A health information technician (HIT) compiles, processes and maintains patient records: keeping medical files complete and confidential, retrieving them for insurance reimbursement and data analysis — and some of these roles also classify patient information into the healthcare coding system.
In O*NET's sample of reported job titles, the HIT title sits alongside health information specialist, medical records clerk and HIM clerk.
This guide covers the duties, the RHIT credential, education, remote work, pay and the career path.
What does a health information technician do?
The occupation O*NET files the title under is medical records specialists (SOC 29-2072).
BLS defines it as workers who compile, process and maintain patient files and may classify and enter patients' medical information into the healthcare coding system.
O*NET's sample of reported job titles for the occupation includes Health Information Technician, Health Information Specialist, HIM Clerk, Medical Records Clerk, Coder and Medical Coder — one occupation, several reported titles.
Typical duties BLS and O*NET list for the group include:
- Reviewing patient records for timeliness, completeness and accuracy, and using classification systems to assign clinical codes for diagnoses, procedures and services.
- Maintaining and retrieving records for insurance reimbursement and data analysis.
- Electronically recording data for collection, storage, analysis, retrieval and reporting.
- Ensuring the confidentiality of patients' records.
- Releasing information to persons or agencies according to regulations.
On security, O*NET rates protecting the security of medical records to maintain confidentiality as the occupation's top core task.
Coding-adjacent work sits inside the same occupation.
O*NET lists assigning patients to diagnosis-related groups (DRGs) with computer software, and resolving conflicting, missing or unclear codes or diagnoses by consulting doctors or in coding-team meetings.
BLS says medical records specialists also meet with healthcare workers, such as registered nurses, to clarify diagnoses or get additional information.
Release-of-information (ROI) staff work on a federal clock.
Under the HIPAA right of access, the HHS privacy regulation at 45 CFR 164.524 requires a covered entity to act on an individual's request for access no later than 30 days after receipt.
The same rule allows an extension of no more than 30 days, subject to conditions.
It is detail work with plenty of conversation: in O*NET's work-context data, 79% of medical records specialists report having telephone conversations every day, and 78% rate being exact or accurate as extremely important.
BLS calls it one of the few health-related occupations with no direct hands-on patient care.
RHIT vs uncredentialed health information roles
Registered Health Information Technician (RHIT) is a credential from AHIMA — a global nonprofit association of health information professionals by its own description, with more than 67,000 members and more than 100,000 credentials in the field.
The RHIT is a professional credential from AHIMA, not a government license.
To sit for the RHIT exam, AHIMA requires candidates to complete the academic requirements, at the associate-degree level, of a Health Information Management (HIM) program accredited by CAHIIM.
AHIMA currently accepts only HIM degree programs for the RHIT — health informatics programs are not supported for the exam.
The exam itself has 150 questions, 130 of them scored and 20 pretest items, with three hours and thirty minutes allowed.
AHIMA's fee is $229 for members and $299 for non-members, as of October 13, 2026.
Certified RHITs keep the credential by earning a specified number of CEUs in each two-year certification cycle.
AHIMA counted 26,128 certified RHIT professionals as of December 31, 2025.
The credential is not the only route in: BLS says a high school diploma plus healthcare experience is enough for some medical records positions, while others require a postsecondary certificate or an associate's or bachelor's degree.
Certification sits on top: BLS says it may be required or preferred for medical records specialists, and that employers may prefer certified specialists or expect applicants to earn certification shortly after being hired.
In practice, the RHIT marks the coursework route into HIM work: AHIMA ties eligibility to completing an accredited HIM program's academic requirements, while BLS says some records positions qualify on a high school diploma plus healthcare experience instead.
Coding-heavy titles have their own credential track at AAPC, whose CPC validates comprehensive knowledge of medical coding across outpatient and physician services.
Confirm RHIT details with AHIMA
Where health information technicians work
Hospitals anchor both BLS groups that cover this work.
For medical records specialists, BLS's largest employer categories in 2025 were hospitals (28%), offices of physicians (18%), professional, scientific and technical services (10%), administrative and support services (8%) and management of companies (7%).
The analyst-and-registrar group skews even more toward hospitals: health information technologists and medical registrars held about 42,000 jobs in 2025, with hospitals employing 46% and offices of physicians 10%.
Beyond hospitals and physician offices, AAPC lists ambulatory surgery centers, walk-in clinics, long-term care, home health agencies, hospice, telehealth companies, labs and imaging centers among the employers of billing and coding staff.
AAPC also lists employers away from patient care: software and DME vendors, insurance companies, government agencies, educational institutions, billing companies, risk adjustment vendors, healthcare consulting firms and some law offices.
Federal hiring runs through its own classification system.
OPM's Medical Records Technician series covers federal positions that review, analyze, code, abstract and compile medical records data.
In that series, Medical Records Clerk is the title for nonsupervisory GS-3 and GS-4 positions, and Medical Records Technician applies at GS-5 and above.
Schedules follow the facility.
Most medical records specialists work full time, BLS says, and in always-open facilities such as hospitals they may work shifts, including nights or weekends.
What education does a health information technician need?
