Medical collections specialist vs accounts receivable specialist

The differences between medical collections specialists and accounts receivable specialists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 6-12 months to become both a medical collections specialist and an accounts receivable specialist. Additionally, an accounts receivable specialist has an average salary of $39,873, which is higher than the $36,249 average annual salary of a medical collections specialist.

The top three skills for a medical collections specialist include patients, healthcare and medical collections. The most important skills for an accounts receivable specialist are customer service, patients, and data entry.

Medical collections specialist vs accounts receivable specialist overview

	Medical Collections Specialist	Accounts Receivable Specialist
Yearly salary	$36,249	$39,873
Hourly rate	$17.43	$19.17
Growth rate	-8%	-8%
Number of jobs	83,342	61,988
Job satisfaction	-	4.5
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 28%	Bachelor's Degree, 45%
Average age	46	46
Years of experience	12	12

What does a medical collections specialist do?

Medical collections specialists are responsible for the collection of insurance claims. The responsibilities of this position include locating debtors, contacting debtors to address the overdue payments, keeping records of debts, collecting updated information on client accounts and payments, processing payments, and reviewing records to ensure they are accurate. They also conduct follow ups for insurance reimbursement, repossess claims, draft appeals, and resolve unpaid claims.

What does an accounts receivable specialist do?

Accounts receivable specialists are members of the organization's finance or accounting department. They are responsible for managing the collection of payments for the company. They prepare official receipts and coordinate with account payable specialists from other companies with pending payables. They ensure that clients pay on time, and they also follow up on payments when necessary. They are responsible for checking whether the clients have already paid in full. Accounts receivable specialists are in charge of updating accounting records as well to ensure that client records are up to date.

Medical collections specialist vs accounts receivable specialist salary

Medical collections specialists and accounts receivable specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Medical Collections Specialist	Accounts Receivable Specialist
Average salary	$36,249	$39,873
Salary range	Between $30,000 And $43,000	Between $31,000 And $50,000
Highest paying City	Tracy, CA	Washington, DC
Highest paying state	Connecticut	Connecticut
Best paying company	Pacific Medical	InfosysPublicService
Best paying industry	Professional	Technology

Differences between medical collections specialist and accounts receivable specialist education

There are a few differences between a medical collections specialist and an accounts receivable specialist in terms of educational background:

	Medical Collections Specialist	Accounts Receivable Specialist
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 28%	Bachelor's Degree, 45%
Most common major	Health Care Administration	Business
Most common college	-	-

Medical collections specialist vs accounts receivable specialist demographics

Here are the differences between medical collections specialists' and accounts receivable specialists' demographics:

	Medical Collections Specialist	Accounts Receivable Specialist
Average age	46	46
Gender ratio	Male, 19.5% Female, 80.5%	Male, 18.2% Female, 81.8%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 12.8% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 20.8% Asian, 3.7% White, 58.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%	Black or African American, 12.9% Unknown, 4.2% Hispanic or Latino, 19.0% Asian, 3.9% White, 59.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%
LGBT Percentage	8%	8%

Differences between medical collections specialist and accounts receivable specialist duties and responsibilities

Medical collections specialist example responsibilities.

Manage accounts for healthcare clients, review detailed patient information for payment resolution while abiding HIPPA privacy and security regulations.
Job duties include collecting on HMO, PPO, Medicare, and HMO Medicaid.
Work directly with Medicare and HMO Medicaid plans, and statewide HMO/PPO/POS plans.
Reprocess denied medical claims using extensive appeal tactics or special appeals processing instructions for commercial and government carriers.
Adhere to all HIPAA guidelines as well as various policies and guidelines.
Provide itemized billing statements and screen HIPAA authorization forms for hundreds of legal firms.

Accounts receivable specialist example responsibilities.

Manage profitable accounts receivable ledgers for existing and new clientele maintaining accuracy of monies enter to appropriate relate account.
Perform accounts reconciliations, complex invoice research, statement reconciliations, complex invoice research, statement reconciliation and journal entries.
Follow company's standard operating procedures in cooperation with Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance providers to resolve billing issues.
Cash and credit allocation of customer payments in ROSS ERP system.
Prepare PowerPoint presentations, word documents, letters and spreadsheets while meeting deadlines.
Reconcile direct billing accounts and adjust product pricing utilizing JD Edwards EnterpriseONE ERP system.

Medical collections specialist vs accounts receivable specialist skills

Common medical collections specialist skills

Patients, 19%
Healthcare, 14%
Medical Collections, 7%
Medicaid, 5%
Patient Accounts, 5%
Appeals, 5%

Common accounts receivable specialist skills

Customer Service, 15%
Patients, 9%
Data Entry, 5%
Credit Card Payments, 4%
Reconciliations, 4%
Accounts Receivables, 3%

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Medical Collections Specialist
Medical Collections Specialist vs Accounts Receivable Specialist

Updated January 8, 2025

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