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Health record technician education requirements

Updated January 8, 2025
4 min read

There are several educational requirements to become a health record technician. Health record technicians usually study health care administration, business, or information technology. 37% of health record technicians hold a bachelor's degree, and 32% hold an associate degree. We analyzed 231 real health record technician resumes to see exactly what health record technician education sections show.

The most common colleges for health record technicians are the University of Phoenix and the University of Phoenix.

There are also many online health record technician courses to help get the education required to be a health record technician.

There are certain health record technician certifications that you should consider. These health record technician certifications include Medical Assistant and Certified Professional in Electronic Health Records (CPEHR).

What education do you need to become a health record technician?

What degree do you need to be a health record technician?

The most common degree for health record technicians is bachelor's degree, with 37% of health record technicians earning that degree. The second and third most common degree levels are associate degree degree at 32% and associate degree degree at 13%.
  • Bachelor's, 37%
  • Associate, 32%
  • High School Diploma, 13%
  • Master's, 7%
  • Other Degrees, 11%

What should I major in to become a health record technician?

You should major in health care administration to become a health record technician. 28% of health record technicians major in health care administration. Other common majors for a health record technician include business and information technology.

Most common colleges for health record technicians

Health record technicians often get their degrees at University of Phoenix, DeVry University, and College of Saint Scholastica. Here are the most common colleges for health record technicians in the US based on their resumes.
Health record technician common collegePercentages
University of Phoenix13.79%
DeVry University13.79%
College of Saint Scholastica6.90%
Norfolk State University6.90%
University of Missouri - Columbia6.90%

Best majors for health record technicians

Best colleges for health record technicians

The best colleges for health record technicians are Northwestern University, New York University, and University of Pennsylvania.

A health record technician with advanced education typically earns a higher salary and has access to better jobs. That's why Zippia looked into the best colleges for health record technicians. We based this list on several metrics: admissions rate, retention rate, mean earnings of graduates, the ratio of working vs. non-working students ten years after admission, the average cost of attendance, and median debt for graduates who become health record technicians.

1. University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA • Private

In-state tuition

$55,584

Enrollment

10,764

2. New York University

New York, NY • Private

In-state tuition

$51,828

Enrollment

26,339

3. Maria College of Albany

Albany, NY • Private

In-state tuition

$15,140

Enrollment

876

4. Howard University

Washington, DC • Private

In-state tuition

$26,756

Enrollment

6,166

5. University of Virginia

Charlottesville, VA • Private

In-state tuition

$17,653

Enrollment

16,405

6. Northwestern University

Evanston, IL • Private

In-state tuition

$54,568

Enrollment

8,451

7. Pennsylvania State University

University Park, PA • Private

In-state tuition

$18,454

Enrollment

40,108

8. California State University - Bakersfield

Bakersfield, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$7,309

Enrollment

9,142

9. Stanford University

Stanford, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$51,354

Enrollment

7,083

10. University of Southern California

Los Angeles, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$56,225

Enrollment

19,548

20 best online courses for health record technicians

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1. Operations and Patient Safety for Healthcare IT Staff

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Now that you've been introduced to the world of Health IT and the important role played by electronic health records (EHRs), we'll focus on other technologies that play a role in maintaining ongoing operations in healthcare. Telemedicine, patient portals, barcode scanners, printers, and medical devices are just some of the technologies that impact providers and patients. As an IT support specialist, you’ll be asked to troubleshoot issues with a wide variety of tools. You'll see a scenario with...

2. Health for All Through Primary Health Care

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This course explores why primary health care is central for achieving Health for All. It provides examples of how primary health care has been instrumental in approaching this goal in selected populations and how the principles of primary health care can guide future policies and actions. Two of the most inspiring, least understood, and most often derided terms in global health discourse are “Health for All” and “Primary Health Care.” In this course, we will explore these terms in the context...

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4. Health Data 101

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5. Health Care Delivery in Healthcare Organizations

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Have you ever needed health care and thought that there must be better ways to get or deliver health care? For example, have you found yourself thinking that there should be a way to get a diagnostic test or treatment at home? Or do you work in a healthcare organization and find yourself thinking that there must be better ways to deliver health care? If you have, this course is for you. Course content includes an overview of health care delivery including healthcare consumerism, the patient's...

