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Major · Health Professions

A bachelor’s-tier credential ladder gated by RHIA licensure

Health Information/Medical Records Administration (CIP 51.0706) prepares students to design and manage the systems hospitals use to collect, secure, and analyze patient data. About 1,511 students complete it across 132 institutions, with bachelor’s graduates earning around $60,828 and associate’s graduates around $40,664.

Schools offering
132
Annual completions
1,511
Typical degree level
Associate's + Bachelor's
Median earnings (5yr)
$50k

About this major

Health Information/Medical Records Administration (CIP 51.0706) prepares students to plan, design, and manage the systems that collect, store, secure, retrieve, analyze, and transmit medical records across hospitals and clinical organizations. Coursework draws on biomedical and clinical sciences, information technology, database management, clinical research methods, legal requirements (HIPAA, release-of-information rules), and the office-management side of running a hospital HIM department. Bachelor’s programs add health-data analytics, revenue-cycle administration, EHR governance, and supervisory practice; associate’s programs lean toward records management and coding fundamentals.

The major fits students who like the data-and-systems side of healthcare without wanting to deliver clinical care directly. Comfort with privacy law, a tolerance for detailed documentation work, and an interest in how hospitals actually run — billing, compliance, audits, EHR rollouts — all help. The thinking style rewarded here is procedural and audit-minded: tracing how a chart moves from intake through coding through billing through release.

Across 132 institutions, 1,511 students complete the major in a typical year, with the credential ladder doing most of the framing. Bachelor’s graduates earn a median of $60,828 and typically sit for AHIMA’s RHIA exam, while associate’s graduates earn $40,664 and typically sit for the RHIT exam. Named labor-market destinations include health information technologists and medical registrars ($67,310, 14.7% growth) and medical records specialists ($50,250, 7.1% growth), with medical and health services managers ($117,960) sitting as a mid-career outcome rather than a first job.

Section 3 · Careers

Where this major leads

Occupations most often associated with this major, from the federal BLS+O*NET crosswalk. Job-growth projections and median wages are national.

Occupation Median wage Job growth Typical education
Medical and health services managers $118k +23.2% Bachelor's degree
Medical records specialists $50k +7.1% Postsecondary nondegree award
Health information technologists and medical registrars $67k +14.7% Associate's degree
Section 4 · Earnings

Earnings at a glance

Median graduate earnings from the federal College Scorecard, 5 and 10 years out.

Median 5-year earnings

$50k

Associate's vs Bachelor's — early-career earnings

Associate's

$41k

Bachelor's

$61k

Who this major is for

You may thrive here if you’re drawn to the data-and-systems side of healthcare but don’t want a clinical-care role, you’re comfortable working inside detailed regulation (HIPAA, release-of-information rules, audit trails), you’re planning to sit for AHIMA’s RHIA exam at the bachelor’s tier or RHIT at the associate’s tier and treat the credential as the gateway, you read the $60,828 bachelor’s median and $40,664 associate’s median as fair compensation for office-based hospital work, and you’re open to an online or hybrid program structure that fits a working-adult schedule.

Think twice if you’re aiming directly at the medical and health services manager role at $117,960 — that destination requires years of HIM experience, not an entry hire from this major. Reconsider if computer-assisted coding and automated indexing make you uneasy, since the entry tier of records work is the part most exposed to automation and the durable bachelor’s roles are shifting toward audit, governance, and analytics. Pause if you want patient-facing clinical work, since this major’s daily reality is records, systems, compliance, and meetings. Verify CAHIIM accreditation at any program you’re evaluating, because RHIA and RHIT exam eligibility depends on it.

Section 6 · Where to study

Top colleges for Health Information/Medical Records Administration/Administrator

Ranked by annual completions at the associate's or bachelor's level — a proxy for program scale.

