Certified professional coder vs records coordinator

The differences between certified professional coders and records coordinators 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 a records coordinator. Additionally, a certified professional coder has an average salary of $52,683, which is higher than the $40,360 average annual salary of a records coordinator.

The top three skills for a certified professional coder include CPC, medical terminology and AAPC. The most important skills for a records coordinator are customer service, data entry, and patients.

Certified professional coder vs records coordinator overview

	Certified Professional Coder	Records Coordinator
Yearly salary	$52,683	$40,360
Hourly rate	$25.33	$19.40
Growth rate	11%	11%
Number of jobs	86,465	25,060
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 34%	Bachelor's Degree, 51%
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 a records coordinator do?

A records coordinator takes responsibility for doing administrative and clerical work. Records coordinators maintain the filing system of the central records. They monitor, post, and process university forms for personnel and budgetary actions. It is their job to maintain an organized central filing system. They must know the requirements applicable to their organization. There are certain skills every records coordinator should acquire. Some of them are skills in procurement management, organizational, negotiation, finance and accounting, and analytical.

Certified professional coder vs records coordinator salary

Certified professional coders and records coordinators have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Certified Professional Coder	Records Coordinator
Average salary	$52,683	$40,360
Salary range	Between $38,000 And $73,000	Between $30,000 And $53,000
Highest paying City	Baltimore, MD	Trenton, NJ
Highest paying state	Alaska	New Jersey
Best paying company	Morgan Stanley	The American Musical and Dramatic Academy
Best paying industry	Technology	Energy

Differences between certified professional coder and records coordinator education

There are a few differences between a certified professional coder and a records coordinator in terms of educational background:

	Certified Professional Coder	Records Coordinator
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 34%	Bachelor's Degree, 51%
Most common major	Health Care Administration	Business
Most common college	Stanford University	Stanford University

Certified professional coder vs records coordinator demographics

Here are the differences between certified professional coders' and records coordinators' demographics:

	Certified Professional Coder	Records Coordinator
Average age	45	45
Gender ratio	Male, 8.9% Female, 91.1%	Male, 26.7% Female, 73.3%
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, 9.5% Unknown, 4.2% Hispanic or Latino, 17.6% Asian, 8.5% White, 59.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.3%
LGBT Percentage	9%	9%

Differences between certified professional coder and records coordinator 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.

Records coordinator example responsibilities.

Manage and maintain appropriate information in the electronic case file as required by federal, state, and HIPAA regulations.
Manage SharePoint site used for routing management approvals.
Assist DoD and contract personnel in digitizing intelligence onto secure severs for use by senior DoD agencies.
Maintain forms inventory in preparation for the EHR.
Forward records/documents as requested by FDA staff and outside vendors.
Perform software validation testing and QA testing for new CAPA system implementation.

Certified professional coder vs records coordinator skills

Common certified professional coder skills

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

Common records coordinator skills

Customer Service, 24%
Data Entry, 20%
Patients, 16%
HIPAA, 6%
Hard Copy, 3%
Subpoenas, 3%

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Certified Professional Coder vs Records Coordinator

Updated January 8, 2025

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