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The differences between medical language specialists 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 language specialist and a records specialist. Additionally, a medical language specialist has an average salary of $47,117, which is higher than the $33,273 average annual salary of a records specialist.
The top three skills for a medical language specialist include transcription, discharge summaries and dictation. The most important skills for a records specialist are customer service, data entry, and office equipment.
| Medical Language Specialist | Records Specialist | |
| Yearly salary | $47,117 | $33,273 |
| Hourly rate | $22.65 | $16.00 |
| Growth rate | 11% | 11% |
| Number of jobs | 71,209 | 28,647 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Associate Degree, 40% | Bachelor's Degree, 47% |
| Average age | 45 | 45 |
| Years of experience | 12 | 12 |
A Medical Language Specialist transcribes medical reports recorded by physicians and other healthcare practitioners. They listen to recorded dictations of medical professionals and turn them into diagnostic test results, articles, and other documents.
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 language specialists and records specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Medical Language Specialist | Records Specialist | |
| Average salary | $47,117 | $33,273 |
| Salary range | Between $36,000 And $61,000 | 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 language specialist and a records specialist in terms of educational background:
| Medical Language Specialist | Records Specialist | |
| Most common degree | Associate Degree, 40% | Bachelor's Degree, 47% |
| Most common major | Health Care Administration | Business |
| Most common college | Duke University | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between medical language specialists' and records specialists' demographics:
| Medical Language Specialist | Records Specialist | |
| Average age | 45 | 45 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 7.3% Female, 92.7% | Male, 29.8% Female, 70.2% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 7.9% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 13.8% Asian, 7.9% White, 64.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.4% | 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% |