Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between intake specialists and referral specialists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 6-12 months to become an intake specialist, becoming a referral specialist takes usually requires 1-2 years. Additionally, an intake specialist has an average salary of $36,805, which is higher than the $36,143 average annual salary of a referral specialist.
The top three skills for an intake specialist include patients, customer service and social work. The most important skills for a referral specialist are patients, customer service, and medical terminology.
| Intake Specialist | Referral Specialist | |
| Yearly salary | $36,805 | $36,143 |
| Hourly rate | $17.69 | $17.38 |
| Growth rate | 12% | -8% |
| Number of jobs | 40,663 | 72,016 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 4 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 47% | Bachelor's Degree, 44% |
| Average age | 43 | 49 |
| Years of experience | 12 | 2 |
Intake coordinators manage the registration of clients or patients for medical services in a health care facility. They talk to patients and their families, determine their needs, and ask for patients' medical history and their mental and physical state. It is part of their job to obtain the insurance information of the patients. The necessary skills to become an intake coordinator include good writing and reading skills, good communication, and attention to detail.
Referral specialists are responsible for ensuring patients are already cleared for specialty service office visits. They resolve registration, pre-certification, and case-related affairs before the client's appointment. Also, they give support to clinical staff to manage the administrative components of clinical referrals for many services. They must gather relevant information from financial counselors, insurance carriers, and other supplementary staff to make sure the patient's financial responsibility for services are provided. Additionally, they act as a liaison between the patients, physicians, hospitals, health insurance vendors, or other referral sources.
Intake specialists and referral specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Intake Specialist | Referral Specialist | |
| Average salary | $36,805 | $36,143 |
| Salary range | Between $26,000 And $51,000 | Between $29,000 And $43,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Washington, DC |
| Highest paying state | California | Connecticut |
| Best paying company | Citi | Cognizant |
| Best paying industry | Government | Non Profits |
There are a few differences between an intake specialist and a referral specialist in terms of educational background:
| Intake Specialist | Referral Specialist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 47% | Bachelor's Degree, 44% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | SUNY at Binghamton | - |
Here are the differences between intake specialists' and referral specialists' demographics:
| Intake Specialist | Referral Specialist | |
| Average age | 43 | 49 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 20.7% Female, 79.3% | Male, 15.3% Female, 84.7% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 11.7% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 21.4% Asian, 6.3% White, 54.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.6% | Black or African American, 9.6% Unknown, 3.8% Hispanic or Latino, 12.0% Asian, 3.8% White, 70.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 9% |