A Growing Jobs Sector: Health Informatics

“Since the financial crisis of 2008, occupations with growing demand have been few and far between. One category of jobs that has seen significant growth in advertised positions is the field of health care informatics. This bright spot in the economy has gone largely unnoticed in national job reports because of the lack of occupational data about this evolving field—until now.

Using new sources of data mined from online job postings, Burning Glass Technologies...in partnership with the Education Advisory Board... undertook the first-ever examination of emerging jobs in health informatics and the factors propelling recent job growth. This examination revealed new opportunities for education providers in meeting the rising demand for qualified candidates in health informatics—and for individuals seeking to advance their careers in an economy struggling to recover from the deepest recession in recent history” (p. 1). (Abstractor: Author)

“One way to see how these data can be used to identify career advancement paths with high labor market value is to compare the skill and certification requirements of medical records clerk jobs to those of medical coding clerks and specialists. Over 60 percent of medical coder job listings in 2011 explicitly advertised either a requirement or preference for individuals with a formal certification, demonstrating that certification has become a prerequisite for employment in such jobs. The top certifications called for were Registered Health Information Technician and Certified Coding Specialist. In contrast, less than 10 percent of medical records clerk positions required a certification.Comparing advertised skills for medical coder and medical records clerk positions can help identify the skill gaps that medical records clerks would need to fill in order to advance in their field (e.g., knowledge of the international classification of disease—ICD—coding system), as well as the most important skills required to qualify for employment. Detailed analysis of credential and skill requirements also can be used to identify qualifications for emerging jobs, such as clinical documentation and improvement analysts. These positions require clinical experience and/or an advanced degree, with less emphasis on formal certification in health informatics. Over 70 percent of the job listings for these positions called for a Bachelor’s degree or higher and stressed clinical experience (e.g., as a nurse) or knowledge of clinical data practices. Only 31 percent of the job ads for these positions specified a certification related to health information” (pp. 8-9). (Abstractor: Author)

• Last Updated:
• Created:
• Resource Publication Date: 2012
• Author(s): No individual author identified.
• Organizational Author(s): Jobs for the Future; Burning Glass; Credentials That Work
• Funding Source: Self-funded
• Resource Availability: Publicly available
• Posted by: Wesley Peterson
• Posted in: Workforce System Strategies