---
title: "Will AI Replace Medical Records Specialists?"
description: "BLS rates medical records specialists' exposure to AI as very high. What that means, which parts of the work AI touches, and the 2025–2035 outlook (+7.8%…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/will-ai-replace-medical-records-specialists"
last-updated: "2026-10-15T08:19:32.066Z"
---

# Will AI Replace Medical Records Specialists? (2026)

**Short answer:** AI will reshape this job more than most, but BLS does not forecast it disappearing. The exposure is among the highest BLS measured, yet it still projects employment to grow faster than average.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics places medical records specialists in its very high AI exposure category, among the occupations most exposed to current AI. BLS projects employment to change by +7.8% over 2025–2035, against 3.5% for all occupations, with about 14,000 openings a year.

| Measure | Value | Source |
| --- | --- | --- |
| BLS relative AI exposure | Very high | BLS Employment Projections, AI exposure categories |
| NueCareer AI-resilience score | 25/100 | NueCareer analysis of O\*NET 31.0 Database |
| Projected employment change | +7.8% | BLS EP 2025–2035 |
| Openings a year | 14,000 | BLS EP 2025–2035 |
| Median annual wage | $51,140 | BLS OEWS May 2025 |

## Exposure categories

| BLS category | Occupations |
| --- | --- |
| Low | 203 |
| Moderate | 194 |
| High | 190 |
| Very high (this job) | 199 |

Exposure means AI could be or has been used to assist with or complete some of the work. BLS says it does not imply job loss, productivity gains, automation probability or wage effects. Method: https://www.bls.gov/emp/publications/ai-exposure-categories.htm

## What holds up

- Face-to-face discussions: 4.8/5 (O\*NET work context)
- Establishing and maintaining interpersonal relationships: 4.1/5 (O\*NET work activity importance)
- Developing and building teams: 3.8/5 (O\*NET work activity importance)
- Hands-on work with tools and objects: 3.7/5 (O\*NET work context)

## What AI reaches first

- Repeating the same tasks: 4.4/5 (O\*NET work context)
- Documenting/recording information: 4.0/5 (O\*NET work activity importance)
- Working with computers: 4.5/5 (O\*NET work activity importance)
- Processing information: 3.8/5 (O\*NET work activity importance)

## O\*NET tasks

- Protect the security of medical records to ensure that confidentiality is maintained.
- Review records for completeness, accuracy, and compliance with regulations.
- Retrieve patient medical records for physicians, technicians, or other medical personnel.
- Release information to persons or agencies according to regulations.
- Maintain or operate a variety of health record indexes or storage and retrieval systems to collect, classify, store, or analyze information.
- Scan patients' health records into electronic formats.

## Related careers less exposed to AI than medical records specialists

- [Licensed Practical Nurse](https://nuecareer.com/careers/licensed-practical-nurse): BLS exposure Low, median $64,400; [Will AI replace licensed practical nurses?](https://nuecareer.com/careers/will-ai-replace-licensed-practical-nurses)
- [Medical Assistant](https://nuecareer.com/careers/medical-assistant): BLS exposure Moderate, median $45,690; [Will AI replace medical assistants?](https://nuecareer.com/careers/will-ai-replace-medical-assistants)
- [Registered Nurse](https://nuecareer.com/careers/registered-nurse): BLS exposure High, median $97,550; [Will AI replace nurses?](https://nuecareer.com/careers/will-ai-replace-nurses)
- [Pharmacy Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/pharmacy-technician): BLS exposure High, median $45,750; [Will AI replace pharmacy technicians?](https://nuecareer.com/careers/will-ai-replace-pharmacy-technicians)
- [Allergist and Immunologist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/allergist-and-immunologist): BLS exposure High, median $265,930; [Will AI replace allergists and immunologists?](https://nuecareer.com/careers/will-ai-replace-allergists-and-immunologists)
- [Patient Representative](https://nuecareer.com/careers/patient-representative): BLS exposure High, median $50,290

## FAQ

**Will AI replace medical records specialists?**

AI will reshape this job more than most, but BLS does not forecast it disappearing. The exposure is among the highest BLS measured, yet it still projects employment to grow faster than average. BLS defines exposure as AI being able to assist with or complete some of the work, and says it does not imply job loss, productivity gains or wage effects. BLS projects employment to change by +7.8% over 2025–2035, against 3.5% for all occupations, with about 14,000 openings a year.

**How exposed are medical records specialists to AI?**

BLS sorts 786 occupations into four relative categories: low, moderate, high and very high. Medical Records Specialists are in the very high category, alongside 198 other occupations. The categories combine five public measures of where AI could be or already is used, and they compare occupations with each other rather than giving an absolute risk.

**What parts of a medical records specialist's job can AI do?**

In O\*NET's description of the work, the parts that overlap most with what AI handles well are repeating the same tasks, documenting/recording information and working with computers. The parts that hold up best are face-to-face discussions, establishing and maintaining interpersonal relationships and developing and building teams. These come from O\*NET ratings of how important each activity is to the job, read through NueCareer's AI-resilience method.

**Is being a medical records specialist a safe career from AI?**

On NueCareer's AI-resilience score, built from O\*NET work activities, medical records specialists score 25 out of 100, higher than 16% of the occupations we score. The job pays a median of $51,140 a year (BLS OEWS, May 2025). No job is fully safe from technological change, but the federal exposure category and the projected openings are the two numbers worth weighing.

**What careers similar to medical records specialists are less exposed to AI?**

Licensed Practical Nurse (low exposure, $64,400 median), Medical Assistant (moderate exposure, $45,690 median), Registered Nurse (high exposure, $97,550 median), Pharmacy Technician (high exposure, $45,750 median). Each is in a lower BLS exposure category than medical records specialists, and most are listed by O\*NET as related to the work.

Full profile: https://nuecareer.com/careers/medical-records-specialist.

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This bank includes information from the O\*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105).

O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology