The medical profession offers many career opportunities for those seeking a rewarding career, and most do not require the many years of study that doctors, nurses and physician assistants must undergo. Earning your RHIT certification is just one option to consider, so here’s a quick look at what these professionals do.
1. What Is A RHIT?
RHIT stands for Registered Health Information Technician, and this is a person tasked with ensuring that medical records are accurate, complete and entered correctly into a hospital or medical facility computer system.
This might simply sound like data entry, but it’s far more complicated than that. In order to improve patient care as well as managing medical costs, collected data is analyzed carefully, and that is part of what a RHIT might do. Additionally, a RHIT is someone who will learn a great deal about medical coding, which is a crucial part of the process.
2. What Is Medical Coding?
In order to standardize care, many different types of codes have been created. In this way, if a patient’s records are transferred to another medical facility or used for a medical study, the codes will provide valuable information about the patient’s medical history.
For instance, there are codes used to classify various diseases, poisons, injuries and surgical procedures via the International Classification of Diseases or ICD. The ICD is updated periodically by the World Health Organization. There are also codes for all the various types of drugs or pharmaceuticals that might be used for a patient, and that’s just a few codes you’ll encounter as a RHIT.
On any given day, a person with RHIT certification will spend their time analyzing patient records and entering details into the computer. This might include everything from the symptoms the patient presented with as well as information about the exam, diagnosis and treatment plan.
3. How Do You Become A RHIT?
In order to earn RHIT certification, you must have earned an associate’s degree in Health Information Management from an accredited educational provider. The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) can provide you with a list of accredited programs, and they are the body that is responsible for issuing RHIT certifications.
Once you have completed your associate’s degree (or higher), you can take the RHIT certification exam. After passing the exam, you will be eligible to work at many types of medical facilities, as well as insurance firms, law firms and pharmaceutical companies.
4. What About RHIA?
A RHIA is a Registered Health Information Administrator, and this is an even more complex job position. Not only will a RHIA have a solid understanding of medical coding and analyzing patient data, this is often a management position and many RHIAs will be in charge of a team of RHITs or other technical support personnel.
For this position, in general, RHIAs will have earned a bachelor’s or master’s degree in Health Information Management in order to qualify to sit for the RHIA exam. So if you currently are a RHIT and wish to move up to RHIA status, consider continuing your education and working toward a bachelor’s degree.
5. Who Is The Ideal RHIT?
If you love facts and figures, enjoy analyzing data and are interested in the medical field, becoming a RHIT can be an excellent option to consider. Registered Health Information Technicians can expect to earn at least $40,000 per year and many earn more than $55,000 per year, so this can be a profitable and rewarding career.
At Sober College, we can provide you with information about RHIT certification, but our main area of concentration is helping our students become drug and alcohol addiction counselors. We have in-class and online programs that will help you complete the requirements to become a CADC (Certified Alcohol & Drug Counselor), which is a rewarding career for anyone who enjoys working with people and wants to help others heal.
To learn more about our programs or to ask a question about RHIT certification, you can head under the Get Started tab on our homepage and select Speak With Someone. This will lead you to a quick contact form, and one of our helpful admission team members can answer your questions. You also can learn more about RHIT certification at http://www.ahima.org/.
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