Health Information Management Career Essay

According to the American Health Information Management Association, Health information is the data related to a person’s medical history, including symptoms, diagnoses, procedures, and outcomes. Health information records include patient histories, lab results, x-rays, clinical information, and notes. The data can be analyzed to see how a patient’s health might have changed. I took interest in Health Information Management when it was brought to my attention by a doctor. He told me that is a very interesting field and it is in high demand as they have more jobs than people to fill them. I went home, researched it and now here I am making my entry into the field.

My Plan for year one of my Career.

Since I am just starting out in the field now after my brief internship I plan to land an entry level job as a Medical biller for Reading Health System. My job

responsibilities include submitting technical or professional medical claims to insurance companies in a timely fashion. It is also important to me to maintain patient and physician confidentiality and follow all federal, state and hospital guidelines for release of information. One thing that was really stressed at Reading Health System is my knowledge of insurance guidelines especially Medicare and Pennsylvania Medicaid. Another thing I must do is follow up on unpaid claims within standard billing cycle time frame. Otherwise, the facility gets less money in their pocket. It is important to remember that all claims must be reviewed for accuracy and compliance. If a patient has secondary insurance it is my responsibility to ensure that they are billed. Reading Health System has taught me to treat everyone’s claims as I would my own so I ensure everything is correct for the patient because the last thing the patient wants to deal with on top of a hospital stay is an incorrect claim. In this field I often find that sometimes I go outside of my job description as long as it is within reason after all, just like me the patient is human. According to salary.com, the median annual Medical Billing Clerk salary in Reading, PA is $35,681, as of September 30, 2016, with a range usually between $33,065-$40,171 not including bonus and benefit information and other factors that impact base pay.
My Plan for year two-four of my Career.
During the second year of my Health Information Management Career, I hope to continue my career as a medical biller in Pennsylvania while going back to school for my Bachelor’s degree in Health Information Management and obtain my Registered Health Information Administrator certification.

I would like to start the journey of going back to school for my Bachelor’s degree in Health Information Management and obtain my Registered Health Information Administrator certification during my second year of my career since according to the American Health Information Management Association it can take up to two and a half years to finish their bachelor’s degree program while working. I would not want to overwhelm myself by getting a new job and going to school. I feel I should focus on school and receiving my Bachelor’s degree in Health Information Management and obtain my Registered Health Information Administrator certification and work my way up from there as my dream job is to be a coding manager. According to my calculations I will be finished with the bachelor’s degree program by year four of my

career.
My Plan for year five of my Career.
My plan for year five of my career is to become the coding manager for Reading Health System. A coding manager is a professional responsible for supervising the medical coding staff that deals with patients' medical records. Coding managers mainly deal with establishing policies and implementing changes, coordinating with other personnel managers and with physicians, reviewing departmental procedures, and evaluating the effectiveness of personnel. In facilities where patient data may be used in studies or research, coding managers may be responsible for insuring that data is available to authorized personnel only. Common duties of a coding manager's job also include coordinating with other hospital departments and adhering to current coding practices at all times! It is important to know it is possible to become a coding manager without furthering school just by gaining work experience. However, according to the current coding manager at Reading Health System if you have nothing but experience under your belt and the company you work for goes under, you just reserved yourself a spot on the unemployment line. At the end of the day, the more schooling in acquire the more marketable I will be in the field. The median annual Medical Records Coding Manager salary in Reading, PA is $66,986, as of September 30, 2016, with a range usually between $58,197-$78,593 not including bonus and benefit information and other factors that impact base pay. One thing I took away from Reading Health System is, everyone who is successful there is goal oriented. I will ensure that I never lose track of my goals so I can find my success and make my dreams a reality.
In conclusion, Health Information Management is a growing field. It is growing faster than we can fill jobs. However, you must have people skills and be companionate to work in this field. While, it may be about money for some, I joined this field to have a hand in helping people in their time of need. It is important to remember while we are rarely seen by the patients we help, we still have a huge hand in helping them get what they need. Treat everyone as you would want to be treated if you were in the patient’s shoes.