The health industry has always strived to improve its services and spur rapid evolution. Because of the increased job growth, healthcare has integrated technology into its daily functions. This innovation has generated a significant amount of data that requires proper handling, storage, management, and analysis. With these changes, two disciplines emerged to leverage all that data: health informatics (HI) and health information management (HIM).
It is common to perceive both terms as the same job with two distinct names. While it is true that health informatics and health information management share similar duties concerning healthcare data, they each possess apparent differences.
Keep reading to understand more about health informatics vs health information management.
Health Informatics (HI)
This is where computer science, information science, and healthcare meet. This profession focuses on the science of how to utilize data and knowledge for the improvement of human health and healthcare services. The duties of a health information professional include creating and maintaining systems designed to make information travel, create security systems, and analyze patient data and images for treatment plans.
What Kind Of Jobs Are Under Health Informatics?
A career in health informatics would involve many theories and methods from the computer, information, and health sciences. A level of knowledge with regards to technology is required to work in this particular field, as HI professionals will be tasked to create and design information systems for better patient care. Some health informatics titles are:
- Health Informatics Specialist
- Medical and Health Services Manager
- Clinical Analyst
- Clinical Informatics Manager
- Systems/ Database/Data Analyst
Health Information Management (HIM)
While health informatics analyzes the data for utilization, health information management deals with organizing and managing patient data from medical records. Professionals in this field will chiefly focus on the needed information technology for accurate and secure storage and retrieval of healthcare data. Moreover, they oversee the management of processes and the people involved.
What Kind Of Jobs Are Under Health Information Management?
Other than storing and organizing data, health information management roles also deal with compliance requirements with government patient data regulations, insurance reimbursement, and information systems maintenance. They will need a deep understanding of computer and healthcare-related data and terminologies, healthcare processes, and computer and paper-based data management. Some of these jobs include:
- Compliance Officer
- Data Quality Manager
- Medical Records Manager
- Health Information Management Directors
- Medical Coder
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