National Survey on Doctoral-Level Education in Health Information Management: Perceptions and Rationale

The purpose of this survey was to understand the perceptions and educational goals of the health information management (HIM) workforce in regard to pursuing doctoral-level degrees.

Survey data were collected from members of the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) to gain further insight into their interest in pursuing a doctoral degree, their reasons for obtaining such a degree, their methods of learning, and their financial support for an advanced degree. Descriptive characteristics were collected from AHIMA profile information.

A total of 13,020 surveys were electronically sent to selected AHIMA members, of which 1,453 were returned, for an 11 percent response rate. Of the 651 respondents who indicated that they were interested in obtaining a doctoral-level degree, close to half would like to start their doctoral-level study in the next one to five years.

This research points to recommendations for efforts to increase student funding opportunities, to increase the number of accredited HIM schools/programs, to create opportunities for doctoral-level study in HIM, to offer options for blended online learning, and to increase the number of doctorally prepared and qualified HIM faculty.