Insurance clerk vs registration specialist

The differences between insurance clerks and registration specialists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both an insurance clerk and a registration specialist. Additionally, an insurance clerk has an average salary of $33,089, which is higher than the $30,422 average annual salary of a registration specialist.

The top three skills for an insurance clerk include patients, insurance verification and data entry. The most important skills for a registration specialist are patients, customer service, and medical terminology.

Insurance clerk vs registration specialist overview

	Insurance Clerk	Registration Specialist
Yearly salary	$33,089	$30,422
Hourly rate	$15.91	$14.63
Growth rate	-3%	-4%
Number of jobs	147,755	79,118
Job satisfaction	2	-
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 29%	Bachelor's Degree, 38%
Average age	44	40
Years of experience	4	4

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.

What does a registration specialist do?

A registration specialist is responsible for managing patient information, including the verification of their insurance details and medical treatment schedules. Registration specialists assign admission rooms and processing payments for discharge. They also assist patients with the completion of medical forms by helping them fill-out papers with the most accurate information. A registration specialist performs administrative and clerical duties as needed, requiring them to have excellent data management skills to process information and provide the highest quality care services for the patients.

Insurance clerk vs registration specialist salary

Insurance clerks and registration specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Insurance Clerk	Registration Specialist
Average salary	$33,089	$30,422
Salary range	Between $27,000 And $39,000	Between $23,000 And $40,000
Highest paying City	Henderson, NV	Boston, MA
Highest paying state	New Hampshire	Massachusetts
Best paying company	Lenoir Memorial Hospital	Deloitte
Best paying industry	Finance	Health Care

Differences between insurance clerk and registration specialist education

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

	Insurance Clerk	Registration Specialist
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 29%	Bachelor's Degree, 38%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	-	University of Pennsylvania

Insurance clerk vs registration specialist demographics

Here are the differences between insurance clerks' and registration specialists' demographics:

	Insurance Clerk	Registration Specialist
Average age	44	40
Gender ratio	Male, 8.3% Female, 91.7%	Male, 14.5% Female, 85.5%
Race ratio	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%	Black or African American, 10.7% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 18.0% Asian, 6.0% White, 59.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%
LGBT Percentage	11%	7%

Differences between insurance clerk and registration specialist duties and responsibilities

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.

Registration specialist example responsibilities.

Attain and authenticate patient insurance information, counsel patients on changes in insurance policies, verify patient demographics.
Help patients through the registration and admitting processes and also contribute to the PBX department.
Input data entries for insurance billing; adding CPT codes and diagnosis from face sheets as patients arrive.
Act as hospital PBX operator.
Complete all charge entry, enter all CPT and ICD-9 codes for billing for multiple doctors each day.
Enter patient information and verify information according to HIPAA regulations.

Insurance clerk vs registration specialist skills

Common insurance clerk skills

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

Common registration specialist skills

Patients, 25%
Customer Service, 14%
Medical Terminology, 8%
Patient Registration, 5%
Insurance Verification, 4%
Data Entry, 4%

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Insurance Clerk vs Registration Specialist

Updated January 8, 2025

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