Animal hospital clerk vs front office assistant

The differences between animal hospital clerks and front office assistants can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both an animal hospital clerk and a front office assistant. Additionally, an animal hospital clerk has an average salary of $45,287, which is higher than the $32,913 average annual salary of a front office assistant.

The top three skills for an animal hospital clerk include PET, appointment scheduling and front desk. The most important skills for a front office assistant are patients, customer service, and excellent interpersonal.

Animal hospital clerk vs front office assistant overview

	Animal Hospital Clerk	Front Office Assistant
Yearly salary	$45,287	$32,913
Hourly rate	$21.77	$15.82
Growth rate	-5%	-5%
Number of jobs	70,481	149,847
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 33%	Bachelor's Degree, 24%
Average age	47	47
Years of experience	2	2

What does an animal hospital clerk do?

An animal hospital clerk serves as the pet owners' primary point of contact when visiting animal hospitals. Mostly performing clerical tasks, their responsibilities revolve around greeting clients and gathering information about their pets, including their medical history, assisting in filling out admission forms, and performing brief interviews to identify the pets' needs. It is also their responsibility to determine and process the payment fees, discuss pet conditions to clients, and complete discharge procedures. Furthermore, an animal hospital clerk must maintain case records of all patients, answer calls and inquiries, and coordinate with veterinarians for an efficient workflow.

What does a front office assistant do?

Front office assistants typically work and perform their duty within the office. They do office support duties like welcome and greet customers, answer phone calls, and schedule and plan appointments. It is their responsibility to sort mails, route calls, and listen to voicemails. They need to organize and give out communications promptly. Also, they do clerical tasks, manage inventory, and maintain their work area. They must be keen to details, can multitask and have excellent communication and customer service skills.

Animal hospital clerk vs front office assistant salary

Animal hospital clerks and front office assistants have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Animal Hospital Clerk	Front Office Assistant
Average salary	$45,287	$32,913
Salary range	Between $31,000 And $66,000	Between $26,000 And $40,000
Highest paying City	-	Washington, DC
Highest paying state	-	Connecticut
Best paying company	-	University of California, Berkeley
Best paying industry	-	Health Care

Differences between animal hospital clerk and front office assistant education

There are a few differences between an animal hospital clerk and a front office assistant in terms of educational background:

	Animal Hospital Clerk	Front Office Assistant
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 33%	Bachelor's Degree, 24%
Most common major	Medical Assisting Services	Medical Assisting Services
Most common college	Monroe College	University of Pennsylvania

Animal hospital clerk vs front office assistant demographics

Here are the differences between animal hospital clerks' and front office assistants' demographics:

	Animal Hospital Clerk	Front Office Assistant
Average age	47	47
Gender ratio	Male, 23.0% Female, 77.0%	Male, 9.7% Female, 90.3%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 10.6% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 18.9% Asian, 6.6% White, 58.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.9%	Black or African American, 10.1% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 23.7% Asian, 7.5% White, 53.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.9%
LGBT Percentage	6%	6%

Differences between animal hospital clerk and front office assistant duties and responsibilities

Animal hospital clerk example responsibilities.

Manage front office check-in, insurance verification and certifications from doctors.
Maintain cleanliness of the company warehouse, operate warehouse machinery and organize the warehouse to ensure proper product placement.
Make appropriate notations in Meditech system.

Front office assistant example responsibilities.

Manage correspondence and documentation for OSHA compliance and hold some accounts payable responsibilities by coding invoices for processing and payment.
Ensure compliance with HIPAA and OSHA regulations to improve customer relations and promote favorable patient/physician interactions.
Download all transcription for the physicians and mail out letters and patient consults.
Utilize knowledge of ICD-9 and CPT coding by verifying explanation of benefits render to patient, for insurance purposes.
Collect co-pays, enter update demographics into EHR/EMR, enter ICD-9 and CPT codes as needed into patient records electronically
Verify insurance to include commercial and Medicaid.

Animal hospital clerk vs front office assistant skills

Common animal hospital clerk skills

PET, 66%
Appointment Scheduling, 17%
Front Desk, 6%
Surgical Procedures, 4%
Body Fluids, 4%
Blood Samples, 4%

Common front office assistant skills

Patients, 21%
Customer Service, 9%
Excellent Interpersonal, 7%
Patient Demographics, 5%
Patient Care, 5%
Front Desk, 4%

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Animal Hospital Clerk
Animal Hospital Clerk vs Front Office Assistant

Updated January 8, 2025

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