How to hire a patient care advocate

How to hire a patient care advocate, step by step

Here's a step-by-step patient care advocate hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a patient care advocate job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new patient care advocate
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a patient care advocate do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   The patient care advocate hiring process starts by determining what type of worker you actually need. Certain roles might require a full-time employee, whereas part-time workers or contractors can do others.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   You should also consider the ideal background you'd like them a patient care advocate to have before you start to hire. For example, what industry or field would you like them to have experience in, what level of seniority or education does the job require, and how much it'll cost to hire a patient care advocate that fits the bill.

   Here's a comparison of patient care advocate salaries for various roles:

   Type of Patient Care Advocate	Description	Hourly rate
   Patient Care Advocate	Customer service representatives interact with customers to handle complaints, process orders, and provide information about an organization’s products and services.	$10-24
   Account Management Representative	An account management representative is in charge of overseeing client accounts, ensuring everything runs smoothly and efficiently. They may work directly with clients to answer inquiries, identify their needs, provide advice, and resolve any issues or concerns... Show more	$12-37
   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... Show more	$12-20

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Patients
   • Patient Care
   • PCA
   • Social Work
   • HIPAA
   • Vital Signs
   • Productivity Standards
   • Retail Pharmacies
   • Corrective Action
   • Mail Order
   • Outbound Calls
   • Inbound Calls
   • Customer Inquiries
   • Customer Service

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Communicate with insurance companies on a continuous basis to ensure hospital reimbursement and attain authorization for home and rehabilitation services.
   • Answer questions relate to pharmacy benefits while maintaining HIPAA confidentiality, productivity standards, and performance guidelines.
   • Assist patients with bathroom needs - bedside commode, bedpan, urinal, catheter care.
   • Know how to do lab work such as strep and flu testing, drawing blood, and EKG's.
   • Assist in all medical needs (CBG's, vitals, bathing, bed changes, EKG's).
   • Place catheters in patients of all ages and genders.

   More patient care advocate duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your patient care advocate job description helps attract top candidates to the position. A patient care advocate salary can be affected by several factors, such as geography, experience, seniority, certifications, and the prestige of the hiring company.

   For example, the average salary for a patient care advocate in Arkansas may be lower than in Hawaii, and an entry-level patient care advocate usually earns less than a senior-level patient care advocate. Additionally, a patient care advocate with certifications may command a higher salary, and working for a well-known company or start-up may also impact an employee's pay.

   Average patient care advocate salary

   $16.37hourly

   $34,043 yearly

   ---

   Entry-level patient care advocate salary

   $22,000 yearly salary

   Updated January 20, 2026

   Average patient care advocate salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$50,226	$24
   2	Massachusetts	$41,674	$20
   3	Nevada	$38,968	$19
   4	Oregon	$37,885	$18
   5	Maryland	$35,940	$17
   6	Arizona	$35,522	$17
   7	Colorado	$34,802	$17
   8	New York	$34,768	$17
   9	Georgia	$34,022	$16
   10	Wisconsin	$32,633	$16
   11	Rhode Island	$32,450	$16
   12	Texas	$32,034	$15
   13	Pennsylvania	$32,000	$15
   14	Virginia	$31,801	$15
   15	Florida	$31,307	$15
   16	Ohio	$31,074	$15
   17	Alabama	$30,747	$15
   18	Indiana	$30,301	$15
   19	Michigan	$30,179	$15
   20	Utah	$29,175	$14

   Average patient care advocate salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Huntington Hospital	$73,025	$35.11	7
   2	Stanford Health Care	$66,021	$31.74	76
   3	Portland State University	$60,384	$29.03	1
   4	NCH Healthcare System	$59,690	$28.70	36
   5	Centene	$54,460	$26.18	49
   6	University of California-Berkeley	$52,081	$25.04
   7	Southcoast Health	$49,775	$23.93	31
   8	ARA	$49,262	$23.68
   9	Prohealth Corp	$45,620	$21.93	2
   10	HealthTrust	$45,387	$21.82	8
   11	LifePoint Health	$44,761	$21.52	83
   12	White-Wilson Medical Center	$43,951	$21.13	2
   13	Advocate Aurora Health	$43,475	$20.90	24
   14	Bank of America	$42,907	$20.63	9
   15	Regional Medical Center of San Jose	$42,861	$20.61
   16	Emory Healthcare	$39,766	$19.12	131
   17	UnitedHealth Group	$39,763	$19.12	663
   18	Northwell Health	$39,079	$18.79	211
   19	Henry Ford Health System	$38,499	$18.51	1
   20	MCMC	$36,328	$17.47

