Medical scribe vs medical coding technician

The differences between medical scribes and medical coding technicians 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 scribe and a medical coding technician. Additionally, a medical coding technician has an average salary of $35,307, which is higher than the $30,045 average annual salary of a medical scribe.

The top three skills for a medical scribe include patients, medical terminology and excellent organizational. The most important skills for a medical coding technician are medical billing, data entry, and front desk.

Medical scribe vs medical coding technician overview

	Medical Scribe	Medical Coding Technician
Yearly salary	$30,045	$35,307
Hourly rate	$14.44	$16.97
Growth rate	16%	11%
Number of jobs	80,035	67,197
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 77%	Associate Degree, 30%
Average age	37	45
Years of experience	12	12

What does a medical scribe do?

As a medical scribe, their main responsibility is to follow a physician's daily work and do charting of patient encounters in real-time by accessing their medical electronic health record (EHR). It is their duty to make sure the patient schedules are followed, generate referral letters for physicians and manage and sort medical documents within the EHR. Medical scribes can be held as data custodians, medical assistants, and nurses to focus on patient in-take and care throughout clinic hours. In addition, they manage patient flow through the clinic and increase productivity to cater to more patients.

What does a medical coding technician do?

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.

Medical scribe vs medical coding technician salary

Medical scribes and medical coding technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Medical Scribe	Medical Coding Technician
Average salary	$30,045	$35,307
Salary range	Between $23,000 And $38,000	Between $28,000 And $43,000
Highest paying City	Boston, MA	-
Highest paying state	Massachusetts	-
Best paying company	Boston Medical Center	-
Best paying industry	Health Care	-

Differences between medical scribe and medical coding technician education

There are a few differences between a medical scribe and a medical coding technician in terms of educational background:

	Medical Scribe	Medical Coding Technician
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 77%	Associate Degree, 30%
Most common major	Biology	Health Care Administration
Most common college	-	University of Pennsylvania

Medical scribe vs medical coding technician demographics

Here are the differences between medical scribes' and medical coding technicians' demographics:

	Medical Scribe	Medical Coding Technician
Average age	37	45
Gender ratio	Male, 28.4% Female, 71.6%	Male, 15.3% Female, 84.7%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 10.0% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 24.3% Asian, 9.7% White, 50.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8%	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%
LGBT Percentage	6%	9%

Differences between medical scribe and medical coding technician duties and responsibilities

Medical scribe example responsibilities.

Manage sensitive and confidential materials such as patient health records following HIPAA regulations.
Adhere to OSHA guidelines while performing instrument sterilization in addition to managing medical inventory.
Rotate in internal medicine, surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, orthopedic surgery, and burn medicine departments
Transcribe patient orders including laboratory tests results, radiology test findings, medications, allergies.
Utilize PC and LIS to enter and retrieve patient data, includes verifying orders and retrieving results using HIPAA compliance.
Perform Phlebotomy procedures on patients.

Medical coding technician example responsibilities.

Manage health records while applying ICD-10 coding to update and process insurance claims for time and accuracy to various insurance companies.
Assign appropriate ICD-9-CM and CPT-4 codes in compliance with recognize coding principles and department policies.
Remain current on medical coding guidelines and HIPAA laws and regulations.
Reconcile clinical notes, patient encounter form, and health information for compliance with HIPAA rules.
Audit ROI program quarterly to ensure deadlines are completed and proper procedures for legal and personal requests are followed.
Train team members in all ROI processes, make independent decisions base on the provisions of these privacy laws and regulations.

Medical scribe vs medical coding technician skills

Common medical scribe skills

Patients, 18%
Medical Terminology, 17%
Excellent Organizational, 10%
Physician Assistants, 8%
Emergency Medicine, 6%
HIPAA, 4%

Common medical coding technician skills

Medical Billing, 14%
Data Entry, 12%
Front Desk, 10%
CPC, 9%
ICD-10-CM, 7%
Transcription, 6%

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Medical Scribe
Medical Scribe vs Medical Coding Technician

Updated January 8, 2025

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