Introduction
With the development of medical technology, a huge amount of health information is generated, and the importance of medical information among the flood of this information is increasing. Currently, most hospitals in Korea use electronic medical records, and most health information (HI) professionals work in a computerized environment. HI professionals have been playing a key role in improving the quality of healthcare for more than 30 years by collecting, analyzing, and protecting patient health information1.
Accurate, complete clinical data enables healthcare providers to provide higher quality care in an efficient and cost-effective manner2. As the medical environment changes, the capabilities of HI and the expected roles of HI professionals are rapidly changing. To meet these demands, Korea changed the title medical record administrator (MRA) to health information manager (HIM) in 2018. Since 2020, an accreditation system for the education of health information management targeting departments of universities that have HIM training programs has been operated3. As of 2024, 64 universities have been accredited4. So far, 31,890 HIM professionals have been produced in Korea, and they work in medical institutions (88.5 percent), schools and health centers, and government agencies such as the Korea Social Information Protection Agency (11.5 percent)5. This fundamental change suggests that more practical education for computerized data management and use is required to meet industrial needs in Korea6. To provide timely education for future HIMs, we reviewed the capacities required for managers and the priorities of the subjects taught to university students with a survey of HIM specialties.
We also included jobs from a list on a career map of the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) and skills listed in job descriptions in SimplyHired7. We wanted to check how the Korean HIM response to jobs and skills suggested by other countries, especially the US, which has an MOU status with the Korean Health Information Management Association (KHIMA). The purpose of this study is to identify the competency required to nurture competitive HIM professionals by finding out the areas that are expected to grow in the future through a survey of field experts.
Keywords: health information management, education, empowerment
Method
A survey was performed targeting 180 HIMs who attended the 87th KHIMA academic conference on November 27, 2023. Most of the attendees work in hospitals or health-related institutions, including government offices. Similar to US HIMs, Korean HIMs should submit eight hours of continuing education (CE) a year to keep the HIM license, and the attendees can receive six hours of CE from the conference.
The survey title was “a study on training competent health information management professionals.” A Google link for the survey was sent to the conference participants. Among the attendees, 126 HIMs responded to the survey. All the HIMs who responded to the survey have a Korean HIM license and graduated from a college or university that has a HIM education program.
The survey included a total 17 questions and was composed of four sections. Section 1 included five questions to collect information on demographics and work status. Section 2 had four questions about the future leading jobs of HIM professionals. Sections 3 and 4 included eight questions about the level of importance of competence and education subjects. The Korean HIM education programs, the work group and tasks in Korea and the USA were introduced in the survey, and the respondents could choose future leading jobs and required subjects to raise competent HIMs.
A summary of the survey composition is below (Table 1).
Table 1: Survey composition
|
Domain
|
Question
|
|
Ⅰ. Demographics and work status
|
Sex, age, working period, hospital size, responsibility
|
|
Ⅱ. Future leading jobs for HIM
|
-From future leading jobs suggested on the AHIMA website
-From future leading jobs suggested by Korean Accreditation Board for Health & Medical Information Management Education (KAHIME)
-Other opinions
|
|
Ⅲ. Level of importance of competencies to be a capable HIM (among the competencies suggested by KAHIME)
|
- Basic knowledge on health information
- Analysis of medical record information
- Utility of medical information
-Management of health information
|
|
IV. Level of importance of subjects suggested to the students to raise competent HIM
|
- Subjects required to be a competent HIM (current)
- Subjects required to be a competent HIM (for future leading jobs)
- Skills required to be competent HIM (current) among the job descriptions in SimplyHired, US
-Other opinions
|
In section II, the future leading jobs (AHIMA) was derived from the AHIMA career map8 and the future leading occupation was based on jobs suggested by information on the Korean Accreditation of Health Information Management Education program (KAHIME).
In section III, “Level of importance of competencies for HIM,” and the subject in section IV, “Importance levels of education of each subject for HIM” were the competencies also suggested based on KAHIME.
KAHIME established 10 program outcomes (POs) and let the universities that run HIM education programs match the POs to subjects. Most universities have a map that matches the subjects in their curriculum with the Program Outcomes (POs). These maps are usually similar across different universities. The POs suggested by KAHIME and subject mapping are as below (Table 2). This survey was performed on the condition that the attendees recognized the relationships between POs and related subjects.
Table 2: Program outcomes and related subjects (Jaeneung University HIM program 2020-2024)
|
Abbr.
|
Program outcomes
|
Related subjects
|
|
PO1
|
Understand basic knowledge and information technology of HIM and apply to health information management practice.
|
Medical terminology
Anatomy and physiology
Pharmacology, Pathology
|
|
PO2
|
The quality of health information is achieved through data quality management. The classification of diseases and procedures is applied, the code applied correctly, and health information are analyzed for proper case mix.
|
Disease and procedure classification,
Health information management practicum,
Cancer registration
|
|
PO3
|
Transform and analyze health data and information in accordance with various purposes of information use
|
Healthcare database management,
Health and medical statistics
|
|
PO4
|
Understand the factors that influence health information management and reflect changes in related elements in the organization's health information management policy and then manage changes.
|
Health insurance,
Clinical documentation improvement,
Data quality and research support,
Revenue cycle management,
|
|
PO5
|
Understand how to apply health information standards and related information technologies to information systems for generating quality health information.
|
Health information management practicum,
Electronic medical record exchange
|
|
PO6
|
Understand how to communicate effectively in a variety of environments to improve the quality of health information.
|
Communication
Foreign language
|
|
PO7
|
Understand the roles of the health information manager in the organization and team.
|
Health and medical organization management
|
|
PO8
|
Understand the duties, ethics, and social responsibilities of health information managers.
|
Healthcare ethics
Health information management
Health information privacy and security
|
|
PO9
|
Understand the changes in health polices at home and abroad that influence health information management.
|
Healthcare law
Health insurance
|
|
PO10
|
Participate in career development and self-development according to changes in the healthcare, and information technology environment.
|
Foreign language
|
To give some relationships between subjects and future leading jobs, we required the survey respondents to select the subjects needed based on the future leading jobs they selected.
The last subject, “Required skills for Korean HIM among job descriptions,” was derived from the job search engine SimplyHired7. This is because many students are currently interested in working abroad with certifications such as Certified Tumor Registrar (CTR), Registered Health Information Administrator(RHIA), Certified Coding Specialist (CCS), and Certified Coding Specialist-Physician-based(CCS-P).
Ethics
We received IRB approval before the survey and consent from the survey participants.
Results
Respondent analysis
Most of the respondents were female at 93.7 percent. Regarding age, those in their 30s, 40s, and 50s were evenly divided with 27 percent, and those in their 20s was a relatively small percentage at 19.0 percent. As for the work period, the percentage of respondents who worked for more than 20 years was 46 percent, less than 10 years was 35.7 percent, and 10-20 years was 18.3 percent.
Most of the respondents worked in a hospital, and eight were working in a government institution such as a public health center or social information security service. Among the hospital workers, 28.6 percent worked in a hospital with more than 1,000 beds, and the same percentage (32.5 percent) worked in hospitals with less than 500 beds and 500-1,000 beds (Table 3).
Table 3: Demographics and work status
|
Item
|
Description
|
Count
|
Percentage
|
|
Sex
|
Male
|
8
|
6.3
|
|
Female
|
118
|
93.7
|
|
Age
|
20-29
|
24
|
19.0
|
|
30-39
|
34
|
27.0
|
|
40-49
|
34
|
27.0
|
|
50+
|
34
|
27.0
|
|
Working period
(year)
|
<10
|