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.
194,720 people do this job in the US. $51,140 a year.
of the working time. Estimate.
- 94%
- 1%
- 5%
Measured, from Anthropic's usage data (2025). Counts help on part of a task.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 4.4 h long four times in five.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 3%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 83%. Today's estimate: 89%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
The tasks
Sorted by . 16 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Protect the security of medical records to ensure that confidentiality is maintained.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 25% | 50 min13 min to 1.7 h | 90%Half by now | |
| Review records for completeness, accuracy, and compliance with regulations.Done hourly or more by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 15% | 38 min13 min to 1.7 h | 95%Half by now | |
| Compile and maintain patients' medical records to document condition and treatment and to provide data for research or cost control and care improvement efforts.Done daily by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 10% | 1.1 h25 min to 2.5 h | 91%Half by now | |
| Maintain or operate a variety of health record indexes or storage and retrieval systems to collect, classify, store, or analyze information.Done daily by most who do it. | 9% | 38 min13 min to 1.7 h | 95%Half by now | |
| Identify, compile, abstract, and code patient data, using standard classification systems.Done daily by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 8% | 42 min13 min to 1.7 h | 94%Half by now | |
| Release information to persons or agencies according to regulations.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 7% | 33 min13 min to 1.1 h | 100%Half by now | |
| Scan patients' health records into electronic formats.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 5% | 13 min4 min to 38 min | Stays with people | |
| Enter data, such as demographic characteristics, history and extent of disease, diagnostic procedures, or treatment into computer.Done hourly or more by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 4% | 13 min4 min to 38 min | 99%Half by now | |
| Process patient admission or discharge documents.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 21 min8 min to 50 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Retrieve patient medical records for physicians, technicians, or other medical personnel.Done hourly or more by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 3% | 13 min4 min to 38 min | 99%Half by now | |
| Resolve or clarify codes or diagnoses with conflicting, missing, or unclear information by consulting with doctors or others or by participating in the coding team's regular meetings.Done daily by most who do it. | 3% | 38 min13 min to 1.3 h | 98%Half by now | |
| Assign the patient to diagnosis-related groups (DRGs), using appropriate computer software.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 2% | 25 min8 min to 1.3 h | 97%Half by now |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
- Medical Transcriptionists84% now, 85% by 2028
- Health Information Technologists and Medical Registrars9% now, 75% by 2028
- Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants87% now, 91% by 2028
- Medical Assistants41% now, 42% by 2028
- File Clerks31% now, 53% by 2028
- Patient Representatives41% now, 85% by 2028
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025).
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025).