does not involve patient care, with a clear certification ladder and a wide range of employers. The is a health information management degree worth it page weighs that against program cost and the gap between the technician and manager pay tiers.
Keep exploring
- Start at the health information management program hub, then compare levels: online bachelor’s and online master’s.
- Weigh the trade-offs on is it worth it, or find programs near you at the state index.
- Compare related fields: healthcare administration, healthcare, and management information systems.
Data verified: August 12, 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 Best Online Health Information Management Degrees (2026)