What does a patient advocate do?
A patient advocate is responsible for supporting the patients with the medical processes in a healthcare institution, assisting them with insurance claims and medical billing disputes, verifying treatment procedures, and conducting referrals to medical professionals based on the patient's needs. Patient advocates facilitate a payment plan for the patients, discussing this plan to the financial department of the facility. They also address the patients' inquiries and concerns, as well as their complaints with hospital operations, immediately raising these issues to higher management.
Patient advocate responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real patient advocate resumes:
- Manage the complaint process as required by CMS for the hospital.
- Provide support for emergencies by managing inappropriate behaviors, aggressive patients, CPR and persons in crisis.
- Train to welcome and register patients at ESI triage window.
- Document patients medical problems using ICD 9 and CPT coding for patients diagnosis.
- Pull any incoming referrals, triage them, and schedule patients with the appropriate doctor.
- Collect and review patient information to determine patients' eligibility for Medicaid and charity program assistance.
- Determine eligibility of uninsure hospital patients for Medicaid, disability, victim of crime, and other programs.
- Work closely with doctors offices and nursing staff to obtain CPT codes and cost estimates for procedures.
- Handle claim denials and/or appeals with confidentiality and following HIPAA regulations.
- Handle highly confidential records and information in accordance with HIPAA regulations.
- Interview patients; verify demographic and insurance information in the Invision application program.
- Review patients' clinical needs and work proactively with select providers regarding reimbursement and payment.
- Register or pre-register all schedule patients for admission, partial hospitalization, and outpatient services.
- Aid and assist applicants in the completion of applications to acquire relevant information need to determine Medicaid eligibility.
- Obtain all necessary documentation prior to surgery such as proof of identification, copy of insurance and require insurance referrals.
Patient advocate skills and personality traits
We calculated that 28% of Patient Advocates are proficient in Patients, Customer Service, and Patient Care. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Computer skills, and Customer-service skills.
We break down the percentage of Patient Advocates that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Patients, 28%
Reviewed patients' clinical needs and worked proactively with selected providers regarding reimbursement and payment.
- Customer Service, 11%
Formulated strategic plans to improve the overall patient satisfaction during out -patient clinical care visits and telephone customer service interactions.
- Patient Care, 5%
Collected information regarding overall patient care and satisfaction of their hospital experience and presented findings and recommendations to hospital administration.
- Medicaid, 4%
Cross-trained in inpatient screening, outpatient screening, QMB Medicaid eligibility, inpatient Prison account management, Spend-down Medicaid eligibility.
- Financial Assistance, 4%
Key responsibilities included assisting patients with obtaining state assistance or other third-party financial assistance, including obtaining and completing necessary documents.
- Patient Accounts, 4%
Recorded and maintained complete and accurate documentation of financial activities performed on patient accounts.
"patients," "customer service," and "patient care" are among the most common skills that patient advocates use at work. You can find even more patient advocate responsibilities below, including:
Communication skills. One of the key soft skills for a patient advocate to have is communication skills. You can see how this relates to what patient advocates do because "customer service representatives must be able to provide clear information in writing, by phone, or in person." Additionally, a patient advocate resume shows how patient advocates use communication skills: "maintained ongoing communication with government agencies regarding the status of claims. "
Customer-service skills. This is an important skill for patient advocates to perform their duties. For an example of how patient advocate responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "representatives help companies retain customers by professionally answering questions and helping to resolve complaints." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a patient advocate: "drafted payment plans for customers after analyzing their financial situations used standard collection procedures and negotiated payment arrangements".
