Flag gaps in a chart
Go through one patient's record and mark any blank date or partial entry so someone returns to it.
Career profile
Medical Records Specialist
Medical records specialists fill gaps in patient records, and some turn recorded care into codes.
One missing detail may leave a patient record unusable. Your work is spotting the gap and reaching the person who can fill it.
A day in the life
Enter codes in coding software
In coding jobs, you look up the note's diagnoses and procedures in references and type matching codes.
Send a clinician a pointed question
Ask a doctor or nurse when the record contradicts itself or lacks a detail you need for coding.
Fill a records request
Confirm a records request has the required authorization, then pull and prepare the files for the right recipient.
Quick facts
Usually a certificate
United States
$51,140/year
United States · May 2025
8% projected growth
United States · 2025–2035
Quick orientation
Preparation, pay & outlook
Preparation
Usually a certificateSome jobs accept a high school diploma plus healthcare experience.
Pay
$51,140/yearNational median, equivalent to $24.59/hour.
Outlook
8% projected growthAbout 14,000 openings annually, including replacements for workers who leave.
Fit, tradeoffs & changing tools
You might like this if…
- You like spotting small differences between documents.
- You enjoy applying rules and looking up unfamiliar terms.
- You can ask a precise question when information is unclear.
Things to weigh
- Repeated checking can feel monotonous, especially with deadlines approaching.
- A request for someone's records requires careful handling even when the caller is impatient.
Where AI may help
Coding software helps organize and assign codes; artificial intelligence may make that work faster.
What people still lead
You still investigate unclear documentation and ask clinicians for missing details.
What we can’t predict yet
How much coding becomes automated—and how that changes staffing—remains uncertain.
Pay in context
Earnings
The national median was $51,140 a year, or $24.59 an hour, in May 2025.
The national spread
The 10th-percentile wage was $37,000; the 90th was $81,150. These describe workers across the occupation, not starting and senior salaries.
Workplace makes a difference
Annual medians were $59,120 in hospitals and $47,120 in physicians' offices.
Getting started
Complete a coding or records certificate
- What the route involves
- Study medical terminology, anatomy and coding, then practice interpreting records.
- What it can lead to
- Meet the typical education level for entry.
- What to check
- A school certificate is separate from certification. For the Certified Coding Associate examination, the American Health Information Management Association requires a high school diploma and recommends training or experience. Passing the exam earns the credential.
Bring healthcare experience
- What the route involves
- Combine a high school diploma or equivalent with experience in a healthcare setting.
- What it can lead to
- Qualify for some records positions without a postsecondary certificate.
Check employers' requirements: certification may be preferred or required.
After entry
Career paths
This starts where the entry routes leave off: early work, growing capability, and advancement or specialization.
Get established
Learn the employer's record system and check your entries against the original documents.
Handle harder records
On the coding track, build enough knowledge to research complicated cases and explain why a code fits. Continuing education helps you keep up with coding changes.
Review and teach
Experienced coding roles can add auditing, reviewing coworkers' coding and training newer staff.
Where you can work
A health system's coding team
In a centralized billing operation, you work with records from across the health system. Questions take you back to physicians and nurses; the finished codes support hospital or professional charges.
- Indoors
- Office
A release-of-information office
Your queue centers on requests for records. You communicate with patients or representatives and handle requests arriving through portals, mail or other channels, with authorization checks shaping what you send.
- Indoors
- Office
Try it
See whether the job clicks before you commit to the path.
Make two fictional visit records with names, dates and a short care note. Put a missing date in one and a conflicting detail in the other. Compare them, flag each problem, and write the clarification question you would send. Notice whether this careful checking holds your interest.
Stay safe: Use invented information only; do not use anyone's actual medical records.
Sources
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Medical Records Specialists. Accessed 2026-10-03.
- O*NET OnLine / U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. National Wages: Medical Records Specialists, 29-2072.00. Accessed 2026-10-03.
- O*NET OnLine. Medical Records Specialists, 29-2072.00. Accessed 2026-10-03.
- American Health Information Management Association. Certified Coding Associate. Accessed 2026-10-03.
- Duke Human Resources. Medical Records Coder I. Accessed 2026-10-03.
- Duke Human Resources. Medical Records Coder II. Accessed 2026-10-03.
- Duke Health. Medical Records Coder II — Patient Revenue Management Organization. Accessed 2026-10-03.
- Mayo Clinic. Medical records and imaging request. Accessed 2026-10-03.