Careers in health data

Health information management: careers, courses and pay in Australia

Health information management is the profession that looks after hospital patient records and the coded data built from them: health information managers run health information services, records and data quality, while clinical coders translate each episode of care into standard diagnosis and procedure codes. In Australia there are two main ways in. One is a three-year university degree; the other is the HLT50321 Diploma of Clinical Coding, a 12-month course that prepares you for clinical coding work and, with experience, can lead to senior coder roles.

This guide covers both routes: what the work involves, what it pays, how demand is tracking, and how the degree and the diploma compare for someone choosing a first step.

Health information management in Australia is the professional discipline behind the collection, storage, quality and use of patient health records, and it sits inside health information services in hospitals and other health services. Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA) classifies Health Information Manager as a distinct occupation, OSCA code 223933, and rates the occupation at university qualification level, meaning a bachelor degree or higher (JSA, OSCA 2024, Health Information Manager profile). The 2021 Census counted about 2,400 employed Health Information Managers (JSA, 2021 Census data, same profile).

Day to day, the work combines records management, privacy and data quality with the supervision of clinical coding. Queensland Health describes health information management and clinical coding as one workforce that includes clinical and medical coders, educators and auditors working across its hospitals and health services (Queensland Health, July 2026, health information management and clinical coding careers).

Coded data underpins hospital reporting and funding. Clinical coders apply the Australian clinical coding standards to the episodes of care they process, and health information managers are responsible for the records, systems and staff that make that coding accurate and on time.

The Australian workforce has two main occupations, health information manager and clinical coder, plus specialist roles built on top of them.

The occupation, age, sex and full-time figures come from the JSA occupation profiles for Health Information Manager and Clinical Coder, using 2021 Census data on the OSCA 2024 basis. The three highest education rows come from JSA’s ANZSCO Occupation data, February 2026 (xlsx), also 2021 Census data.

Clinical coding has the more vocational entry profile: JSA rates Clinical Coder at mid-level Vocational Education and Training, a Certificate IV or a Certificate III with at least two years of on-the-job training (JSA, OSCA 2024, Clinical Coder profile), and 17.1% of coders hold an advanced diploma or diploma as their highest qualification (JSA, 2021 Census, ANZSCO Occupation data, February 2026).

Coding also has a career ladder of its own. The Clinical Coders’ Society of Australia (CCSA) practice standards describe higher level duties that would normally be undertaken by an advanced or senior Clinical Coder, including educating, auditing and managing a team of clinical coders (CCSA, undated, About CCSA). Canberra Health Services runs a Clinical Coder Educator/Auditor position that reports to a Clinical Coding Manager and asks for at least three years of recent tertiary hospital coding experience as well as tertiary qualifications in health information management or an equivalent background (Canberra Health Services, undated, position description). Some employers merge the two occupations entirely: Goulburn Valley Health in Victoria classifies a combined Health Information Manager and Clinical Coder role at Grade 1 (Goulburn Valley Health, April 2026, position description).

You can enter health information management through a university degree or through clinical coding, and the practical differences are time, cost basis and first role. Both routes are legitimate; they suit different starting points.

The degree route

For 2027, La Trobe University is the only university found taking new health information management students. Its Bachelor of Health Information Management runs 3 years full time (or part-time equivalent), taught at Melbourne (Bundoora) or online, with 55 days of supervised professional placement and its next intake in Semester 1, March 2027 (La Trobe University, 2027 intake, Bachelor of Health Information Management). Entry is ATAR based: the lowest selection rank at the Melbourne campus was 62.15 (January 2026 ATAR profile), with VCE Units 3 and 4 English as the prerequisite (La Trobe University, 2027 intake, entry requirements).

La Trobe also offers a Master of Health Information Management, 2 years full time, online plus placement or intensive, for applicants who already hold a bachelor degree (La Trobe University, 2027 intake, Master of Health Information Management). La Trobe states that both its HIM courses are accredited by the professional body for health information management in Australia (La Trobe University, 2027 intake, bachelor course and master course).