4. Writing a patient care advocate job description

   A good patient care advocate job description should include a few things:

   • Summary of the role
   • List of responsibilities
   • Required skills and experience

   Including a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager is also appreciated by candidates. Here's an example of a patient care advocate job description:

   Patient care advocate job description example

   PAY: $18/hour + $.56 per mile

   START: 2 WEEKS FROM OFFER

   Shift: M-F; 8:30am - 5:00pm

   JOB OVERVIEW:

   This person will be required to answer calls quickly and assist customers with their needs. These customers will be calling about insurance questions, what products they are eligible for, what costs will look like, etc... Someone with Medical / Insurance customer service experience would be a perfect fit.

   Will coordinate the schedule for the clinical staff. Will verify insurance information and obtain the necessary authorizations and referral forms. Will process the orders in the computer system along with maintaining a current status on orders to be processed. File customer orders. Will discharge patients promptly and courteously and file medical records. Will prep all doc's for imaging as well.

   APPLY TODAY!

   About Aston Carter:

   Please Note: Scammers are posing as Aston Carter. We'll never contact you via Gmail, Telegram, or WhatsApp and we'll never solicit money from you.

   At Aston Carter, we're dedicated to expanding career opportunities for the skilled professionals who power our business. Our success is driven by the talented, motivated people who join our team across a range of positions - from recruiting, sales and delivery to corporate roles. As part of our team, employees have the opportunity for long-term career success, where hard work is rewarded and the potential for growth is limitless.

   Established in 1997, Aston Carter is a leading staffing and consulting firm, providing high-caliber talent and premium services to more than 7,000 companies across North America. Spanning four continents and more than 200 offices, we extend our clients' capabilities by seeking solvers and delivering solutions to address today's workforce challenges. For organizations looking for innovative solutions shaped by critical-thinking professionals, visit . Aston Carter is a company within Allegis Group, a global leader in talent solutions.

   The company is an equal opportunity employer and will consider all applications without regards to race, sex, age, color, religion, national origin, veteran status, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information or any characteristic protected by law.

   If you would like to request a reasonable accommodation, such as the modification or adjustment of the job application process or interviewing process due to a disability, please call or email for other accommodation options. However, if you have questions about this position, please contact the Recruiter located at the bottom of the job posting. The Recruiter is the sole point of contact for questions about this position.

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are various strategies that you can use to find the right patient care advocate for your business:

   • Consider promoting from within or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to find candidates who meet your education requirements.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to reach potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your patient care advocate job on Zippia to find and recruit patient care advocate candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   To successfully recruit patient care advocates, your first interview needs to engage with candidates to learn about their interest in the role and experience in the field. You can go into more detail about the company, the role, and the responsibilities during follow-up interviews.

   It's also good to ask about candidates' unique skills and talents. You can move on to the technical interview if a candidate is good enough for the next step.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new patient care advocate

   Once you've found the patient care advocate candidate you'd like to hire, it's time to write an offer letter. This should include an explicit job offer that includes the salary and the details of any other perks. Qualified candidates might be looking at multiple positions, so your offer must be competitive if you like the candidate. Also, be prepared for a negotiation stage, as candidates may way want to tweak the details of your initial offer. Once you've settled on these details, you can draft a contract to formalize your agreement.

   It's also good etiquette to follow up with applicants who don't get the job by sending them an email letting them know that the position has been filled.

   To prepare for the new employee's start date, you can create an onboarding schedule and complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9 forms, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Human Resources should also ensure that a new employee file is created.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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How much does it cost to hire a patient care advocate?