Patient care coordinator vs referral coordinator

The differences between patient care coordinators and referral coordinators can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 2-4 years to become a patient care coordinator, becoming a referral coordinator takes usually requires 1-2 years. Additionally, a referral coordinator has an average salary of $35,179, which is higher than the $34,884 average annual salary of a patient care coordinator.

The top three skills for a patient care coordinator include patients, customer service and home health. The most important skills for a referral coordinator are patients, customer service, and medical terminology.

Patient care coordinator vs referral coordinator overview

	Patient Care Coordinator	Referral Coordinator
Yearly salary	$34,884	$35,179
Hourly rate	$16.77	$16.91
Growth rate	-4%	-8%
Number of jobs	139,431	65,934
Job satisfaction	4	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 40%	Bachelor's Degree, 31%
Average age	40	49
Years of experience	4	2

What does a patient care coordinator do?

A patient care coordinator or care coordinator is a trained health professional who manages patients' health care, such as the elderly or disabled. Patient care coordinators educate patients about their health conditions and develop a plan to address their personal health care needs. To comply with health care laws and regulations, care coordinators must attend training and courses so that they are updated with the new developments in health care. They are also required to take up licensure examination and should have experience in care coordination or clinical practices.

What does a referral coordinator do?

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.

Patient care coordinator vs referral coordinator salary

Patient care coordinators and referral coordinators have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Patient Care Coordinator	Referral Coordinator
Average salary	$34,884	$35,179
Salary range	Between $23,000 And $52,000	Between $27,000 And $44,000
Highest paying City	Seattle, WA	Portland, ME
Highest paying state	Washington	Maine
Best paying company	Homestead Hospice	Horizon Laser Vision
Best paying industry	Health Care	Health Care

Differences between patient care coordinator and referral coordinator education

There are a few differences between a patient care coordinator and a referral coordinator in terms of educational background:

	Patient Care Coordinator	Referral Coordinator
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 40%	Bachelor's Degree, 31%
Most common major	Nursing	Business
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	-

Patient care coordinator vs referral coordinator demographics

Here are the differences between patient care coordinators' and referral coordinators' demographics:

	Patient Care Coordinator	Referral Coordinator
Average age	40	49
Gender ratio	Male, 11.7% Female, 88.3%	Male, 10.2% Female, 89.8%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 10.8% Unknown, 5.2% Hispanic or Latino, 24.0% Asian, 6.3% White, 53.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%	Black or African American, 9.6% Unknown, 3.8% Hispanic or Latino, 12.0% Asian, 3.8% White, 70.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%
LGBT Percentage	7%	9%

Differences between patient care coordinator and referral coordinator duties and responsibilities

Patient care coordinator example responsibilities.

Communicate with insurance companies on a continuous basis to ensure hospital reimbursement and attain authorization for home and rehabilitation services.
Manage caseload by providing care coordination to individuals with a primary intellectual/developmental disability diagnosis all of whom receive community-base waiver services.
Check in, check out patients, and do EKG's.
Gain knowledge relate to bundle payments for orthopedic patients and the rules and regulations set forth by CMS.
Respond to telephone inquiries, providing quality service to customers, PSR's and insurance representatives inquiring about patient accounts.
Prepare patients prior to MRI exam, obtain safety check lists and assist with the daily operations of the MRI department.

Referral coordinator example responsibilities.

Establish rapport with all PCP offices, hospital personnel, and manage care representatives.
Ensure CPT and ICD-9 coding are accurate and complete according to AMA's guidelines and for third party intermediaries.
Contact medical insurance companies and provide ICD-9 diagnosis and CPT procedure codes for patient's illness, condition or injury.
Apply ICD-9 and CPT-4 codes to complete referral requests online or via fax.
Conduct the entire office's EHR process and create a system to track old and new patient's records.
Incorporate core organizational values of quality, respect, integrity, partnership, and compassion in all activities and decisions.

Patient care coordinator vs referral coordinator skills

Common patient care coordinator skills

Patients, 32%
Customer Service, 13%
Home Health, 6%
Data Entry, 3%
Patient Appointments, 3%
Direct Patient Care, 3%

Common referral coordinator skills

Patients, 30%
Customer Service, 12%
Medical Terminology, 7%
Patient Care, 4%
Data Entry, 4%
EMR, 3%

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Office and Administrative Industry
Patient Care Coordinator
Patient Care Coordinator vs Referral Coordinator

Updated January 8, 2025

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