Interpersonal skills. patient advocate responsibilities often require "interpersonal skills." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "representatives should be able to create positive interactions with customers." This resume example shows what patient advocates do with interpersonal skills on a typical day: "use excellent interpersonal communication skills and is seen as a role model in dealing with different populations. "
Listening skills. A commonly-found skill in patient advocate job descriptions, "listening skills" is essential to what patient advocates do. Patient advocate responsibilities rely on this skill because "representatives must listen carefully to ensure that they understand customers in order to assist them." You can also see how patient advocate duties rely on listening skills in this resume example: "scheduled appointments communicated with a diverse community worked with a team of individuals utilized multiple computer systems"
Patience. While "patience" is last on this skills list, don't underestimate its importance to patient advocate responsibilities. Much of what a patient advocate does relies on this skill, seeing as "representatives should be patient and polite, especially when interacting with dissatisfied customers." Here is a resume example of how this skill is used in the everyday duties of patient advocates: "respond to all patient interactions professionally with tact, patience, and compassion"
The three companies that hire the most patient advocates are:
- Tenet Healthcare51 patient advocates jobs
- Change Healthcare45 patient advocates jobs
- FastMed Urgent Care27 patient advocates jobs
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Compare different patient advocates
Patient advocate vs. Insurance coordinator
An insurance coordinator is responsible for evaluating and validating insurance information to verify claims and process the necessary claims resolutions for parties. Insurance coordinators submit claims statements timely to the insurance officers for review, coordinate with the clients for inquiries and updates, and reach out to medical institutions for accurate filing of payments. An insurance coordinator must have excellent communication and analytical skills to assess reports, resolve claims discrepancies, and escalate high-level complaints to the officers for immediate action.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a patient advocate are more likely to require skills like "financial assistance," "telephone calls," "financial counselors," and "english language." On the other hand, a job as an insurance coordinator requires skills like "medical billing," "patient insurance," "diagnosis codes," and "financial arrangements." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Insurance coordinators earn the highest salaries when working in the pharmaceutical industry, with an average yearly salary of $33,609. On the other hand, patient advocates are paid more in the health care industry with an average salary of $35,016.insurance coordinators tend to reach similar levels of education than patient advocates. In fact, insurance coordinators are 4.5% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.4% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Patient advocate vs. Referral coordinator
A referral coordinator works with insurance companies and care providers to share essential patient information and assists primarily in scheduling appointments and managing health insurance issues. As a referral coordinator, you will work directly with the patient, patient families, or even social workers, depending on the job and patient needs. Other job responsibilities include general administrative or clerical tasks such as setting up appointments for new and existing patients, verifying insurance information before appointments, and answering phone calls.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real patient advocate resumes. While patient advocate responsibilities can utilize skills like "financial assistance," "patient accounts," "financial counselors," and "english language," referral coordinators use skills like "patient referrals," "patient demographics," "appointment scheduling," and "home health."
Referral coordinators may earn a lower salary than patient advocates, but referral coordinators earn the most pay in the health care industry with an average salary of $35,297. On the other hand, patient advocates receive higher pay in the health care industry, where they earn an average salary of $35,016.referral coordinators earn similar levels of education than patient advocates in general. They're 3.5% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.4% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Patient advocate vs. Registration specialist
A registration specialist is responsible for managing patient information, including the verification of their insurance details and medical treatment schedules. Registration specialists assign admission rooms and processing payments for discharge. They also assist patients with the completion of medical forms by helping them fill-out papers with the most accurate information. A registration specialist performs administrative and clerical duties as needed, requiring them to have excellent data management skills to process information and provide the highest quality care services for the patients.
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a patient advocate is likely to be skilled in "financial counselors," "english language," "government agencies," and "cycle management," while a typical registration specialist is skilled in "patient registration," "home health," "basic math," and "registration process."
Registration specialists make a very good living in the health care industry with an average annual salary of $30,648. On the other hand, patient advocates are paid the highest salary in the health care industry, with average annual pay of $35,016.registration specialists typically earn lower educational levels compared to patient advocates. Specifically, they're 5.5% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.4% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Patient advocate vs. Registration representative
In medical facilities, a registration representative serves as the patients' first point of contact in clinics and hospitals. They primarily greet patients, identify their needs, gather personal and medical information, and assist them in filling out forms. They must also handle admission and discharge procedures, process payments, arrange payment plans, and collect insurance information. Furthermore, as a registered representative, it is essential to maintain an active communication line with staff for a smooth and efficient workflow.
Even though a few skill sets overlap between patient advocates and registration representatives, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a patient advocate might have more use for skills like "financial counselors," "english language," "government agencies," and "cycle management." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of registration representatives require skills like "patient registration," "physician orders," "insurance cards," and "insurance authorizations. "
The health care industry tends to pay the highest salaries for registration representatives, with average annual pay of $34,337. Comparatively, the highest patient advocate annual salary comes from the health care industry.The average resume of registration representatives showed that they earn lower levels of education compared to patient advocates. So much so that theyacirc;euro;trade;re 5.8% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree by 0.6%.Types of patient advocate
Updated January 8, 2025