6. The Critical Role of IT Support Staff in Healthcare

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This is a very exciting time to be exploring a career in Health IT Support! In this introductory course, you’ll learn about various roles in IT support that are common in healthcare. IT support staff play critical roles in many different healthcare venues. In addition to helping clinics, hospitals, and emergency rooms, you may end up providing support in a skilled nursing facility, ambulatory surgical center, virtual care setting, or even a patient’s home! On any given day, you may interact...

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This course presents basic principles of cancer survivorship to primary-care physicians. Developed by a team of experts in caring for cancer survivors, and narrated by a primary-care physician, this course provides practical tips and tools that can be easily integrated into medical practice. You will learn about the complex physical and psychosocial needs and concerns of the growing number of cancer survivors, along with the key role that primary care physicians have in guiding these patients...

10. Health Care IT: Challenges and Opportunities

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A strong argument can be made that the health care field is one of the most information-intensive sectors in the U.S. economy and avoidance of the rapid advances in information technology is no longer an option. Consequently, the study of health care information technology and systems has become central to health care delivery effectiveness. This course covers the modern application of information technology that is critical to supporting the vision and operational knowledge of the health care...

11. Managing mental health issues in the workplace

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12. Deep learning in Electronic Health Records - CDSS 2

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Overview of the main principles of Deep Learning along with common architectures. Formulate the problem for time-series classification and apply it to vital signals such as ECG. Applying this methods in Electronic Health Records is challenging due to the missing values and the heterogeneity in EHR, which include both continuous, ordinal and categorical variables. Subsequently, explore imputation techniques and different encoding strategies to address these issues. Apply these approaches to...

13. HI-FIVE: Health Informatics For Innovation, Value & Enrichment (Clinical Perspective)

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HI-FIVE (Health Informatics For Innovation, Value & Enrichment) Training is a 12-hour online course designed by Columbia University in 2016, with sponsorship from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC). The training is role-based and uses case scenarios. Also, it has additional, optional modules on other topics of interest or relevance. Although we suggest to complete the course within a month's timeframe, the course is self-paced and so you can start and...

14. Comparative Health Systems

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This course uses comparative analysis of health care systems to gain a better understanding of health care systems in several high-income, middle-income and low-income countries. One focus of analysis in this course will therefore be to develop a better knowledge of these health care systems. A second focus will be to use to this analysis to gain a better understanding of the health care system in the United States. This analysis is relevant for those who are directly interested in the United...

15. Introduction to Digital health

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This course introduces the field of digital health and the key concepts and definitions in this emerging field. The key topics include Learning Health Systems and Electronic Health Records and various types of digital health technologies to include mobile applications, wearable technologies, health information systems, telehealth, telemedicine, machine learning, artificial intelligence and big data. These technologies are assessed in terms of the key opportunities and challenges to their use...

16. Trauma Emergencies and Care

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17. Health Systems Development: Introduction to Health Systems

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This specialization is intended for people interested in health systems and how they function. Participants will learn about the global health systems landscape and the challenges and opportunities to achieve better health outcomes. This specialisation is divided into three courses which are offered as massive online open access courses (Courses 1-3), and a fourth course which is offered as part of the Online MPH degree (capstone). The Health Systems Development specialisation is geared toward...

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19. Health Coaching Conversations

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20. Value-Based Care: Managing Processes to Improve Outcomes

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COURSE 3 of 7. This course is designed to introduce you to critical office-based processes that a value-based practice must manage in the drive towards improved patient outcomes. In Module 2, we’ll focus on office-based and clinical patient-based supporting functions. At every level in healthcare, guidelines, processes, and functions exist to improve outcomes, and following a consistent process will return the best effect. Refine your understanding of value and learn strategies to provide real...

Top 10 most affordable universities for health record technicians

The most affordable schools for health record technicians are California State University - Bakersfield, suny farmingdale, and baruch college of the city university of new york.

If the best universities for health record technicians are out of your price range, check out these affordable schools. After factoring in in-state tuition and fees, the average cost of attendance, admissions rate, average net price, and mean earnings after six years, we found that these are the most affordable schools for health record technicians.

