While many technician jobs can be learned on the job, medical records technicians do not have one of those jobs.
Education and certification are vital to the job and no one can obtain any medical records job without either of these two things.
This is true for New York as it is true for any other state in the Union.
All those who wish to pursue a career as a health records technician must obtain at least an associates degree from an accredited school.
Such schools must be accredited through the Commission of Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management Education.
These schools will offer classes and programs that include medical terminology, anatomy, medical law, health data standards, coding, and statistics.
Other classes include computer science, database management, and quality improvement methods.
Once a two year associates degree has been obtained, the process of certification can begin.
Anyone without the accredited education is not able to apply for the certifications.
Such certifications can be done nationally through the American Health Information Management Association.
This association tests the individual with a written test and does an extensive background check on the individual.
Once the certification is achieved, one obtains the title of Registered Health Information Technicians, or RHIT.
Once the appropriate education and certifications have been achieved, a medical records technician can take any medical records job in New York.
This can include working for private practice doctors to working in nursing homes to hospitals.
Insurance companies also employ medical records technicians and therefore there are plenty of job opportunities that can be had.
Beyond the education, one must have the right mind set to be a medical records technician.
Such mind set is the respect for the privacy of the individual and the respect and proper concern for the coworkers that one must deal with.
The privacy of the individual is vital in that a medical records technician has the complete life story of the individual in his or her hands.
These records indicate every medical problem and every medical issue that the individual has had.
This information can be used incorrectly if one has little or no respect for individual.
Also the medical records technician has to have respect for the various coworkers, doctors, and nurses that work in the same facility.
A lack of respect amongst these individuals can lead to incorrect or incomplete records which can cause problems for the doctors and patients.