I am an HIM Educator. How can I train my coding staff and students?

3 min read

According to the 2020 December issue of Perspectives in Health Information Management, now is a critical time for Health Information Management (HIM) educational alignment to meet the increased needs of population health. The effective use of Electronic Health Records (EHRs) and capturing accurate clinical data through medical coding can drive improvements in population health and community care. Providing the proper education and training for Health Information (HI) professionals is critical in supporting these efforts.  

Furthermore, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects that employment of medical records specialists is projected to grow 9 percent from 2023 to 2033, which is faster than the average for all occupations. Given that there is a growing prevalence of chronic conditions, such as heart disease, and diabetes, more medical records specialists are needed to translate those conditions into standardized codes.  

Medical coding is a core component of any HIM program. In this blog post, we will focus exclusively on building courses to help HI professionals teach coding classification systems. 

What is an HIM educator?

An HIM Educator has the important role of training and teaching the future of the HI field. The scope of this job is wide and encompasses many responsibilities, including, but not limited to:

• Training staff to correctly implement HIM protocols;
• Researching methods to improve data collection and management;
• Collaborating with providers to improve clinical documentation and data collection;
• Improve the quality, quantity and usefulness of an organization’s data.

HIM Educators are vital to the everyday operations of the health care field.  

How do I become an HIM educator?

To become an HIM educator, you will need a bachelor’s degree in health information management or a related field. This training will teach you skills in health care information technology (IT) and compliance that will serve as the basis for your HIM Educator role.  

I am now an HIM educator? How do I train my coding staff and students?

Congratulations! You are ready to train others on how to correctly use health care data.  

The AHA Central Office is committed to promoting and coordinating educational programs on the use of ICD-10 and has been publishing an ICD-10 medical coding handbook since 2012. The most current edition, the 2025 ICD-10-CM and ICD-10-PCS Coding Handbook, includes over 138 in-chapter exercises totaling over 1,000 questions. These exercises serve to reinforce students' learning and understanding of the concepts. The Handbook is available in two versions: With Answers and Without Answers, and can be purchased as a hard copy, PDF or ePub.  

For the 2025 Edition, all in-chapter exercises are now available in a Learning Management System-compatible (LMS-compatible) test bank so you can easily create exam questions, assessments and learning games for your students. The test bank questions and answers are currently available for the following systems: 

• Blackboard
• D2L
• Moodle
• Canvas 

We've also created plain text files for every exercise so you can easily import them directly into your LMS.  

Thank you for considering using the AHA's ICD-10-CM and ICD-10-PCS Coding Handbook to help educate the future of the medical coding field. If you have any questions about the new product, please contact us.  

Resources

1. Houser, S. H., Flite, C. A., Foster, S. L., Hunt, T. J., Kinnerson, L., Palmer, M. N., Peterson, J., Pope, R. D., & Sorensen, L. (2020). Population Health: Identifying Skill Sets and Education Alignment for HIM Professionals. Perspectives in health information management, 18(Winter), 1m.
2. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Medical Records Specialists, 
   at https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/medical-records-and-health-information-technicians.htm (visited October 24, 2024).
3. Herzing University, Health Information Management Skills: Key Skills You Need in HIM, at https://www.herzing.edu/skills/health-information-management (visited November 22, 2024).