Quality assurance vs quality improvement specialist

The differences between quality assurances and quality improvement specialists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a quality improvement specialist has an average salary of $67,474, which is higher than the $51,313 average annual salary of a quality assurance.

The top three skills for a quality assurance include test cases, food handling and java. The most important skills for a quality improvement specialist are performance improvement, quality improvement, and data collection.

Quality assurance vs quality improvement specialist overview

	Quality Assurance	Quality Improvement Specialist
Yearly salary	$51,313	$67,474
Hourly rate	$24.67	$32.44
Growth rate	-	28%
Number of jobs	69,366	80,504
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 47%	Bachelor's Degree, 57%
Average age	44	44
Years of experience	4	-

What does a quality assurance do?

The primary role of quality assurance specialists is to inspect the quality system's implementation and perform quality assurance audits. They are responsible for monitoring and recording results from procedures and processes within manufacturing industries. They are also responsible for some other tasks, including keeping up-to-date manufacturing and auditing documentation, training less experienced QA team members, and creating standard operating procedures. To be a quality assurance specialist, you must have a high school diploma, organizational skills, and strong attention to detail.

What does a quality improvement specialist do?

A Quality Improvement Specialist in the healthcare system ensures all data and information from patients are correctly handled and coordinates care to the patient. It is the quality improvement specialist's job to ensure that patients get the quality care they needed by creating, developing, and implementing policies set in a medical facility to help patients. A quality improvement specialist must know how to use office-related computer programs, preferably have a degree in the health or medical field, and have good organizational skills.

Quality assurance vs quality improvement specialist salary

Quality assurances and quality improvement specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Quality Assurance	Quality Improvement Specialist
Average salary	$51,313	$67,474
Salary range	Between $28,000 And $92,000	Between $47,000 And $96,000
Highest paying City	Cupertino, CA	Santa Rosa, CA
Highest paying state	California	Massachusetts
Best paying company	Meta	TechnipFMC
Best paying industry	Finance	Automotive

Differences between quality assurance and quality improvement specialist education

There are a few differences between a quality assurance and a quality improvement specialist in terms of educational background:

	Quality Assurance	Quality Improvement Specialist
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 47%	Bachelor's Degree, 57%
Most common major	Business	Nursing
Most common college	Stanford University	Western Carolina University

Quality assurance vs quality improvement specialist demographics

Here are the differences between quality assurances' and quality improvement specialists' demographics:

	Quality Assurance	Quality Improvement Specialist
Average age	44	44
Gender ratio	Male, 55.8% Female, 44.2%	Male, 24.8% Female, 75.2%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 6.2% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 8.8% Asian, 12.0% White, 67.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%	Black or African American, 6.4% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 9.4% Asian, 8.8% White, 70.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%
LGBT Percentage	11%	11%

Differences between quality assurance and quality improvement specialist duties and responsibilities

Quality assurance example responsibilities.

Participate in weekly scrum meetings with project leads and the QA team to track and report overall progress.
Manage the logistics requirements, handling, processing, and repairing of avionics equipment and avionics support equipment.
Champion use of detail bug tracking (JIRA) and strict release methodology to achieve field stability and maintainability.
Experience in working with product teams, product owners and scrum masters to compose and manage integrate project plans.
Manage all ALM relate issues, user requests and customize the defect templates to cater to various project needs.
Provide support for different environments including DEV, QA, UAT, staging, and production.

Quality improvement specialist example responsibilities.

Manage action planning as it relates to the RCA process.
Design, run, and manage the HEDIS data review process/claim encounters to ensure accuracy and integrity of data.
Lead company-wide preparation for NCQA accreditation.
Assist organization in achieving strategic quality/resource consumption goals and JCAHO accreditation.
Design and manage an internal SharePoint site utilize compliance with RESPA guidelines
Manage investigations using applicable methodology focuse on root cause analysis and CAPA identification / implementation.

Quality assurance vs quality improvement specialist skills

Common quality assurance skills

Test Cases, 6%
Food Handling, 6%
Java, 5%
Selenium, 4%
Data Entry, 4%
Test Procedures, 4%

Common quality improvement specialist skills

Performance Improvement, 8%
Quality Improvement, 7%
Data Collection, 7%
Patients, 5%
Patient Safety, 5%
Process Improvement, 4%

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Quality Assurance vs Quality Improvement Specialist

Updated January 8, 2025

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