Medical collections specialist vs collections specialist

The differences between medical collections specialists and collections 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 a collections specialist. Additionally, a medical collections specialist has an average salary of $36,249, which is higher than the $35,164 average annual salary of a collections specialist.

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

Medical collections specialist vs collections specialist overview

	Medical Collections Specialist	Collections Specialist
Yearly salary	$36,249	$35,164
Hourly rate	$17.43	$16.91
Growth rate	-8%	-8%
Number of jobs	83,342	40,277
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 28%	Bachelor's Degree, 34%
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 specialist do?

As their name entails, collections specialists collect payments for the outstanding accounts receivables. Collections specialists list the names of those who were unable to pay their overdue bills based on their delinquency severity. They locate the customers through loan documents, background checks, credit bureau information, and other databases or paperwork. These specialists are expected to be excellent in their negotiation and communication skills. They should also be trustworthy, reliable, and act professionally to be considered as good specialists.

Medical collections specialist vs collections specialist salary

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

	Medical Collections Specialist	Collections Specialist
Average salary	$36,249	$35,164
Salary range	Between $30,000 And $43,000	Between $27,000 And $45,000
Highest paying City	Tracy, CA	Boston, MA
Highest paying state	Connecticut	Connecticut
Best paying company	Pacific Medical	Kent Daniels & Associates
Best paying industry	Professional	Finance

Differences between medical collections specialist and collections specialist education

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

	Medical Collections Specialist	Collections Specialist
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 28%	Bachelor's Degree, 34%
Most common major	Health Care Administration	Business
Most common college	-	-

Medical collections specialist vs collections specialist demographics

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

	Medical Collections Specialist	Collections Specialist
Average age	46	46
Gender ratio	Male, 19.5% Female, 80.5%	Male, 30.5% Female, 69.5%
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, 12.2% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 18.5% Asian, 3.7% White, 61.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%
LGBT Percentage	8%	8%

Differences between medical collections specialist and collections 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.

Collections specialist example responsibilities.

Manage university A/R processes and enforce tuition payment policy.
Manage accounts for healthcare clients, review detailed patient information for payment resolution while abiding HIPPA privacy and security regulations.
Review denied Medicare and Maine Medicaid insurance claims for accuracy.
Analyze hospital insurance claims of individual patients for errors and contact major insurance carriers for claims dispute resolution.
Analyze accounts for patients ineligible for private insurance, Medicare or Medicaid and indicating inability to pay balance.
Possess effective persuasion and negotiation skills, excellent interpersonal and communications skills with the ability to deliver quality customer service.

Medical collections specialist vs collections specialist skills

Common medical collections specialist skills

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

Common collections specialist skills

Customer Service, 23%
Patients, 8%
Customer Accounts, 6%
Payment Arrangements, 5%
Delinquent Accounts, 4%
Phone Calls, 4%

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Medical Collections Specialist
Medical Collections Specialist vs Collections Specialist

Updated January 8, 2025

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