Medical Records Specialists
Compile, process, and maintain medical records of hospital and clinic patients in a manner consistent with medical, administrative, ethical, legal, and regulatory requirements of the healthcare system. Classify medical and healthcare concepts, including diagnosis, procedures, medical services, and equipment, into the healthcare industry's numerical coding system. Includes medical coders.
Most important skills
- Reading Comprehension
- Critical Thinking
- Active Listening
- Writing
- Speaking
- Time Management
- Active Learning
- Monitoring
Key knowledge
- Administrative
- English Language
- Customer and Personal Service
- Computers and Electronics
- Administration and Management
- Communications and Media
- Public Safety and Security
- Education and Training
What the work involves
- Enter data, such as demographic characteristics, history and extent of disease, diagnostic procedures, or treatment into computer.
- Maintain or operate a variety of health record indexes or storage and retrieval systems to collect, classify, store, or analyze information.
- Process patient admission or discharge documents.
- Protect the security of medical records to ensure that confidentiality is maintained.
- Release information to persons or agencies according to regulations.
- Retrieve patient medical records for physicians, technicians, or other medical personnel.
- Review records for completeness, accuracy, and compliance with regulations.
- Scan patients' health records into electronic formats.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Conventional, Investigative, Social.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) (52.4% of expert ratings)
- Related experience
- None (20.3%)
- On-the-job training
- Anything beyond short demonstration, up to and including 1 month (41.1%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 3: Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Medical Records Specialists is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Moderate | Lower on contact with others than 59% of occupations compared | 47% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Moderate | Lower on dealing with the public than 54% of occupations compared | 45% of surveyed respondents chose “Very important” |
| Teamwork | Very high | Higher on teamwork than 88% of occupations compared | 72% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Low | Lower on freedom to make decisions than 76% of occupations compared | 71% of surveyed respondents chose “Some freedom” |
| Time pressure | High | Higher on time pressure than 68% of occupations compared | 53% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Conflict situations | Very low | Lower on conflict situations than 89% of occupations compared | 38% of surveyed respondents chose “Never” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Low | Lower on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 62% of occupations compared | 45% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week” |
| Consequence of error | Low | Lower on consequence of error than 70% of occupations compared | 30% of surveyed respondents chose “Not serious at all” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: high
- Conflict situations: very low
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: low
- Consequence of error: low
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 1.38%
- Contact with others about half the time: 16.95%
- Contact with others most of the time: 34.71%
- Constant contact with others: 46.96%
n = 27, Incumbent 08/2026
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 18.26%
- Fairly important: 8.66%
- Important: 11.46%
- Very important: 45.23%
- Extremely important: 16.39%
n = 27, Incumbent 08/2026
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 1.42%
- Very important: 27.07%
- Extremely important: 71.51%
n = 25, Incumbent 08/2026
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 0%
- Limited freedom: 24.62%
- Some freedom: 70.85%
- A lot of freedom: 4.53%
n = 26, Incumbent 08/2026
Time pressure
- Never: 9.29%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 0.59%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 0.46%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 52.5%
- Every day: 37.17%
n = 26, Incumbent 08/2026
Conflict situations
- Never: 38.23%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 35.15%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 9.67%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 3.28%
- Every day: 13.67%
n = 27, Incumbent 08/2026
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 10.17%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 36.02%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 44.73%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 4.07%
- Every day: 5.01%
n = 27, Incumbent 08/2026
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 29.61%
- Fairly serious: 15.55%
- Serious: 25.94%
- Very serious: 26.54%
- Extremely serious: 2.35%
n = 27, Incumbent 08/2026
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O*NET-SOC 29-2072.00 · SOC 29-2072 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8