How To Become A Medicaid Specialist: What It Is and Career Path

What is a medicaid specialist and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

With the dedication to get the right people the right care plans, a medicaid specialist needs to have a thorough understanding of government policies and legislation regarding health care options. While notifying clients of their eligibility is daunting to most people, these specialists take the initiative to give their clients every opportunity available.

Medicaid specialists help people with enrollment in Medicaid and other government care options. Reviewing financial statements, checking personal information, and analyzing eligibility requirements is a major part of a medicaid specialist's day. As a quality problem-solver, medicade specialists are expected to be able to guide applicants in the right direction for their best choice, which may include interviews and troubleshooting pain points.

Many establishments will require a bachelor's degree in health care administration, nursing, social work, or a related field. However, having several years of experience in the industry will be just as important when applying. This is a full-time position that can make between $36,000 and $58,000 a year.

ScoreMedicaid SpecialistUS Average

Salary

3.5

Avg. Salary $44,308

Avg. Salary $59,228

Diversity

3.6

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.19%

Asian 7.79%

Black or African American 21.58%

Hispanic or Latino 14.72%

Unknown 4.17%

White 50.54%

Gender

female 83.32%

male 16.68%

Age - 47

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 47

Stress level

7.8

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

6.6

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

8.4

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a medicaid specialist

Explore medicaid specialist education requirements

Most common medicaid specialist degrees

Bachelor's

53.1 %

Associate

19.5 %

Master's

9.1 %

Start to develop specific medicaid specialist skills

Skills	Percentages
Patients	22.82%
Home Health	12.83%
Medicaid Eligibility	12.82%
Rehabilitation	8.53%
Social Work	5.10%

Complete relevant medicaid specialist training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New medicaid specialists learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a medicaid specialist based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real medicaid specialist resumes.

Research medicaid specialist duties and responsibilities

Generate reports for managing compliance with Medicaid documentation in support of electronic billing to MCO
Acquire valuable expertise of HIPAA, Medicaid and patient confidentiality.
Provide excellent compassionate customer service to all patients, honoring patient privacy according to HIPAA regulations.
Review referrals and screen all uninsure patients seen at contract HCA hospitals for potential Medicaid and/or disability eligibility.

Get medicaid specialist experience

Generally, it takes 1-2 years to become a medicaid specialist. The most common roles before becoming a medicaid specialist include customer service representative, administrative assistant team lead and cashier.

Prepare your medicaid specialist resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your medicaid specialist resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a medicaid specialist resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable medicaid specialist resume templates

Build a professional medicaid specialist resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your medicaid specialist resume.