Entry requirements vary by position.
BLS says medical records specialists typically need a postsecondary certificate to enter the occupation, although some qualify with a high school diploma and others need an associate's or bachelor's degree.
A high school diploma plus healthcare experience is enough for some medical records positions, BLS says.
In its Employment Projections table, BLS lists a postsecondary nondegree award as the typical entry education for the occupation.
Community colleges and technical schools offer the certificate and associate programs.
BLS says these programs typically include medical terminology, health data requirements and standards, and classification and coding systems.
The RHIT route is more specific.
AHIMA requires completion of the academic requirements of a CAHIIM-accredited HIM program at the associate-degree level, and it does not currently accept health informatics degrees for the exam.
The analyst-level group usually starts higher: BLS says health information technologists and medical registrars typically need at least an associate's degree, and some positions require a bachelor's or master's degree.
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Remote health information jobs
The AAPC survey numbers show how much changed after 2020.
AAPC says that before 2020, only 30% to 33% of its salary-survey respondents worked remotely, and that remote roles used to be reserved for the most experienced employees.
In AAPC's 2025 salary survey, 64.8% of respondents reported working fully remote, 19.8% fully on-site and 15.4% hybrid.
Those shares describe AAPC's survey respondents — self-selected, mostly AAPC members in billing and coding work — not the share of job postings that are remote, which our research did not quantify.
On the health information side, AHIMA's workforce policy statement says rural, urban, underserved and critical access hospitals often cannot pay and retain HI professionals compared with higher-income settings, and that remote work has exacerbated the problem.
In AHIMA and NORC's 2023 workforce survey, lack of flexibility for remote or hybrid positions was the most impactful driver of HI turnover for 21% of respondents.
The same survey found 40% of respondents saying their organizations increased the number of remote workers to address recruitment problems.
Remote HIM work sits inside federal security rules.
The HIPAA Security Rule requires policies covering the proper functions, manner of performance and physical surroundings of workstations that access electronic PHI.
The same rule requires physical safeguards that restrict workstation access to authorized users, and a security awareness and training program for the whole workforce.
Health information technician pay
BLS reports wages for occupations.
O*NET's sample of reported job titles for medical records specialists (SOC 29-2072), a broader group that also includes medical coders and records staff who do not code, includes Health Information Technician.
Their median annual wage was $51,140 in May 2025, with the lowest-paid 10% earning less than $37,000 and the highest-paid 10% more than $81,150.
Health information technologists and medical registrars (SOC 29-9021) are the closest available group for HIT pay; the group also covers analyst and registrar roles.
Their median annual wage was $68,020 in May 2025, with the lowest 10% earning less than $39,830 and the highest 10% more than $117,420.
The HIT salary page shows the BLS national median for that closest available group (SOC 29-9021) as a benchmark to use before an interview or a raise conversation.
Health information technician career path
Entry runs through the education routes above — a postsecondary certificate or associate degree, or a high school diploma plus healthcare experience for some records positions.
Demand is the backdrop for the ladder.
BLS projects medical records specialist employment to grow 8% from 2025 to 2035, much faster than the average for all occupations, with about 14,000 openings a year.
Health information technologists and medical registrars are projected to grow 16% over the same decade, with about 3,000 openings a year.
BLS's Employment Projections table shows the group going from 42,000 jobs in 2025 to 48,600 in 2035.
BLS ties the technologist growth to the growing volume of electronic health information that must be analyzed.
It also expects more medical records specialists to be needed to translate patient information and services into standardized codes for insurance reimbursement, citing an aging population and more chronic conditions.
Employers feel the pressure.
In AHIMA's 2023 workforce survey, run with NORC and about 2,500 respondents, 66% of health information professionals reported persistent staffing shortages at their workplaces over the previous two years.
The same survey found 83% of respondents seeing unfilled HI positions increase or persist at their organizations over the past year.
Advancement has a defined shape.
BLS says medical records specialists may advance to health information technologist or medical registrar roles, or to medical and health services manager roles, after completing a higher certification program or earning a degree in health information technology.
Requirements vary by facility.
The technologist work BLS describes abstracts, collects and analyzes clinical data and helps design and develop electronic healthcare systems.
Advancement can carry an education trigger: BLS says employers may require health information technologists seeking to advance to hold a higher-level certification or a bachelor's or master's degree in HIM or a related field.
Health information technologists and medical registrars sometimes advance to become medical and health services managers.
Health information managers sit in that manager group (SOC 11-9111), which covers healthcare managers broadly.
BLS describes them as ensuring patient-record databases are complete, accurate and accessible only to authorized personnel.
The manager group's median annual wage was $123,860 in May 2025.
BLS lists a bachelor's degree plus less than 5 years of related work experience as the typical entry requirements for it.
BLS publishes no wage line for the HIM-director title itself.
OPM's classification standard notes that while medical records administrators manage most records departments, in some facilities an experienced medical records technician may head the department.
When you are ready to look, open HIT jobs are listed on the job board.
Career information, not coding, billing-compliance, legal or tax advice — confirm credential, exam and program details with AHIMA, CAHIIM and each school, and pay data with BLS.