Elsewhere the landscape has narrowed. QUT wrote in April 2026 that, subject to final approvals, it will discontinue its Bachelor of Health Information Management and teach out current students (QUT, April 2026, letter), and other universities have closed or reshaped their own HIM courses. The health information management degrees guide covers the current landscape in detail.

On cost, the degree sits on a Commonwealth supported place (CSP), with La Trobe’s published indicative fee for the Bachelor of HIM at $9,235 a year at 2027 rates (La Trobe University, 2027, Bachelor of Health Information Management). CSP fees are usually deferred through HECS-HELP (Australian Taxation Office, 2026 to 2027, repayment thresholds).

The clinical coding route

The faster route runs through clinical coding. At TalentMed (RTO 22151), the diploma runs 12 months, self-paced, 100% online, with daily intakes. The HLT50321 Diploma of Clinical Coding at TalentMed has one tuition fee of $4,995 (as at October 2026; see the course page for current fees). Students also need a coding reference: Solventum Codefinder ($495, optional add-on), TurboCoder ($572) or the printed books from the Independent Health and Aged Care Pricing Authority (IHACPA) ($330 plus delivery). Tuition is under $5,000, paid upfront or in instalments.

After the diploma, Queensland Health names the Diploma of Clinical Coding as an entry qualification for its health information management workforce, alongside clinical and medical coders, educators and auditors (Queensland Health, July 2026, health information management and clinical coding careers). A new clinical coder there starts at clinical coder stream grade 2, pay point 1, as the clinical coder career pathway describes, and earns $103,222 a year from 1 September 2026 (Queensland Health, September 2026 rates, clinical coders stream wage rates).

With experience, coders can move into senior coder work, educating, auditing and team leadership, the duties CCSA describes as advanced or senior coder level (CCSA, undated, About CCSA).

How the two routes compare

The degree takes three years and defers its cost through HECS-HELP; the diploma takes 12 months and is paid upfront or in instalments. In Queensland public health the degree leads to the higher entry grade: a new health information manager starts at professional stream grade 3, pay point 1, at $108,091 a year from 1 September 2026 (health information manager career pathway), while a new clinical coder starts at clinical coder stream grade 2, pay point 1, at $103,222 (clinical coder career pathway), both at Queensland Health’s rates from 1 September 2026 (professional stream and clinical coders). That entry gap is small, about 5%.

The two qualifications also point to different first roles: Queensland Health says the health information manager role needs a university degree (Queensland Health, July 2026, health information manager career pathway), while the diploma prepares graduates for the clinical coder first role. The pay picture narrows with experience: every clinical coder grade 3 pay point, from $118,299, sits above the top of professional stream grade 3, $117,991, at Queensland Health’s rates from 1 September 2026 (Queensland Health, September 2026, clinical coders stream and professional stream). In NSW the entry gap is about 2% to 4% by experience level (NSW Health award tables, July 2026, Administrative Staff Award and Health Professional Salaries Award).

Pay depends on state, employer and grade. Award tables show health information management paying a little more at like-for-like entry, while SEEK’s advertised averages show a wider gap, and in Queensland Health’s own tables senior coding pay points overlap or pass some HIM grades.

SEEK’s advertised salary averages, refreshed 1 October 2026, put Clinical Coder jobs at $75,000 to $95,000 a year and Health Information Manager jobs at $95,000 to $110,000 a year (SEEK, October 2026, clinical coder salary and health information manager salary). Advertised averages mix grades and states, so treat them as a broad indicator only.

Public-sector award rates are the more precise comparison:

Sources: SEEK (October 2026) as above; Queensland Health wage rate tables (clinical coders, professional stream, 1 September 2026); NSW Health award tables (Administrative Staff Award and Health Professional Salaries Award, 1 July 2026).

