Technicians who assemble medical records are also called health information technicians. Tumor registrars collect and maintain records of patients who have cancer. Once the record is organized, technicians assign a code to each diagnosis and procedure. They consult a classification manual to find the proper code. Experienced technicians remember many of the codes so they do not use the manual much.
Some technicians use computers to tabulate and analyze data.
The information is used to help improve patient care and control costs. It may also be used in legal actions or in response to surveys. Medical record techniciansduties vary with the size of the facility. In larger facilities, technicians may specialize in organizing or coding medical records. They may supervise medical record clerks and transcriptionists.