CHHS News

Darnez Pope, Instructor for the Department of Public Health’s Health Information Management Program, co-authored in a recent publication with Perspectives in Health Information Management, an online research journal. The study, titled “Population Health: Identifying Skill Sets and Education Alignment for HIM Professionals,” included health information management (HIM) educators and healthcare professionals who voluntarily serve as a team under the American Health Information Management Foundation Research Network. The study focused on exploring and defining the roles and skillsets of HIM professionals in the population health workforce. The team identified that most jobs related to population health align with the current HIM curriculum. 

 Population health management has evolved and become primarily data-driven as a result of the effective use of electronic health records and the increased collection and availability of health data. The overall demand for healthcare professionals has a 16% expected employment rate up to the year 2030 according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

 For more information about the Health Information Management Program at WKU, visit: https://www.wku.edu/healthinformationmanagement/index.php.