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Insurance follow up representative vs billing specialist

The differences between insurance follow up representatives and billing specialists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a billing specialist has an average salary of $35,624, which is higher than the $33,022 average annual salary of an insurance follow up representative.

The top three skills for an insurance follow up representative include patients, customer service and medical billing. The most important skills for a billing specialist are patients, customer service, and data entry.

Insurance follow up representative vs billing specialist overview

Insurance Follow Up RepresentativeBilling Specialist
Yearly salary$33,022$35,624
Hourly rate$15.88$17.13
Growth rate6%-3%
Number of jobs57,03455,205
Job satisfaction5-
Most common degreeAssociate Degree, 28%Bachelor's Degree, 31%
Average age4646
Years of experience-2

What does an insurance follow up representative do?

Insurance Follow Up Representatives are responsible for processing and bringing claim resolution to outstanding medical insurance accounts for a healthcare organization. Their duties include managing status account updates, assessing the course of action for accounts, conducting outbound calls, handling incoming calls, and processing correspondences with relevant parties involved. They also perform reconciliation, issue escalation to team leaders, and ensure compliance with company policies and regulations.

What does a billing specialist do?

Billing specialists are accounting or finance employees who are responsible for sending out billing invoices to clients. They calculate charges that their clients have incurred. They then write bills, ensure that all details are correct, and send these out to clients. They also manage payment due dates and ensure that clients are duly reminded of such deadlines. Billing specialists also manage client accounts and ensure that they are paying on time. They help identify clients who have outstanding payables and send out collection notices to them. At times, billing specialists also manage the receipt of payments to manage account records better.

Insurance follow up representative vs billing specialist salary

Insurance follow up representatives and billing specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.

Insurance Follow Up RepresentativeBilling Specialist
Average salary$33,022$35,624
Salary rangeBetween $26,000 And $41,000Between $27,000 And $45,000
Highest paying City-Washington, DC
Highest paying state-Delaware
Best paying company-TIBCO Software
Best paying industry-Manufacturing

Differences between insurance follow up representative and billing specialist education

There are a few differences between an insurance follow up representative and a billing specialist in terms of educational background:

Insurance Follow Up RepresentativeBilling Specialist
Most common degreeAssociate Degree, 28%Bachelor's Degree, 31%
Most common majorHealth Care AdministrationBusiness
Most common collegeUniversity of PennsylvaniaUniversity of Pennsylvania

Insurance follow up representative vs billing specialist demographics

Here are the differences between insurance follow up representatives' and billing specialists' demographics:

Insurance Follow Up RepresentativeBilling Specialist
Average age4646
Gender ratioMale, 11.3% Female, 88.7%Male, 12.7% Female, 87.3%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 9.2% Unknown, 3.6% Hispanic or Latino, 15.7% Asian, 4.8% White, 66.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%Black or African American, 10.9% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 19.2% Asian, 7.4% White, 57.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.9%
LGBT Percentage7%7%

Differences between insurance follow up representative and billing specialist duties and responsibilities

Insurance follow up representative example responsibilities.

  • Conduct analysis/research and lead dispute resolutions in appeals processes.
  • Cold-Cal to generate leads for individual life and disability insurance and annuities.
  • Network with various patient accounts financial officers of several medical centers and hospitals to certify uninsure patients for Medicaid.
  • Study ICD-9 and ICD-10 to gain further knowledge of the new changes coming within the coding.
  • Maintain all HIPPA rules, regulations and guidelines.
  • Apply all HIPPA rules and regulations to all accounts.
  • Show more

Billing specialist example responsibilities.

  • Use of QuickBooks to manage vendors' accounts, set up filing system to maintain files and supporting billing documents.
  • Manage the daily correspondence with keeping doctor/patient confidentiality under consideration along with HIPPA regulations.
  • Use independent judgment, manage and impart confidential information appropriately per HIPAA regulations and company requirements.
  • Accept and process healthcare claims and confidential medical records; verify patient eligibility and manage the Medicare and Medicaid billing process.
  • Provide additional information/clarification for insurance claims using knowledge of CPT, ICD-9, and HCPCS codes, as well as modifiers.
  • Assist staff with proper billing for patients, ensure proper coding using ICD-10, ICD-9 and CPT-4 coding.
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Insurance follow up representative vs billing specialist skills

Common insurance follow up representative skills
  • Patients, 17%
  • Customer Service, 10%
  • Medical Billing, 7%
  • Patient Accounts, 7%
  • Phone Calls, 6%
  • Appeals, 6%
Common billing specialist skills
  • Patients, 16%
  • Customer Service, 10%
  • Data Entry, 9%
  • Medical Billing, 7%
  • Medicaid, 6%
  • CPT, 3%