Education
Education
Five career paths in Health Information Management. Sub-specializations within each. Real salary data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The accrediting bodies that actually matter. And every minimum-education and minimum-experience requirement for the certifications employers ask for.
Translate charts into the ICD-10 and CPT codes insurers pay on. The largest HIM specialty.
View details ↓Abstract, stage, and follow every cancer case in the U.S. Highest-paid entry point in HIM.
View details ↓Bridge clinicians and coders. Query physicians in real time. Usually nurses; coders welcome.
View details ↓Billing, claims, denials, A/R. Most forgiving entry point — and often the path to running your own shop.
View details ↓Own the record itself — privacy, release, data governance. The degree-based RHIT → RHIA ladder to HIM leadership.
View details ↓You read a finished patient chart, then translate what the clinician did into the numerical codes insurers pay on. Every hospital, physician office, ASC, and ER in the U.S. needs coders. Remote-friendly. Production-driven. One of the few skilled healthcare careers you can enter without a four-year degree.
A day in the life. You review physician notes, op reports, lab results, and pathology. You assign ICD-10-CM codes for diagnoses and CPT/HCPCS codes for procedures. Outpatient coders might clear 100+ encounters a day; inpatient coders work through 8–15 complex hospital stays. Accuracy, not speed, is what determines pay.
Enroll in an AHIMA PCAP certificate program and sit for the CCA — no degree required, and you can be job-ready in under a year.
Nonprofit founded 1928. Issues CCA, CCS, CCS-P, RHIT, RHIA. Hospital-leaning; dominant in inpatient and HIM management roles.
→ ahima.orgFounded 1988. Issues CPC, COC, CIC, CPB, CRC, CPMA, and specialty credentials. Physician-office dominant; largest coder membership in the U.S.
→ aapc.comAAPC fees require active AAPC membership ($222/yr). Exam cost shown as single-attempt / two-attempt pricing where applicable.
Every new cancer diagnosis in the United States is abstracted, staged, and followed — for life — by a cancer registrar. Your data feeds the NCI, the SEER program, and the Commission on Cancer. CoC-accredited hospitals are required to staff credentialed registrars, which structurally means demand exceeds supply.
A day in the life. You pull path reports, op notes, imaging, and oncology visit notes for a new cancer case. You stage the tumor per AJCC and SEER rules. You enter the abstract into CRStar, METRIQ, or Elekta. You perform annual lifetime follow-up on every case you've ever abstracted. Heavily remote. Deeply specialized.
BLS category: Health Information Technologists and Medical Registrars (29-9021).
Start SEER's free training modules today, then enroll in an NCRA-accredited program and sit for the ODS.
Nonprofit representing over 7,000 cancer registry professionals. Sole issuer of the Oncology Data Specialist (ODS) credential, formerly known as CTR (renamed January 2024).
→ ncra-usa.orgNot an accrediting body, but the single most important free training resource. SEER*Educate and SEER Training Modules prepare candidates for the ODS exam at zero cost.
→ seer.cancer.govMost aspiring registrars take the NCRA-accredited formal program route. University of Cincinnati and AHIMA/NCRA offer fully online CRM certificate programs.
CDI specialists sit between the clinician and the coder. They read charts while patients are still admitted, query physicians when documentation is unclear, and make sure the final record accurately reflects severity of illness. Historically nurse-dominated; increasingly open to experienced coders with the right clinical foundation.
A day in the life. You review 15–25 active inpatient admissions a day. You query physicians when a note says “probable sepsis” without a source, or when a creatinine bump isn't explicitly called AKI. You know both coding rules and clinical medicine. You raise the hospital's case mix index ethically — which is why CFOs love CDI.
CDI is not tracked as its own BLS category. Pay ranges reflect industry survey data (ACDIS Annual Salary Survey) and are consistent with common job postings.
