How To Become A Patient Account Coordinator: What It Is and Career Path

What is a patient account coordinator and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Patient account coordinators are responsible for checking outpatients in a health institution. They handle patient billing and balance inquiries and make a timely and appropriate resolution of all assigned accounts for third-party payers and patients to manage account receivables balances. They also ensure accurate and timely charge capture for clinic and hospital-based services. Patient account coordinators earn a median sum of $36,000 annually or $17 per hour.

Patient account coordinators work with interdisciplinary teams, patients, and agencies as necessary. Their duties may include charging audits, processing credit balances, and claiming adjustment processing including bad debt and charity, the proper and timely handling of patient accounts for compliance. They also report bad debt accounts and recoveries to the assigned external collection agency as determined.

Patient account coordinators typically hold a high school diploma or its equivalent. Although, a bachelor's degree in business administration, exercise science, healthcare management, or other related disciplines may prove advantageous in some instances. They are expected to have some years of medical billing and account follow-up experience.

ScorePatient Account CoordinatorUS Average

Salary

2.8

Avg. Salary $35,695

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.9

Growth rate -8%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.1

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.50%

Asian 4.00%

Black or African American 12.66%

Hispanic or Latino 19.05%

Unknown 4.25%

White 59.55%

Gender

female 88.02%

male 11.98%

Age - 46

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 - 46

Stress level

7.9

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

4.9

Complexity level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work life balance

7.6

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a patient account coordinator

Explore patient account coordinator education requirements

Most common patient account coordinator degrees

Bachelor's

34.1 %

Associate

29.5 %

High School Diploma

16.3 %

Start to develop specific patient account coordinator skills

Skills	Percentages
Patients	19.81%
Patient Accounts	9.96%
Credit Balances	9.21%
Appeals	6.92%
Medical Billing	3.61%

Complete relevant patient account coordinator training and internships

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

Research patient account coordinator duties and responsibilities

Accept and process healthcare claims and confidential medical records; verify patient eligibility and manage the Medicare and Medicaid billing process.
Perform appropriate follow-up for missing data elements such as CPT, HCPCS, ICD-9 codes and modifiers.
Be able to work with the current CPT, ICD-9 books, CPC certification are required for this position
Provide quality customer service, maintain confidentiality, problem solving, and accuracy while complying with all HIPAA regulations.

Prepare your patient account coordinator resume

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