Skills
Health Information Technologist Skills & Tools
The technical skills, people skills and tools employers look for in health information technologists, and how to build and show them.
Health Information Technologists need technical skills such as health information management, ehr systems, and hipaa and privacy, plus people skills like attention to detail and integrity. They also use tools such as Electronic health records and Encoder software.
Technical (hard) skills
- Health information management
- EHR systems
- HIPAA and privacy
- Medical terminology
- Data analysis
- Registry abstracting
People (soft) skills
- Attention to detail
- Integrity
- Organization
- Communication
Tools, equipment and technology
- Electronic health records
- Encoder software
- Registry software
- Spreadsheets
- Data analytics tools
- Release-of-information systems
Skills in action: common tasks
These step-by-step guides show how health information technologists put their skills to work:
How to show these skills on a resume
- Lead your skills section with the technical skills from the job posting, for example, “Health information management” and “EHR systems.”
- Prove soft skills with results: instead of listing “attention to detail,” describe a situation where you used it.
- List credentials such as RHIT (AHIMA) near the top, with the issuing organization and date.
- Use the employer’s vocabulary. Our health information technologist glossary covers the terms hiring managers expect.
How to build these skills
Formal training, supervised practice and certification are the most direct routes. Our Health Information Technologist training introduces each of these skills with plain-language lessons, procedures and a final knowledge check: a strong foundation before hands-on training or your first day.