HIM degrees explained

Health information management degrees in Australia: what is open in 2027

A health information management degree is still available in Australia. For 2027, La Trobe University is the only university taking new students into a bachelor or master of health information management. Queensland University of Technology (QUT) is discontinuing its bachelor, subject to final approvals, and teaching out current students, while Curtin University, Western Sydney University and the University of Tasmania (UTAS) have already closed or replaced their courses.

The courses still open for 2027

La Trobe University is the only Australian university taking new students into a health information management degree for 2027, at both bachelor and master level. Its 2027 course pages show the Bachelor of Health Information Management as a three-year, multi-mode degree at Melbourne (Bundoora) or online, including 55 days of supervised professional placement, and the Master of Health Information Management as a two-year online degree. La Trobe states on both course pages that each course is accredited by the national professional body for health information management (La Trobe University, 2027 intake).

Which courses have closed or are closing?

QUT is discontinuing its Bachelor of Health Information Management, subject to final approvals, and teaching out current students. In a letter to members of the profession dated 21 April 2026, QUT wrote that it will discontinue the course, with a proposed Graduate Certificate in Health Information Management (AQF 8) as the replacement pathway (QUT letter, April 2026). No QUT course page for that graduate certificate could be found as at 10 October 2026, and QUT’s own bachelor course page now returns a not-found message (QUT, checked October 2026).

The other three courses have already closed or been replaced. Curtin University’s Bachelor of Health Sciences offers two majors, Health Promotion and Health Services, with no health information management major (Curtin University, 2026). Open Universities Australia lists the University of Tasmania’s Master of Health Information Management as no longer offered, with the last intake shown in 2024, and UTAS course pages return not-found errors (Open Universities Australia, checked October 2026). Western Sydney University’s former Bachelor of ICT (Health Information Management) now redirects to a general information and communications technology degree, with coding content folded into a health informatics major (Western Sydney University, checked October 2026; 2027 handbook).

What does the CRICOS register show?

Only three courses named Health Information Management appear in the Commonwealth’s CRICOS register, which lists courses open to overseas students: the QUT bachelor and the two La Trobe courses. No graduate certificate or graduate diploma of health information management appeared in the registers and course lists checked as at October 2026 (Department of Education CRICOS register, 2026).

For the occupation behind the degree, start with our overview of health information management.

Bachelor entry: duration, rank and prerequisites

Only one bachelor of health information management is still open to new students: La Trobe’s, which takes three years full-time, or the part-time equivalent, with the next start in Semester 1, March 2027 (Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre (VTAC) code 2100312231 for a Commonwealth supported place, CSP) (La Trobe University, 2027 intake). Delivery is multi-mode at Melbourne (Bundoora) or online, and the course includes 55 days of supervised professional placement. Entry in the January 2026 ATAR profile sat at a lowest selection rank of 62.15 at Bundoora; no rank is published for the online mode (La Trobe University, January 2026 profile). Victorian school leavers need a study score of at least 25 in VCE Units 3 and 4 English, or at least 30 for English as an Additional Language (La Trobe University, 2027 intake).

What the bachelor costs

Student contributions are set per unit of study by field of education, not per course, so a degree can mix bands (Department of Education, Study Assist, 2026 to 2027). In the Department of Education’s CRICOS register, both La Trobe courses are classified as field 069999, Health not elsewhere classified, in the 2026 band with a maximum student contribution of $9,537 per full-time year (Department of Education, 2026 rates), rising to $9,880 for 2027 (Study Assist, 2027). No official classification names health information management as a field, and individual units can be coded to other fields with higher caps, so treat these figures as a guide, not a quote (Department of Education, 2026).

La Trobe’s 2027 course page shows an indicative CSP fee of $9,235 per 120 credit points, the full-time annual load (La Trobe University, 2027). Three full-time years on that rate come to roughly $27,705 before indexation and unit-mix changes.

Master entry and pathway

La Trobe’s Master of Health Information Management takes two years full-time, or the part-time equivalent, is delivered online with placement or intensive components, and starts in March 2027 (La Trobe University, 2027 intake). Entry requires an Australian bachelor degree or equivalent. Applicants who have not studied anatomy and physiology must complete a self-funded bridging course in those areas first (La Trobe University, 2027). A Queensland health information management workforce taskforce, reported in QUT’s April 2026 letter, also named clearer postgraduate progression pathways, especially for clinical coders, as a priority (QUT letter, April 2026).

