How To Become An Outpatient Clerk: What It Is and Career Path

What is an outpatient clerk and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being an outpatient clerk. For example, did you know that they make an average of $15.83 an hour? That's $32,917 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -5% and produce -130,800 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreOutpatient ClerkUS Average

Salary

2.6

Avg. Salary $32,917

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.6

Growth rate -5%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.7

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.94%

Asian 8.24%

Black or African American 8.65%

Hispanic or Latino 23.74%

Unknown 4.48%

White 53.96%

Gender

female 87.61%

male 12.39%

Age - 50

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 - 50

Stress level

6.6

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

4.3

Complexity level is basic

7 - challenging

Work life balance

7.1

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become an outpatient clerk

Explore outpatient clerk education requirements

Most common outpatient clerk degrees

Bachelor's

29.2 %

High School Diploma

24.2 %

Associate

22.5 %

Start to develop specific outpatient clerk skills

Skills	Percentages
Patients	22.91%
Schedule Appointments	11.21%
Data Entry	11.02%
Insurance Eligibility	9.27%
Direct Phone Calls	7.84%

Complete relevant outpatient clerk training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New outpatient clerks 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 an outpatient clerk based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real outpatient clerk resumes.

Research outpatient clerk duties and responsibilities

Manage confidential patient information according to HIPPA guidelines.
File Medicare, follow-up insurance claims, prepare Medicaid logs.
Provide proper CPT codes to outside facilities so that prior authorization can be obtain for the correct exams.
Develop and maintain databases for radiology protocol.

Prepare your outpatient clerk resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your outpatient clerk 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 an outpatient clerk resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable outpatient clerk resume templates

Build a professional outpatient clerk 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 outpatient clerk resume.