Certified professional coder vs information management specialist

The differences between certified professional coders and information management specialists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 6-12 months to become both a certified professional coder and an information management specialist. Additionally, an information management specialist has an average salary of $54,515, which is higher than the $52,683 average annual salary of a certified professional coder.

The top three skills for a certified professional coder include CPC, medical terminology and AAPC. The most important skills for an information management specialist are patients, customer service, and medical terminology.

Certified professional coder vs information management specialist overview

	Certified Professional Coder	Information Management Specialist
Yearly salary	$52,683	$54,515
Hourly rate	$25.33	$26.21
Growth rate	11%	11%
Number of jobs	86,465	151,152
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 34%	Bachelor's Degree, 47%
Average age	45	45
Years of experience	12	12

What does a certified professional coder do?

A certified professional coder oversees the daily medical coding operations of a medical facility, ensuring compliance with industry standards and regulations. They usually have the responsibility to provide coding to facilities, update databases, and conduct reviews and assessments to identify missing details or inconsistencies and perform corrective measures. Moreover, as a certified professional coder, it is essential to coordinate with external parties such as insurance providers and communicate with patients, assisting them by answering inquiries, explaining procedures, and solving issues and concerns if any would arise.

What does an information management specialist do?

An information management specialist is responsible for maintaining the security benchmark of all databases across the organization to support business functions and client requirements. Information management specialists sort and file data on the network systems and pull up reports from the storage database. They also analyze project management plans and utilize data tools to identify solutions and collect critical information. An information management specialist handles data management system troubleshooting and provide resolution reports to avoid downtime reoccurrence.

Certified professional coder vs information management specialist salary

Certified professional coders and information management specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Certified Professional Coder	Information Management Specialist
Average salary	$52,683	$54,515
Salary range	Between $38,000 And $73,000	Between $28,000 And $105,000
Highest paying City	Baltimore, MD	Greenwich, CT
Highest paying state	Alaska	Connecticut
Best paying company	Morgan Stanley	McKinsey & Company Inc
Best paying industry	Technology	Technology

Differences between certified professional coder and information management specialist education

There are a few differences between a certified professional coder and an information management specialist in terms of educational background:

	Certified Professional Coder	Information Management Specialist
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 34%	Bachelor's Degree, 47%
Most common major	Health Care Administration	Business
Most common college	Stanford University	University of Southern California

Certified professional coder vs information management specialist demographics

Here are the differences between certified professional coders' and information management specialists' demographics:

	Certified Professional Coder	Information Management Specialist
Average age	45	45
Gender ratio	Male, 8.9% Female, 91.1%	Male, 39.8% Female, 60.2%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 8.8% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 14.8% Asian, 8.3% White, 62.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.6%	Black or African American, 10.2% Unknown, 4.2% Hispanic or Latino, 17.1% Asian, 8.9% White, 58.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.3%
LGBT Percentage	9%	9%

Differences between certified professional coder and information management specialist duties and responsibilities

Certified professional coder example responsibilities.

Manage the outsourced transcription company.
Apply ICD-10-CM, CPT-4 codes and modifiers in accordance with federal regulations.
Validate DRG's for inpatient and inpatient RAC appeals as well as validating DRG changes.
Assist with insurance verification and registration, including Medicare and Medicaid.
Review, analyze, and code all ICD-9-CM and ICD-10-CM diagnoses.
Work all age reports for all Medicaid.

Information management specialist example responsibilities.

Manage a database to track all adverse drug reactions according to FDA guidelines.
Manage the IM application and infrastructure to maximize the use of standard applications and processes.
Write and modify Perl scripts to automate and streamline daily routines for the Tivoli environment.
Manage the current MPI program and patient portal, with direct supervision of data integrity processes and outcomes.
Achieve this goal by providing clear policies/justification for initiatives which impact designated FTE's.
Test configuration of DNS and DHCP functionality, configure VPN connections with IPSEC and PKI authentication methods.

Certified professional coder vs information management specialist skills

Common certified professional coder skills

CPC, 20%
Medical Terminology, 9%
AAPC, 8%
Patients, 7%
ICD-10-CM, 5%
E/M, 4%

Common information management specialist skills

Patients, 19%
Customer Service, 11%
Medical Terminology, 8%
Patient Care, 6%
HIPAA, 5%
Data Entry, 4%

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Certified Professional Coder vs Information Management Specialist

Updated January 8, 2025

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