Health information technicians generally work in hospitals, HMOs
or clinics where they organize and evaluate patient health
records. They review the patients' records to make sure they are
correct and accurate. Then they code patient data according to a
system that gives a number to symptoms, disease, diagnoses,
surgery, treatments and medications. In hospitals or large
clinics, health information technicians supervise medical coders
who usually do this task. Using this coded information, health
information technicians provide administrators with reports and
health statistics that help them evaluate and plan hospital
programs. This information is also used by insurance companies
and government agencies to keep track of how hospitals and
doctors are providing care to patients. Many health information
technicians work as managers, supervising other medical records
department employees such as medical records clerks,
transcriptionists and coders. They must know coding system
regulations and understand payment pr