College Location Assoc. Bach. Total
Western Governors University Salt Lake City, UT 0 313 313
Capella University Minneapolis, MN 0 59 59
Southwest University at El Paso El Paso, TX 55 0 55
Weber State University Ogden, UT 0 48 48
Purdue University Global West Lafayette, IN 0 47 47
University of Washington-Seattle Campus Seattle, WA 0 44 44
University of Central Florida Orlando, FL 0 40 40
CUNY Graduate School and University Center New York, NY 0 31 31
Ohio State University-Main Campus Columbus, OH 0 26 26
University of Illinois Chicago Chicago, IL 0 26 26
Section 7 · Explore sideways

Related majors to explore

Health/Health Care Administration/Management

13,592 completions/yr

Medical Insurance Specialist/Medical Biller

5,266 completions/yr

Health Information/Medical Records Technology/Technician

3,421 completions/yr

Medical Administrative/Executive Assistant and Medical Secretary

3,317 completions/yr

Hospital and Health Care Facilities Administration/Management

2,279 completions/yr

Health and Medical Administrative Services, Other

1,950 completions/yr

Medical Insurance Coding Specialist/Coder

1,539 completions/yr

Medical Office Management/Administration

1,034 completions/yr

Considering this direction?

We've taken a hard look at the debt, earnings trajectory, and degree-level tradeoffs for the Health Information/Medical Records Administration/Administrator field. Read our verdict before you commit.

Is Health Information/Medical Records Administration/Administrator worth it? Read verdict
Section 9 · Frequently asked

Common questions

What do Health Information Administration majors actually study?
The CIP definition centers on planning, designing, and managing systems that collect, store, secure, retrieve, analyze, and transmit medical records. Coursework spans biomedical and clinical sciences, information technology, database management, clinical research methods, legal requirements (HIPAA), and office management. Bachelor’s programs add health-data analytics, revenue-cycle administration, EHR governance, and supervisory practice. The applied side runs through clinical practicums in hospital HIM departments.
Bachelor’s or associate’s — which version of this major should you pick?
The credential ladder splits cleanly. The associate’s typically prepares graduates for AHIMA’s RHIT exam and analyst-tier roles, with median earnings around $40,664. The bachelor’s typically prepares graduates for AHIMA’s RHIA exam and supervisory or administration-track roles, with median earnings around $60,828 — a roughly $20,000 premium that reflects the licensure step and the wider scope of the bachelor’s curriculum.
What jobs do graduates actually land?
Three named destinations sit on the data sheet. Health information technologists and medical registrars earn $67,310 with 14.7% projected growth and an associate’s typical entry. Medical records specialists earn $50,250 with 7.1% growth. Medical and health services managers earn $117,960 with 23.2% growth, but that is a mid-career outcome reached after years of HIM experience — not an entry role. Realistic first jobs are HIM analyst, EHR specialist, release-of-information coordinator, or compliance auditor.
How is this different from medical coding?
Medical Insurance Coding Specialist (CIP 51.0713, 1,539 completions) is a coding-specific certificate or associate’s focused on assigning ICD-10 and CPT codes from clinical documentation. Health Information Administration is broader — it covers coding fundamentals but also data governance, EHR systems, compliance, and team management. The two pathways converge at the RHIT exam but diverge sharply above it: only the bachelor’s sits for RHIA and opens the administration track.
How is automation reshaping this field?
Computer-assisted coding, automated record indexing, and robotic process automation are absorbing many transactional records tasks that used to anchor entry roles. The bachelor’s-tier value is shifting toward audit, governance, data-quality oversight, analytics, and compliance — work that interprets system output rather than producing it. Job growth still reads positive (14.7% for health information technologists), but the durable roles are the ones above the automation line.
Where do most students earn this degree?
Online and hybrid bachelor’s programs dominate the top of the institution list. Western Governors University leads with 313 bachelor’s completions, followed by Capella University (59), Purdue University Global (47), and a residential cohort at Weber State (48), University of Washington-Seattle (44), and University of Central Florida (40). Southwest University at El Paso is the largest associate’s producer at 55. The mix reflects a working-adult student profile pursuing the credential alongside a job.