Business office clerk vs insurance clerk

The differences between business office clerks and insurance clerks can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 1-2 years to become a business office clerk, becoming an insurance clerk takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, an insurance clerk has an average salary of $33,089, which is higher than the $28,097 average annual salary of a business office clerk.

The top three skills for a business office clerk include patients, data entry and insurance verification. The most important skills for an insurance clerk are patients, insurance verification, and data entry.

Business office clerk vs insurance clerk overview

	Business Office Clerk	Insurance Clerk
Yearly salary	$28,097	$33,089
Hourly rate	$13.51	$15.91
Growth rate	-5%	-3%
Number of jobs	183,094	147,755
Job satisfaction	-	2
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 37%	High School Diploma, 29%
Average age	47	44
Years of experience	2	4

What does a business office clerk do?

A business office clerk is responsible for performing administrative and clerical duties to support business operations that would help the company achieve its daily goals and objectives. Business office clerks monitor business and financial transactions, manage inventories, respond to inquiries and concerns, direct visitors to the appropriate personnel, schedule appointments, and file reports. A business office clerk must have excellent communication and organizational skills, especially in finishing duties within the deadline, even under minimal supervision.

What does an insurance clerk do?

An insurance clerk usually works to process insurance, reinstatement, changes, or cancellations for a company or an individual account. They are responsible for monitoring, processing, and organizing different insurance claims for a client. They usually work closely with the company's insurance agent to provide necessary information to process the clients' application. This career requires a broad knowledge of local and state insurance policies, good attention to detail, excellent communication skills, customer service skills, and administrative skills.

Business office clerk vs insurance clerk salary

Business office clerks and insurance clerks have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Business Office Clerk	Insurance Clerk
Average salary	$28,097	$33,089
Salary range	Between $21,000 And $37,000	Between $27,000 And $39,000
Highest paying City	Tacoma, WA	Henderson, NV
Highest paying state	Alaska	New Hampshire
Best paying company	JPMorgan Chase & Co.	Lenoir Memorial Hospital
Best paying industry	Insurance	Finance

Differences between business office clerk and insurance clerk education

There are a few differences between a business office clerk and an insurance clerk in terms of educational background:

	Business Office Clerk	Insurance Clerk
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 37%	High School Diploma, 29%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	-

Business office clerk vs insurance clerk demographics

Here are the differences between business office clerks' and insurance clerks' demographics:

	Business Office Clerk	Insurance Clerk
Average age	47	44
Gender ratio	Male, 17.9% Female, 82.1%	Male, 8.3% Female, 91.7%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 10.6% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 20.9% Asian, 8.1% White, 54.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.0%	Black or African American, 13.8% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 14.4% Asian, 3.9% White, 63.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%
LGBT Percentage	6%	11%

Differences between business office clerk and insurance clerk duties and responsibilities

Business office clerk example responsibilities.

Manage front office check-in, insurance verification and certifications from doctors.
Verify insurance using knowledge of medical terminology, provide customer service, and schedule patients for surgery.
Demonstrate ICD-9, CPT, and data entry.
Expand knowledge of ICD-9, CPT and HCPCS codes to include cardiovascular procedures
Complete duties in payroll, accounts receivable, accounts payable, purchase orders and internal control implementations.
Ensure all documents are completed, charts update, and records meet HIPPA regulations.

Insurance clerk example responsibilities.

Manage front office check-in, insurance verification and certifications from doctors.
Establish and implement procedures for completion of patient super bills with proper diagnostic coding utilizing ICD-9 and CPT code manuals.
Maintain patient medical records insuring diagnosis codes (ICD-9) are itemized correctly and name and address of insurance carriers record.
Schedule and obtain authorization for outpatient procedures for patients via private insurance, worker's compensation, and Medicare/ Medicaid.
Complete several ICD-10 training courses.
Perform medical coding with most accurate and descriptive HCPCS code.

Business office clerk vs insurance clerk skills

Common business office clerk skills

Patients, 26%
Data Entry, 13%
Insurance Verification, 7%
Hippa, 4%
Office Equipment, 3%
Customer Service, 3%

Common insurance clerk skills

Patients, 25%
Insurance Verification, 7%
Data Entry, 7%
Customer Service, 6%
Insurance Coverage, 5%
Computer System, 3%

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Business Office Clerk vs Insurance Clerk

Updated January 8, 2025

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