Health information professionals help assure that sensitive health information remains accurate, accessible, complete, and protected at all times. But in 2023, organizations need more of these specialists as the healthcare industry expands and many in the field approach retirement. This issue is explored in the latest broadcast of RVN Television's Morning Coffee Expert Series, featuring Dr. Roy Swift, executive director of Workcred, and Dr. Mike Niederpruem, vice president of certifications at American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA).
Swift and Niederpruem highlight how credentialing, alternative credentials, and professional voluntary certifications can help applicants on the path to careers in health information.
Niederpruem explained that the occupational outlook for health information projects anywhere from 10 to close to 30 percent growth over the next 10 years, depending on specific roles in the industry.
“The outlook is really bright. And credentialing, alternative credentials, professional voluntary certifications all help employers delineate and select qualified applicants,” Niederpruem noted. “You can imagine with technology today, it’s really easy to apply to 100, 150, 200 jobs, and it’s harder for employers to find the most qualified applicants.” He noted that having a professional voluntary certification, an alternative credential, or a combination of both of those can help employers find the best talent.
While candidates still have to earn a job position through the interview process, credentials can help applicants to rise to the top of the candidate pool, he explained.
Swift emphasized that the trend in the United States has more employers looking at skills-based hiring. Credentials can play a major role in quality recognition, signaling to employers the skills and knowledge that candidates have for a particular career.
The experts discussed how credentials help upskill current talent looking for a new role or reskill candidates who are starting anew in a health information career. They explained that professional voluntary certifications and alternative credentials, such as microcredentials, can be extremely valuable for jobseekers to demonstrate to potential employers that they have the competency they need to enter a new career.
“I think it’s also important to go into one of the key differentiators for a professional voluntary credential: it has a requirement for lifelong learning,” said Niederpruem. “What that means is that credential that you obtained, that professional voluntary certification, will expire after two or three years, unless you meet the requirements for ongoing continuing education. And that’s important, because it makes sure that your competencies remain relevant.”
Swift also noted that, as part of Workcred’s mission to examine the quality, market value, and effectiveness of such workforce credentials, Workcred has a partnership with the National Student Clearinghouse to safely and securely link certification data, higher education enrollment and degree data, and wage and employment data.
Read more about how transparency and quality assurance of non-degree credentials are critical to understanding the value of non-degree credentials to individuals, postsecondary education institutions, employers, and policymakers.
Access the latest video: Workcred Expert Series: Ensuring the Security of Health Information.
What is Health Information?
Health information refers to the data related to a person’s medical history, including symptoms, diagnoses, procedures, and outcomes. A health record includes information such as: a patient’s history, lab results, X-rays, clinical information, demographic information, and notes.
A patient’s health information can be viewed individually to see how the patient’s health has changed; it can also be viewed as a part of a larger data set to understand how a population’s health has changed, and how medical interventions can change health outcomes. Source: AHIMA