Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between medical records technicians 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 medical records technician and an information management specialist. Additionally, an information management specialist has an average salary of $54,515, which is higher than the $37,087 average annual salary of a medical records technician.
The top three skills for a medical records technician include patients, medical terminology and HIPAA. The most important skills for an information management specialist are patients, customer service, and medical terminology.
| Medical Records Technician | Information Management Specialist | |
| Yearly salary | $37,087 | $54,515 |
| Hourly rate | $17.83 | $26.21 |
| Growth rate | 11% | 11% |
| Number of jobs | 67,660 | 151,152 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Associate Degree, 34% | Bachelor's Degree, 47% |
| Average age | 45 | 45 |
| Years of experience | 12 | 12 |
A medical records technician is responsible for performing administrative duties, handling patients' medical records for medical purposes. Medical records technicians keep an organized database of patients' information, including medical history, diagnosis, healthcare treatments, laboratory schedules, and insurance details using specific healthcare coding procedures. Medical records technicians must be detail-oriented and highly organizational, especially on maintaining the accuracy and confidentiality of patients' information. This job is critical in the healthcare industry for the doctors' reference and determining treatment costs.
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.
Medical records technicians and information management specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Medical Records Technician | Information Management Specialist | |
| Average salary | $37,087 | $54,515 |
| Salary range | Between $28,000 And $48,000 | Between $28,000 And $105,000 |
| Highest paying City | Long Branch, NJ | Greenwich, CT |
| Highest paying state | New Jersey | Connecticut |
| Best paying company | Guidehouse | McKinsey & Company Inc |
| Best paying industry | Government | Technology |
There are a few differences between a medical records technician and an information management specialist in terms of educational background:
| Medical Records Technician | Information Management Specialist | |
| Most common degree | Associate Degree, 34% | Bachelor's Degree, 47% |
| Most common major | Health Care Administration | Business |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | University of Southern California |
Here are the differences between medical records technicians' and information management specialists' demographics:
| Medical Records Technician | Information Management Specialist | |
| Average age | 45 | 45 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 18.8% Female, 81.2% | Male, 39.8% Female, 60.2% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 9.3% Unknown, 4.2% Hispanic or Latino, 17.3% Asian, 8.7% White, 59.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.3% | 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% |