What the master costs

Published 2027 fees per 120 credit points, the full-time annual load, are a standard full fee of $33,400, an indicative CSP contribution of $11,145, and a full fee of $26,720 with postgraduate fee support, for which eligibility conditions apply (La Trobe University, 2027). Across two full-time years, those figures come to $66,800 at the standard full fee, about $22,290 at the indicative CSP rate, or $53,440 with fee support. The Department of Education sets the 2027 maximum student contribution for the band the courses are assumed to sit in at $9,880 (Study Assist, 2027). At $11,145, La Trobe’s indicative CSP rate sits above that maximum, which suggests some of the master’s units fall in higher bands; that comparison is an inference from the published figures, not a Department of Education statement.

Outcome figures for prospective students come from the 2025 Graduate Outcomes Survey run by the Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching (QILT) program, and they describe a broad study area, not health information management courses specifically. Among 2025 undergraduates in the Health services and support study area, surveyed between November 2024 and May 2025, 78.3% were in full-time employment, 92.4% were in any employment, and the median full-time salary was $77,400 (QILT, 2025). Across all study areas, the benchmarks were 75.4% in full-time employment, 89.2% in any employment and a median of $77,000 (QILT, 2025).

QILT’s ComparED site compares institutions and study areas only, and it publishes no course-level outcome data for health information management (HIM) (QILT, 2026). Anyone quoting an employment rate for HIM graduates specifically is going beyond the published data.

What the diploma does and does not qualify you for

The HLT50321 Diploma of Clinical Coding prepares you for clinical coding roles in hospitals and health services. It does not qualify someone as a health information manager; that role needs a university degree (Queensland Health careers, July 2026; Jobs and Skills Australia, OSCA 2024). TalentMed (RTO 22151) delivers the diploma in 12 months, self-paced and 100% online, with daily intakes.

What the diploma costs

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 Independent Health and Aged Care Pricing Authority (IHACPA) books ($330 plus delivery). The fee is paid upfront or in instalments, while the degree’s CSP contributions are usually deferred through HECS-HELP and repaid later through the tax system, so the two are not like-for-like cash outlays. On published figures, the indicative three-year CSP total for the La Trobe bachelor is $27,705 at 2027 rates, before indexation; that is about 5.5 times the diploma tuition, a difference of $22,710. The comparison spans different AQF levels and durations: a three-year AQF 7 degree against a 12-month AQF 5 diploma.

How does pay compare between the two roles?

SEEK’s October 2026 advertised averages were $95,000 to $110,000 for Health Information Manager jobs and $75,000 to $95,000 for Clinical Coder jobs. Public awards narrow that gap. Queensland Health pays an entry health information manager $108,091 (PO3.1) from 1 September 2026, against $103,222 for an entry clinical coder (CC2.1), about 5% more (Queensland Health wage rates, 1 September 2026; Queensland Health clinical coder wage rates, 1 September 2026). NSW Health awards from 1 July 2026 show a like-for-like gap of about 2% to 4% between Medical Records Administrator, the closest NSW award title to a health information manager, and the entry and early-career coder levels (NSW Health award rates, 1 July 2026; administrative staff award rates, 1 July 2026). Equating the two is an inference, because NSW has no ‘Health Information Manager’ award title. Senior coder pay can overlap or exceed some health information manager pay points: Queensland Health’s top grade 2 clinical coder rate (CC2.4, $112,674) sits above the entry health information manager’s $108,091 (PO3.1), and every grade 3 rate, from $118,299, tops PO3’s $117,991 (Queensland Health clinical coder wage rates, 1 September 2026). Our salary comparison page works through the award tables.

Where does demand sit?

Jobs and Skills Australia’s 2025 Occupation Shortage List rates Clinical Coder as in shortage nationally and in every state and territory, and rates Health Information Manager, which is on the list, as not in shortage (Jobs and Skills Australia, 2025 list). For how the two roles compare day to day, see our health information management versus clinical coding breakdown, or read what a clinical coder does.