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The differences between medical coding technicians and records 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 medical coding technician and a records specialist. Additionally, a medical coding technician has an average salary of $35,307, which is higher than the $33,273 average annual salary of a records specialist.
The top three skills for a medical coding technician include medical billing, data entry and front desk. The most important skills for a records specialist are customer service, data entry, and office equipment.
| Medical Coding Technician | Records Specialist | |
| Yearly salary | $35,307 | $33,273 |
| Hourly rate | $16.97 | $16.00 |
| Growth rate | 11% | 11% |
| Number of jobs | 67,197 | 28,647 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Associate Degree, 30% | Bachelor's Degree, 47% |
| Average age | 45 | 45 |
| Years of experience | 12 | 12 |
The job of a medical coding technician is to assist in the management of insurance claims, payments, and invoices. Your day-to-day duties may include reviewing claims data to ensure that the assigned codes meet the insurance and legal rules, understanding the diagnosis of patients and medical procedures that have been performed, and extracting information from documentation such as the name of the physician and the date of the procedure. Additionally, abmedical coding technician also follows up with patients and insurance firms regarding outstanding bills.
Records Specialists are administrative professionals who help manage the records of the company. These records may be physical documents or digital copies that are stored in a database. Records Specialists may assist in creating filing systems and knowledge management systems to ensure that the records they keep are easily accessible. They also keep an organized list or database of all the documents that are with them. Records Specialists are in charge of pulling up records upon the request of different departments or individuals. If they are working with physical copies, they ensure that these documents are returned to them. If they are working with digital copies, they ensure that the files they share are kept confidential. Records Specialists may also be in charge of analyzing trends and creating records-related reports.
Medical coding technicians and records specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Medical Coding Technician | Records Specialist | |
| Average salary | $35,307 | $33,273 |
| Salary range | Between $28,000 And $43,000 | Between $26,000 And $42,000 |
| Highest paying City | - | San Mateo, CA |
| Highest paying state | - | Oregon |
| Best paying company | - | Mt. San Antonio College |
| Best paying industry | - | Government |
There are a few differences between a medical coding technician and a records specialist in terms of educational background:
| Medical Coding Technician | Records Specialist | |
| Most common degree | Associate Degree, 30% | Bachelor's Degree, 47% |
| Most common major | Health Care Administration | Business |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between medical coding technicians' and records specialists' demographics:
| Medical Coding Technician | Records Specialist | |
| Average age | 45 | 45 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 15.3% Female, 84.7% | Male, 29.8% Female, 70.2% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 9.2% Unknown, 4.2% Hispanic or Latino, 17.1% Asian, 8.6% White, 59.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.3% | Black or African American, 8.9% Unknown, 4.2% Hispanic or Latino, 17.5% Asian, 8.5% White, 59.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.3% |
| LGBT Percentage | 9% | 9% |