Get a clinical or coding credential first (RN, CCS, RHIT), then buy the ACDIS Apprenticeship to signal CDI intent — and shadow a working CDI program before you apply.
The CDI-native professional society. Issues the CCDS, CCDS-O, and CDI Apprenticeship. The CDI world is networked through ACDIS local chapters.
→ acdis.orgIssues the CDIP — a peer credential to ACDIS's CCDS. Either is recognized industry-wide. Coders approaching CDI often gravitate toward CDIP; nurses more often pursue CCDS.
→ ahima.orgThe path into CDI: (1) get a clinical or coding credential first, (2) earn the ACDIS Apprenticeship to signal CDI interest, (3) land a CDI Specialist I role, (4) at 2–3 years of experience sit for CCDS or CDIP.
If coding is the translation, revenue cycle is the collection. Billers, A/R analysts, denial specialists, and credentialing coordinators are how practices actually get paid. This is the largest and most forgiving entry point in HIM — the one path where you can get hired first and credentialed later.
A day in the life. You submit claims. You work denials. You post payments. You read ERAs and 835s. You call insurance companies and argue about medical necessity. You handle patient balances. This is the path with the most open doors — and the one most likely to evolve into running your own billing company.
Revenue cycle spans multiple BLS categories (medical secretaries, billing clerks, medical records specialists). Pay ranges reflect industry survey data and common job postings.
Apply for billing-clerk and payment-posting jobs now — get hired first, learn on the job, then add the CPB or CRCR to move up.
Issues the CPB — the most common billing-specific credential. Also offers CPPM (Certified Physician Practice Manager) at the senior level.
→ aapc.comIssues CRCR (Certified Revenue Cycle Representative) and CHFP (Certified Healthcare Financial Professional). Hospital-leaning; carries significant weight at mid-career and above.
→ hfma.orgAAPC fees require active AAPC membership ($222/yr). Revenue cycle is unique in HIM: many successful billers never credential at all — starting as a billing clerk with on-the-job training is the most common path.
The generalist-to-leadership path. HIM professionals own the patient record itself — its accuracy, privacy, release, retention, and governance — and run the departments where coders, registrars, and CDI specialists work. This is the degree-based route in HIM: an associate's earns you the RHIT, a bachelor's the RHIA, and the RHIA is what hospitals ask for when they hire an HIM Director, Privacy Officer, or Data Governance lead.
A day in the life. An RHIT might process release-of-information requests, resolve duplicate patient records in the MPI, audit chart completion, and run deficiency reports for physicians. An RHIA manages that department: HIPAA compliance, EHR policy, staffing, budget, audit response, and the data-governance committee. Both sit between clinical operations, IT, legal, and finance.
BLS categories: Health Information Technologists and Medical Registrars (29-9021) for RHIT-level roles; Medical and Health Services Managers (11-9111) for RHIA-level leadership. HIM directors cluster in the $90–140K range depending on facility size.
Enroll in a CAHIIM-accredited HIM associate's program and sit for the RHIT — then let a bachelor's completion track carry you to the RHIA when you're ready to lead.
Issues both the RHIT and RHIA through its independent Commission on Certification (CCHIIM). These are AHIMA's flagship credentials — the ones the association is literally named for.
→ ahima.orgThe programmatic accreditor. RHIT and RHIA eligibility is tied to graduating from a CAHIIM-accredited HIM program — not to work experience. Its directory is the only school list that matters for this path.
→ cahiim.org directoryBoth exams are priced identically. AHIMA student membership (~$49) drops the fee to the member rate — join before you register.
AHIMA's Commission on Certification (CCHIIM) has proposed a new, permanent pathway to the RHIA exam for working RHITs who earned a bachelor's outside an HIM program. Unlike the earlier time-limited provisos (1998–2004, 2004–2007, and 2017–2021), this one would have no expiration date. An effective date will follow formal approval — until then, the only routes to RHIA are the CAHIIM-accredited degree paths above.
