Note from the Associate Editorial Director: 2024 CDI Salary Survey finding show increased compensation, fewer cuts to benefits and pay

by Linnea Archibald

In case you missed it at the end of the year, the newest CDI Salary Survey report has been released! The survey was fielded to the public in September/October and the full report became available to the ACDIS membership in December 2024, but I wanted to spend a few minutes highlighting some of the most interesting findings.

Firstly, compensation across most credential types rose in 2024. For example, in 2023, 50% of RN credentialed respondents landed in the $80,000-$109,999 salary bracket with another 38% falling into brackets of $110,000 or more. In 2024, however, nearly 42% of RN credentialed respondents fell into the $80,000-$109,999 bracket and 53% fell into brackets of $110,000 or more.

Those coming from an HIM background and holding a RHIA or RHIT credential also saw some movement across salaries. In 2023, about 27.5% of RHIA credentialed respondents and 48% of RHIT credentialed respondents fell into the $80,000-$109,999 brackets and about 59% of RHIA holders and nearly 21% of RHIT holders fell into brackets above $110,000.

In 2024, by contrast, 20% of RHIA holders and 40% of RHIT holders fell into the $80,000-$109,999 bracket, and 74% of RHIA holders and 36% of RHIT holders fell into brackets above that range. On the lower end of the salary spectrum, however, RHIT holders were most likely to fall into brackets below $80,000 (20%), followed by RHIA holders (6%), and RN holders (4.41%).

This theme of overall salary increases extended to those who held the CCDS credential as well. In 2023, most CCDS holders found themselves in the $80,000-$109,999 range, and 46.5% fell into brackets of $110,000 or more. In 2024, however, nearly 33% of CCDS holders fell into the $80,000-$109,999 bracket and 63.5% fell into higher brackets.

Of course, we know that compensation is more than just salary and also includes the benefits package offered to employees, so we asked this year about non-salary benefits specifically. Most commonly, respondents said they’re offered health coverage (85.84%), retirement plan match (73.38%), tuition reimbursement (65.45%), certification reimbursement (56.17%), and membership to professional organizations such as ACDIS or AHIMA (47.01%). Though not a part of an employee’s take-home financial package, these types of benefits can make a big difference for employees and their long-term satisfaction at their organization.

Despite the varied non-salary benefits offered to employees, we all know that the last few years have been a time for tightening budgets in general due to the COVID-19 pandemic and aftermath. It seems, however, that overall, the cuts are slowing as time goes on so we’re seeing a steady increase in the “N/A; we haven’t experienced a reduction” category, up roughly 10 percentage points from 2023 when 58.59% of respondents said they hadn’t experienced a reduction in benefits or salary.

The data contained in the Salary Survey helps ACDIS get a broader picture of the industry and helps us curate editorial content for the direction the CDI profession is headed, but it can also be a big help to you in your own professional development.

The Salary Survey is of course a great place to go when you are hoping to advocate for a higher salary. You can check data specific to your skill level and background, using the average salary ranges that correspond with similar roles, years of experience, and geographical areas as yours. Including this data in your proposal to leadership can make it a much stronger argument!

Also, the survey can be of assistance for anyone in leadership hoping to expand your staffing in 2025. Build your case with information specific to your organization, such as number of reviews conducted, current financial and quality outcomes, and potential missed opportunities due to short staffing, and include data surrounding bed count to staffing numbers and organization type from the survey. There is also data specifically surrounding remote work!

We hope you check out the Salary Survey report in full and find ways to leverage this data for future projects and personal growth, as is always our goal at ACDIS. If there’s ever information or data that would be beneficial to you, please feel free to reach out and ask. We’d love to help gather that data or connect you with information we already have available to help you and your program.

ACDIS members can access the 2024 CDI Salary Survey report here now!

Editor’s note: Archibald is the associate editorial director, publications and membership, for ACDIS. Contact her at linnea.archibald@hcpro.com.