Medical Records Specialists
Compile, process, and maintain medical records of hospital and clinic patients in a manner consistent with medical, administrative, ethical, legal, and regulatory requirements of the healthcare system. Classify medical and healthcare concepts, including diagnosis, procedures, medical services, and equipment, into the healthcare industry's numerical coding system.
- Median annual earnings
- $51,073
- Projected change
- +10.7%
- Typical education
- High school diploma or less
- Employment
- 199.9K jobs
50th percentile, United States
2025 to 2035
48.1% of the workforce
Growing to 221.21K by 2035
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Build the skills
ASU learning related to this career
These courses and certificates are connected through catalog career relationships and Lightcast skill tags.
The work
What medical records specialists do
Tasks reported for this occupation, ordered by how often they come up in the role.
- Assign the patient to diagnosis-related groups (DRGs), using appropriate computer software.
- Compile and maintain patients' medical records to document condition and treatment and to provide data for research or cost control and care improvement efforts.
- Consult classification manuals to locate information about disease processes.
- Enter data, such as demographic characteristics, history and extent of disease, diagnostic procedures, or treatment into computer.
- Identify, compile, abstract, and code patient data, using standard classification systems.
- Maintain or operate a variety of health record indexes or storage and retrieval systems to collect, classify, store, or analyze information.
- Post medical insurance billings.
- Process and prepare business or government forms.
- Process patient admission or discharge documents.
- Protect the security of medical records to ensure that confidentiality is maintained.
- Release information to persons or agencies according to regulations.
- Resolve or clarify codes or diagnoses with conflicting, missing, or unclear information by consulting with doctors or others or by participating in the coding team's regular meetings.
- Retrieve patient medical records for physicians, technicians, or other medical personnel.
- Review records for completeness, accuracy, and compliance with regulations.
- Scan patients' health records into electronic formats.
- Schedule medical appointments for patients.
- Transcribe medical reports.
Pay and outlook
What the job pays and where it is heading
Annual earnings range
Reported earnings by percentile, United States
- 10th percentile
- $36,688
- 25th percentile
- $43,329
- 50th percentile
- $51,073
- 75th percentile
- $65,126
- 90th percentile
- $82,211
The gold marker shows the median. Half earn more than $51,073 and half earn less.
Employment outlook
2025 to 2035 projection
21,308 more positions over the decade, before replacement hiring.
Preparation
Education levels
What people currently working in the career hold. These are not entry requirements.
- High school diploma or less
- 48.1%
- Some college
- 20.6%
- Associate degree
- 19.9%
- Certificate
- 10.9%
- Bachelor's degree
- 0.5%
Skills
Skills employers ask for
Technical skills appearing most often in job postings for this occupation.
How the work gets done
Core competencies
Broad capabilities associated with strong performance in this occupation.
In the market
Job titles and employers
Recent job postings in United StatesCommon job titles
- 01Medical Billing Specialists2,847 postings
- 02Medical Billers2,177 postings
- 03Medical Office Specialists1,726 postings
- 04Medical Records Specialists1,422 postings
- 05Inpatient Coders1,261 postings
- 06Medical Records Clerks1,186 postings
- 07Outpatient Coders1,177 postings
- 08Medical Coders1,097 postings
- 09ROI Medical Records Specialists841 postings
- 10Medical Front Office Specialists829 postings
- 11Coders828 postings
- 12Medical Records Technicians822 postings
- 13Medical Office Coordinators656 postings
- 14Coding Specialists560 postings
- 15Medical Billers/Coders519 postings
- 16Medical Records Assistants498 postings
- 17Coding Consultants452 postings
- 18Medical Billing and Coding Specialists391 postings
- 19Audit Specialists378 postings
- 20Certified Coders376 postings
Top employers
- 01Datavant2,537 postings
- 02Sharecare810 postings
- 03Robert Half749 postings
- 04HCA Healthcare728 postings
- 05Intermountain Health642 postings
- 06TEKsystems466 postings
- 07Select Physical Therapy370 postings
- 08Baylor Scott & White Health334 postings
- 09TriWest Healthcare Alliance299 postings
- 10Houston Methodist214 postings
- 11Mro202 postings
- 12Fast Pace Health197 postings
- 13Novacare Rehabilitation189 postings
- 14United States Department of Veterans Affairs189 postings
- 15AdventHealth186 postings
- 16Uhs184 postings
- 17UnitedHealth Group175 postings
- 18Medix170 postings
- 19BioLife Plasma Services169 postings
- 20Molina Healthcare157 postings
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