Emerging Roles

How has your job transformed over the past five years? When you stop to think about it, all of us can point to a wide variety of changes in our workplaces and work processes. Technology has changed how we do our work. Reporting relationships have been reorganized. Many conventional career paths have disappeared.

Such change is certainly not exclusive to the health information management field. In fact, both healthcare and business in general have undergone dramatic transitions. And there is every indication that more changes are coming. Just as in the past five years, you can expect similar and perhaps even accelerated evolution in our workplaces.

With such rapid change, many traditional rules regarding work have been replaced. To remain competitive, now and in the future, we all need to learn new work practices and professional skills. The following chart lists a variety of emerging roles that health information management professionals will hold in the future.

Career Scenarios

Health Information Manager
Enterprise- or facility-wide responsibility for health information management (line or staff manager). Includes working with the chief information executive and system users to advance systems, methods and application support; and improve data quality, access, privacy, security, and usability.

Clinical Data Specialist
Data management functions in a variety of application areas; including clinical coding, outcomes management, specialty registries, and research databases.

Patient Information Coordinator
New service roles helping consumers manage their personal health information; including personal health history management, release of information, understanding managed care services, and information resources.

Data Quality Manager
Data management functions involving formalized continuous quality improvement (CQI) for data integrity throughout the enterprise beginning with data dictionary and policy development; including quality monitoring and audits.

Data Resource Administrator
The next generation of records and data management using media such as the CPR, data repository, and electronic warehousing for meeting current and future care needs across the continuum, providing access to the needed information, and ensuring long-term integrity and access.

Research and Decision Support Analyst
Support senior management with information for decision making and strategy development, using a variety of analytical tools and databases. Work with product and policy organizations on high-level analysis projects such as clinical trials and outcomes research.

Security Officer
Manage the security of all electronically maintained information; including promulgation of security requirements, policies and privilege systems, and the audit of performance. Many of these positions will be outside traditional roles and workplaces. Most will call for additional skills and education. Yet, with our unique mixture of clinical and information skills, we are poised for success as a profession.

New Roles Call for New Skills

Trend data indicate that employers in the 21st century will require flexible and multi-skilled workers. They will also demand employees who continually add to their skill sets to meet changing needs. That's why another fundamental principle of Vision 2006 is the need for life-long learning: we must be committed to ongoing education and professional development.

HIM Practices: Traditional and Emerging

This chart lists some traditional aspects of our profession next to emerging health information management practices.

For most of us, reaching true proficiency in our evolving workplaces will require new ways of thinking about our work, a more assertive stance toward our careers, and certainly, additional education.