1. California State University - Bakersfield

Bakersfield, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$7,309

Cost of attendance

16,714

2. SUNY Farmingdale

Farmingdale, NY • Private

In-state tuition

$8,306

Cost of attendance

16,091

3. Baruch College of the City University of New York

New York, NY • Private

In-state tuition

$7,262

Cost of attendance

14,046

4. University of Florida

Gainesville, FL • Private

In-state tuition

$6,381

Cost of attendance

21,034

5. California State University - Dominguez Hills

Carson, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$6,942

Cost of attendance

14,469

6. California State University - Long Beach

Long Beach, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$6,798

Cost of attendance

18,306

7. California State University - Los Angeles

Los Angeles, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$6,749

Cost of attendance

14,823

8. Florida International University

Miami, FL • Private

In-state tuition

$6,556

Cost of attendance

19,434

9. Lehman College of the City University of New York

Bronx, NY • Private

In-state tuition

$7,210

Cost of attendance

14,359

10. SUNY Polytechnic Institute

Utica, NY • Private

In-state tuition

$8,238

Cost of attendance

21,567

Top 10 hardest universities to get into for health record technicians

The hardest universities for health record technicians to get into are Northwestern University, New York University, and University of Pennsylvania.

Some great schools for health record technicians are hard to get into, but they also set your career up for greater success. The list below shows the most challenging universities to get into for health record technicians based on an institution's admissions rates, average SAT scores accepted, median ACT scores accepted, and mean earnings of students six years after admission.

1. Northwestern University

Evanston, IL • Private

Admissions rate

8%

SAT average

1,508

2. New York University

New York, NY • Private

Admissions rate

20%

SAT average

1,419

3. University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA • Private

Admissions rate

8%

SAT average

1,492

4. Stanford University

Stanford, CA • Private

Admissions rate

4%

SAT average

1,497

5. University of Virginia

Charlottesville, VA • Private

Admissions rate

26%

SAT average

1,427

6. University of Southern California

Los Angeles, CA • Private

Admissions rate

13%

SAT average

1,445

7. Vanderbilt University

Nashville, TN • Private

Admissions rate

10%

SAT average

1,514

8. Johns Hopkins University

Baltimore, MD • Private

Admissions rate

11%

SAT average

1,513

9. Yale University

New Haven, CT • Private

Admissions rate

6%

SAT average

1,517

10. Duke University

Durham, NC • Private

Admissions rate

9%

SAT average

1,516

Top 10 easy-to-apply-to universities for health record technicians

The easiest schools for health record technicians to get into are AdventHealth University, d'youville college, and mount saint mary's university.

Some schools are much easier to get into. If you want to start your career as a health record technician without much hassle, check out the list of schools where you will be accepted in no time. We compiled admissions rates, average SAT scores, average ACT scores, and average salary of students six years after graduation to uncover which were the easiest schools to get into for health record technicians.

1. AdventHealth University

Orlando, FL • Private

Admissions rate

87%

SAT average

1,016

2. D'Youville College

Buffalo, NY • Private

Admissions rate

100%

SAT average

1,072

3. Mount Saint Mary's University

Los Angeles, CA • Private

Admissions rate

84%

SAT average

1,031

4. Gwynedd Mercy University

Gwynedd Valley, PA • Private

Admissions rate

92%

SAT average

1,031

5. University of the Incarnate Word

San Antonio, TX • Private

Admissions rate

88%

SAT average

1,044

6. Felician University

Lodi, NJ • Private

Admissions rate

81%

SAT average

999

7. Barry University

Miami, FL • Private

Admissions rate

91%

SAT average

1,006

8. Presentation College

Aberdeen, SD • Private

Admissions rate

97%

SAT average

1,050

9. Oklahoma Wesleyan University

Bartlesville, OK • Private

Admissions rate

68%

SAT average

964

10. Midwestern State University

Wichita Falls, TX • Private

Admissions rate

71%

SAT average

1,033

Average health record technician salary by education level

Health record technicians with a Master's degree earn more than those without, at $59,522 annually. With a Bachelor's degree, health record technicians earn a median annual income of $50,099 compared to $46,508 for health record technicians with an Associate degree.
Health record technician education levelHealth record technician salary
Master's Degree$59,522
High School Diploma or Less$40,936
Bachelor's Degree$50,099
Some College/ Associate Degree$46,508

Health record technician education FAQs

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Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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