One of the privileges of my role as CEO is hearing from people who care deeply about health information and the difference it makes to the delivery of quality patient care.
In today’s increasingly complex digital world, our members are working in one of the most challenging healthcare environments in decades.
Health information management professionals protect the integrity of Australia’s investment in health. They turn clinical activity into trusted information, trusted information into safe decisions and reliable funding and reliable information into successful reform.
As technology advances and artificial intelligence brings both opportunities and challenges, health information management professionals are the people asking the practical questions: Can this information be trusted? Does it mean what people think it means? Will it support the right decisions? Their professional judgement and expertise remain essential to the information on which healthcare depends.
Australia spent $270.5 billion on health in 2023–24, with governments funding 69.6 per cent of total expenditure. The integrity of this investment relies on accurate, timely and well-governed health information. The workforce that manages, classifies, assures and translates that information is therefore a system-enabling workforce, not simply an administrative workforce supporting hospitals.
Health information underpins clinical decision-making, patient safety, activity-based funding, health service planning, research, regulation, public health surveillance and evaluation of government investment. Demand for this capability is rising as care expands across hospitals, primary care, aged care, community services, virtual care and home-based models.
At the same time, the sector is managing an ageing population, more chronic and complex disease, workforce constraints, greater interoperability requirements, the introduction of artificial intelligence, heightened privacy and cybersecurity expectations and prospective classification and terminology reform. These pressures increase the consequences of incomplete, delayed or poorly governed information.
HIMAA’s vision is that Australia has a highly regarded, visible, sustainable and appropriately funded health information management workforce, supported by contemporary standards and trusted technology, enabling safe care, accurate funding, increased productivity and successful health system reform.
A foundation worth protecting
For more than 75 years, Health Information Managers have helped HIMAA and the health system adapt to change. They have embraced new systems, developed their skills and upheld the importance of accurate, reliable information throughout that evolution.
We are now asking members to bring that same care and foresight to HIMAA’s future in proposed changes to HIMAA’s Constitution and membership model. At their heart is a simple question: how do we protect what matters about HIMAA while preparing our professional community for the decades ahead?
The proposed new Constitution and membership model goes to a vote at the annual general meeting on November 11. It prioritises HIMAA’s focus on health information management while also recognising three distinct professional streams: Health Information Managers, Clinical Coders and Clinical Documentation Specialists.
These streams have different expertise, professional identities and qualification pathways. Together, their work helps information retain its meaning as it moves from the point of care into systems used for funding, planning, research and decisions about services.
In the proposed Constitution, a new Professional Member category would bring these streams together for membership and governance purposes, with entry pathways meeting the relevant professional standards.
As safeguards to recognise the importance of leadership of the profession, it is proposed that at least half of the Board Directors, and the President, be Health Information Managers.
A stronger voice for the future
Healthcare’s growing reliance on information creates an important opportunity for our professional community. Digital systems can make information more accessible. AI can introduce new ways to analyse and use it. The value of technology will depend on the quality of the information behind it.
We need the people who understand that work to help shape the decisions being made.
A more representative professional association will be able to draw on a wider range of experience when advocating for the workforce, developing education pathways and supporting professional practice. It will help employers and policymakers understand how the different streams contribute, where their expertise is needed and why investing in that expertise matters.
For members, broader participation will strengthen the exchange of knowledge across professional streams.
Over time, I believe this can help us build a more connected community, with a clearer collective voice and greater capacity to influence the future of health information management.
Standards and trust
Recognition carries responsibility. Members need confidence that professional membership rests on clear and credible standards.
Under the proposal, the Constitution will establish the membership framework and its core rights. Detailed eligibility requirements would sit in policy and professional standards.
This would allow those requirements to be reviewed as education and professional practice evolve, without requiring a constitutional amendment for every operational change.
A modern governance framework will give members confidence in how their association is run, alongside meaningful opportunities to contribute to its direction.
Our shared responsibility
HIMAA exists to empower, advocate for and support health information management professionals to contribute to better healthcare through the management and use of information.
We want members to feel their experience is valued, their professional identity is respected and their contribution has a place in our future. I also want practitioners entering our community to see an association in which they can participate and help make a difference.
It is exciting times for HIMAA as we mature our Constitution and membership model, the national Health Information Management Competency and Capability Standards, and our Accreditation Standards; expand our education and certification offerings; develop position statements and profession artefacts to guide professional practice; and continue to welcome people into health information management careers and as members of HIMAA.
Our annual conference takes place in Sydney, October 26 – 28 where the national agenda for health information management and effective health information management practice and outcomes will be showcased. I look forward to meeting many of our community there to take this conversation further.
Viewpoint articles are the author’s opinion, produced without payment or sponsorship.
