Medical collections specialist vs collections coordinator

The differences between medical collections specialists and collections coordinators 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 a collections coordinator. Additionally, a collections coordinator has an average salary of $37,938, 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 a collections coordinator are customer service, patients, and phone calls.

Medical collections specialist vs collections coordinator overview

	Medical Collections Specialist	Collections Coordinator
Yearly salary	$36,249	$37,938
Hourly rate	$17.43	$18.24
Growth rate	-8%	-8%
Number of jobs	83,342	40,113
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 28%	Bachelor's Degree, 48%
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 a collections coordinator do?

Usually working alongside a company's account receivables team, a collections coordinator is in charge of developing strategies to optimize the payment collection operations. Among their responsibilities include reaching out to clients through calls or correspondence to remind them of their payment obligations, arranging appointments, processing payments, arranging payment terms, and researching a client's communication information such as cellphone number, address, or email. Moreover, a collections coordinator must maintain an active communication line with staff while promoting and enforcing the company's policies and regulations.

Medical collections specialist vs collections coordinator salary

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

	Medical Collections Specialist	Collections Coordinator
Average salary	$36,249	$37,938
Salary range	Between $30,000 And $43,000	Between $30,000 And $47,000
Highest paying City	Tracy, CA	New York, NY
Highest paying state	Connecticut	Connecticut
Best paying company	Pacific Medical	University of California, Berkeley
Best paying industry	Professional	Professional

Differences between medical collections specialist and collections coordinator education

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

	Medical Collections Specialist	Collections Coordinator
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 28%	Bachelor's Degree, 48%
Most common major	Health Care Administration	Business
Most common college	-	-

Medical collections specialist vs collections coordinator demographics

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

	Medical Collections Specialist	Collections Coordinator
Average age	46	46
Gender ratio	Male, 19.5% Female, 80.5%	Male, 26.6% Female, 73.4%
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, 12.1% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 20.8% Asian, 3.6% White, 59.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%
LGBT Percentage	8%	8%

Differences between medical collections specialist and collections coordinator 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.

Collections coordinator example responsibilities.

Plan and conduct sensitive HUMINT collection operations with an emphasis on managing and debriefing confidential sources.
Manage accounts receivable/payment, insurance billing and follow-up for a solo physician clinic, and direct communication with patients regarding bills.
Audit outstanding accounts and resolve any balances including calling Medicare, Medicaid, government, private or commercial insurances.
Perform daily follow-up on Medicare, Medicaid, workers compensation and commercial insurances.
Hand illustrate fully render with marker and colore pencil sketches and Photoshop render drawings.
Submit insurance appeals and provider disputes when necessary.

Medical collections specialist vs collections coordinator skills

Common medical collections specialist skills

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

Common collections coordinator skills

Customer Service, 15%
Patients, 12%
Phone Calls, 6%
Collection Efforts, 4%
Delinquent Accounts, 4%
Appeals, 4%

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Medical Collections Specialist
Medical Collections Specialist vs Collections Coordinator

Updated January 8, 2025

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