If you're an RHIT with a non-HIM bachelor's, this is worth watching: when it takes effect you may qualify to sit for the RHIA without going back to school. Don't plan around it until AHIMA publishes a date.
→ Read the CCHIIM notice on ahima.orgThe accrediting bodies themselves publish directories of legitimate programs. Use these instead of Google — the top search results are overwhelmingly paid placements from for-profit schools that are not accredited. Everything below links directly to the official directory maintained by the organization that issues the credential.
Certificate: AHIMA PCAP lists approved coding certificate programs — the direct prep route for the CCA. Degree: CAHIIM accredits HIM degree programs — associate's (RHIT) and bachelor's (RHIA).
Note: AAPC does not accredit schools. Any high school graduate can sit for the CPC; AAPC licenses curriculum to partner schools and sells its own prep course.
NCRA maintains the definitive list — the shortest and most curated in any HIM specialty. About a dozen schools nationally, many fully online, split between associate degree and certificate programs. Notable options: University of Cincinnati, Charter Oak State College, Rowan College at Burlington County, Santa Barbara City College, and the AHIMA/NCRA CRM Program.
~12 accredited programs nationally.
ACDIS track: CCDS is the inpatient standard; the entry path is the ACDIS Apprenticeship — purchased directly, no school required. AHIMA track: CDIP is the peer credential; AHIMA sells a prep course and book bundle direct to candidates.
Note: CDI is not entry-level. You need a clinical or coding credential first (RN, RHIA, RHIT, CCS), then 2–3 years of CDI experience before sitting for CCDS or CDIP.
The least school-dependent path in HIM. Most billers learn on the job. Formal training comes from the credentialing bodies directly — HFMA sells the CRCR as self-paced coursework, AAPC sells CPB exam prep. Any CAHIIM-accredited HIM degree prepares you for the management ladder.
On-the-job training is most common.
One directory, two degree levels. CAHIIM is the only accreditor that counts here — the RHIT exam requires a CAHIIM-accredited associate's in HIM, the RHIA a CAHIIM-accredited bachelor's or master's (or post-baccalaureate certificate). Filter the directory by degree level and online/on-campus. A general health-administration or informatics degree does not qualify, even from a CAHIIM-accredited school.
Already an RHIT? Many CAHIIM bachelor's programs offer an RHIT-to-RHIA completion track that credits your associate's coursework.
These directories are free to search. None of the links above are affiliate links or paid placements.
All of HIM's major certifications in one table — minimum education, minimum experience, prep time, and exam cost. Numbers reflect the official requirements published by each accrediting body as of 2026.
Swipe or scroll → for all columns
Exam costs reflect member / non-member pricing where applicable. AAPC fees require active AAPC membership ($222/yr). "Proposed" marks the CCHIIM RHIT-to-RHIA pathway, which has no effective date yet. Experience requirements may have alternate pathways; always verify directly with the accrediting body linked in the full path breakdown above.
The question I get asked more than any other is how do I get started? — even when the video I just posted is literally titled "how to get started" and I say the answer out loud in the first fifteen seconds.
I don't think people are being rude. I think the real question underneath is where do I go that isn't a scam? — because the HIM space, like anything with real job outcomes, is surrounded by $5,000 "bootcamps" with zero accreditation and Instagram ads promising six figures in six weeks.
So here's the rule: go to the credentialing body's own website first. AHIMA, AAPC, NCRA, ACDIS, HFMA. They are the nonprofits that issue the credentials employers actually require. Their websites will tell you, for free, exactly what you need to do. Every link on this page goes directly to one of them. Nothing is affiliate-linked. Nothing costs you anything to read.
A field guide published for HIM Week by CODEMED, Inc. — a specialized health information management firm with offices in Dallas and Los Angeles. We staff coders and cancer registrars for health systems, and we run revenue cycle for private practices. Everything on this page is information we wish we'd had when we started.