What Does a Health Information Specialist Do?

We looked at the average health information specialist annual salary and compared it with the average of a medical biller coder. Generally speaking, medical biller coders receive $5,413 higher pay than health information specialists per year.

While the salaries between these two careers can be different, they do share some of the same responsibilities. Employees in both health information specialists and medical biller coders positions are skilled in patients, hipaa, and medical terminology.

There are some key differences in responsibilities as well. For example, a health information specialist responsibilities require skills like "patient care," "excellent organizational," "cycle management," and "office equipment." Meanwhile a typical medical biller coder has skills in areas such as "medical billing," "customer service," "cpt-4," and "hcpcs." This difference in skills reveals how truly different these two careers really are.

Medical biller coders really shine in the professional industry with an average salary of $39,875. Whereas health information specialists tend to make the most money in the health care industry with an average salary of $33,177.

On average, medical biller coders reach similar levels of education than health information specialists. Medical biller coders are 2.9% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.1% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Now we're going to look at the medical coder profession. On average, medical coders earn a $18,220 higher salary than health information specialists a year.

Not everything about these jobs is different. Take their skills, for example. Health information specialists and medical coders both include similar skills like "patients," "hipaa," and "medical terminology" on their resumes.

In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences that are worth noting. For example, health information specialist responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "patient care," "excellent organizational," "office equipment," and "federal regulations." Meanwhile, a medical coder might be skilled in areas such as "cpc," "icd-10-cm," "ahima," and "clinical documentation." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.

Medical coders may earn a higher salary than health information specialists, but medical coders earn the most pay in the health care industry with an average salary of $52,925. On the other side of things, health information specialists receive higher paychecks in the health care industry where they earn an average of $33,177.

On the topic of education, medical coders earn similar levels of education than health information specialists. In general, they're 1.3% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.1% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

The medical records clerk profession generally makes a lower amount of money when compared to the average salary of health information specialists. The difference in salaries is medical records clerks making $852 lower than health information specialists.

By looking over several health information specialists and medical records clerks resumes, we found that both roles utilize similar skills, such as "patients," "hipaa," and "medical terminology." But beyond that the careers look very different.

As mentioned, these two careers differ between other skills that are required for performing the work exceedingly well. For example, gathering from health information specialists resumes, they are more likely to have skills like "excellent organizational," "cycle management," "cerner," and "home health." But a medical records clerk might have skills like "customer service," "basic math," "math," and "english language."

Medical records clerks make a very good living in the health care industry with an average annual salary of $32,510. Whereas health information specialists are paid the highest salary in the health care industry with the average being $33,177.

Medical records clerks typically study at similar levels compared with health information specialists. For example, they're 2.6% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

The fourth career we look at typically earns higher pay than health information specialists. On average, medical service technicians earn a difference of $4,600 higher per year.

While their salaries may vary, health information specialists and medical service technicians both use similar skills to perform their jobs. Resumes from both professions include skills like "patients," "hipaa," and "medical terminology. "

Even though a few skill sets overlap, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a health information specialist might have more use for skills like "patient care," "excellent organizational," "cycle management," and "data entry." Meanwhile, some medical service technicians might include skills like "customer service," "pet," "vital signs," and "infection control" on their resume.

In general, medical service technicians make a higher salary in the government industry with an average of $39,185. The highest health information specialist annual salary stems from the health care industry.

The average resume of medical service technicians showed that they earn similar levels of education to health information specialists. So much so that the likelihood of them earning a Master's Degree is 1.3% less. Additionally, they're more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree by 0.5%.