Occupation Profile

Health Information Technicians

(SOC Code : 29-2071)

in California

Compile, process, and maintain medical records of hospital and clinic patients in a manner consistent with medical, administrative, ethical, legal, and regulatory requirements of the heath care system. Process, maintain, compile, and report patient information for health requirements and standards.

Employers are usually looking for candidates with a Associate degree .

View a Career Video for this occupation from America's Career InfoNet (requires Windows Media Player)

Occupational Wages

[Top]

Area	Year	Period	Hourly Mean	Hourly by Percentile
				25th	Median	75th
California	2012	1st Qtr	$19.64	$14.47	$18.23	$23.10

View Wages for All Areas About Wages

Occupational Projections of Employment (also called "Outlook" or "Demand")

[Top]

Area	Estimated Year-Projected Year	Employment		Employment Change		Annual Avg Openings
		Estimated	Projected	Number	Percent
California	2010 - 2020	17,400	20,700	3,300	19.0	680

View Projections for All Areas About Projections

Job Openings from JobCentral National Labor Exchange

[Top]

Enter a Zip Code Find a Zip code in California

Within miles of Zip Code.

Industries Employing This Occupation (click on Industry Title to View Employers List)

[Top]

Industry Title

Number of Employers in State of California

Percent of Total
Employment for Occupation in State of California

General Medical and Surgical Hospitals

1,393

33.1%

Offices of Physicians

62,928

27.1%

Nursing Care Facilities

2,386

11.4%

Outpatient Care Centers

6,487

5.1%

Home Health Care Services

3,702

3.1%

Other Hospitals

120

1.9%

Medical and Diagnostic Laboratories

3,335

1.7%

Community Care Facility for the Elderly

5,152

1.2%

Psychiatric & Substance Abuse Hospitals

1,228

1.0%

About Staffing Patterns

Training Programs (click on title for more information)

[Top]

Program Title

Health Information/Medical Records Technology/Technician

Medical Insurance Coding Specialist/Coder

About Training & Apprenticeships

About This Occupation (from O*NET - The Occupation Information Network)

[Top]

Top Tasks (Specific duties and responsibilities of this job.)

Protect the security of medical records to ensure that confidentiality is maintained.

Review records for completeness, accuracy, and compliance with regulations.

Retrieve patient medical records for physicians, technicians, or other medical personnel.

Release information to persons or agencies according to regulations.

Plan, develop, maintain, or operate a variety of health record indexes or storage and retrieval systems to collect, classify, store, or analyze information.

Enter data, such as demographic characteristics, history and extent of disease, diagnostic procedures, or treatment into computer.

Compile and maintain patients` medical records to document condition and treatment and to provide data for research or cost control and care improvement efforts.

Process and prepare business or government forms.

Process patient admission or discharge documents.

Assign the patient to diagnosis-related groups (DRGs), using appropriate computer software.

More Tasks for Medical Records and Health Information Technicians

Top Skills used in this Job

Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.

Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.

Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.

Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.

Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.

Time Management - Managing one`s own time and the time of others.

Service Orientation - Actively looking for ways to help people.

Social Perceptiveness - Being aware of others` reactions and understanding why they react as they do.

Writing - Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.

Coordination - Adjusting actions in relation to others` actions.

More Skills for Medical Records and Health Information Technicians

Data for Tasks not available.

More Abilities for Medical Records and Health Information Technicians

Top Work Values (Aspects of this job that create satisfaction.)

Relationships - Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to provide service to others and work with co-workers in a friendly non-competitive environment.

Support - Occupations that satisfy this work value offer supportive management that stands behind employees.

More Work Values for Medical Records and Health Information Technicians

Top Interests (The types of activities someone in this job would like.)

Conventional - Conventional occupations frequently involve following set procedures and routines. These occupations can include working with data and details more than with ideas. Usually there is a clear line of authority to follow.

Enterprising - Enterprising occupations frequently involve starting up and carrying out projects. These occupations can involve leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes they require risk taking and often deal with business.

More Interests for Medical Records and Health Information Technicians

Alternate Titles

Clinical Data Specialists; Health Information Analysts; Health Information Management Specialists; Health Information Management Technicians; Health Information Specialists; Health Information Systems Technicians; Medical Record Technicians; Registered Health Information Technicians (RHIT)