Two cautions on that table. First, NSW awards do not use the title Health Information Manager; Medical Records Administrator is the closest classification (Health Professional Salaries (State) Award), and NSW maps coders to Administration Officer levels by recommendation rather than mandate (NSW Health, 2019 information bulletin, IB2019_021). Second, JSA’s May 2025 medians put unit group 2242, which contains health information managers, at $2,279 a week and unit group 5999, which contains clinical coders, at $1,590 a week (JSA, May 2025 data, unit group 2242 and unit group 5999). Both are broad unit groups with HIMs and coders as small slices, so the weekly figures are context, not a pay gap between the two occupations.

For the full breakdown by state and grade, see the health information manager salary guide.

Comparing the two comes down to what you pay for, when you pay it and where each qualification can take you. These are different levels of qualification, a bachelor degree and a diploma, and they are paid in different ways, so the costs are not a like-for-like cash comparison: the degree’s CSP fees are usually deferred through HECS-HELP (Australian Taxation Office, 2026 to 2027, repayment thresholds), while the diploma fee is paid upfront or in instalments (TalentMed, October 2026, course page).

Sources: La Trobe University (2027 intake, course page); TalentMed (October 2026, HLT50321 course page); Queensland Health (September 2026, clinical coders stream and professional stream).

For a longer treatment, including which route suits which starting point, see the health information management versus clinical coding comparison.

Demand is strongest on the clinical coding side: Clinical Coder is on the national shortage list and Health Information Manager is not. Jobs and Skills Australia’s 2025 Occupation Shortage List, the latest published as at 10 October 2026 (Occupation Shortage List page), rates Clinical Coder as in shortage nationally and in every state and territory (2025 Occupation Shortage List), while Health Information Manager is recorded as not in shortage nationally or anywhere else.

On the job boards, a SEEK keyword search on 10 October 2026 at 09:45 AEDT returned 24 “clinical coder” jobs and 8 “health information manager” jobs across Australia, and only 4 of those 8 results carried HIM job titles (SEEK, snapshot 10 October 2026, clinical coder jobs and health information manager jobs). Single-day keyword counts overstate real vacancies, but the gap between the two figures is consistent with the shortage list.

On projections, JSA expects employment in the unit group that contains health information managers to grow 17.3% by 2030 and 29.1% by 2035, with the clinical coder group growing 4.1% by 2030 and 10.6% by 2035 (Jobs and Skills Australia, projections from May 2025 to May 2035, employment projections). These projections cover broad unit groups, so read them as broad direction only, not a forecast for either job title.

For a career changer, the trade-off is the one the figures above describe: a small, graduate-entry HIM labour market beside a coding side in national shortage. See the health information manager jobs guide for where the roles appear.

Each of these guides goes deeper on one part of the field.

Salary detail lives in the health information manager salary guide, which breaks down award rates, advertised averages and what each grade means in practice.

For a fuller comparison of the two occupations, the health information management versus clinical coding comparison works through duration, cost, entry and first role in detail.

If the degree path appeals, start with how to become a health information manager for the step-by-step path.

The current university landscape, including which courses have closed, is covered in the health information management degrees guide.

For where health information manager roles appear and how the job market is tracking, see the health information manager jobs guide.

Study options at every level, from single units to postgraduate courses, are covered in the health information management courses guide.

On the coding side, start at the clinical coding hub, then read what is a clinical coder and how to become a clinical coder, and compare study options in the clinical coding course guide. The course itself is the HLT50321 Diploma of Clinical Coding, and remote clinical coding covers remote coding work in more detail.

For pay, entry-level roles, progression and the professional community, see the clinical coder salary guide, the trainee clinical coder guide, the clinical coding career pathway, the clinical coding jobs guide, the clinical coder career progression guide and the Clinical Coders’ Society of Australia overview.

And if you are a school leaver weighing up health careers, alternatives to a nursing degree for school leavers puts health information careers in a broader context.