Medical Coder job description
54 verified openings in Health IT & Informatics
A chart note becomes a claim only after someone turns it into codes. Coders identify, abstract, and code patient data using standard classification systems, assign diagnosis-related groups, and go to the classification manuals when a disease process is unfamiliar. BLS files the work under medical records specialists, 200,700 of them in 2025, with hospitals employing 28 percent, physicians' offices 18 percent, and professional, scientific, and technical services firms 10 percent. Median pay reached $51,140 in May 2025, with a tenth-percentile floor of $37,000 and a ninetieth-percentile ceiling of $81,150.
Core Duties and Responsibilities
Records work here runs end to end. Coders review patient files for completeness and accuracy, enter demographics, history, extent of disease, diagnostic procedures, and treatment, and maintain the indexes and retrieval systems that let a record be found again for reimbursement, research, and cost control. Confidentiality is a standing duty rather than a line in a handbook, since these specialists often control who touches a patient file at all.
Common Skills and Technologies
Epic Systems shows up in postings often enough that O*NET marks it in demand, along with Microsoft Excel, Word, Outlook, and Office. Behind those are eClinicalWorks EHR, MEDITECH, Henry Schein Dentrix on the dental side, Microsoft Access and SQL Server for the data itself, SQL Server Reporting Services and IBM SPSS Statistics for analysis, and Visio for mapping the process. Optical character recognition, voice recognition, and categorization software fill out the list, which is the shape of a job that turns documents into structured data. O*NET publishes no skill ratings for the occupation; its task list puts accuracy and discretion at the center instead.
Education, Training, and Career Path
Most coders start from a postsecondary certificate covering medical terminology, health data standards, and classification systems. Some positions take experience plus a diploma and others want a degree; O*NET Job Zone Three covers that whole range. Employers commonly prefer certified coders or expect certification soon after hire. The Army's 68G patient administration specialty crosswalks straight into this occupation. Advancement runs toward health information technologist and medical registrar work, a step BLS says usually takes a higher certification or a degree. The projection is 8 percent growth by 2035, about 14,000 openings a year.
Sources: O*NET 30.0, 29-2072.00 Medical Records Specialists, https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/29-2072.00. BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, 29-2072, https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes292072.htm.