What does a patient care representative do?
PCRs (Patient Care Representatives) are given responsibilities like updating and verifying patient information after every visit, scheduling and reminding patients about appointments, and informing patients about delays and how long the estimated waiting times will be. They are also responsible for obtaining patients' personal information like their address, contact details, insurance information, and medical and surgical history. They must be able to communicate with patients, family members, and medical staff to give them all the information they need to treat the person looking for medical help.
Patient care representative responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real patient care representative resumes:
- Manage cash and co-payments accurately and discharge patients providing them with proper medical notes and information before exiting.
- Verify insurance, Medicaid, Medicare, register patients, and code proper ICD-9 and CPT codes on encounters.
- Utilize medical terminology, CPT, HCPC and ICD-9 and patient information into new authorizations.
- Interview patients to gather information pertinent to their Medicaid application.
- Screen, identify, and enter ICD-9 coding from treatment record forms.
- Maintain patient confidentiality and follow HIPAA rules.
- Maintain customer/patient confidentiality according to HIPAA and company standards and office policies.
- Maintain practitioners' and patients' database to facilitate efficient time management and expedite continuity of calls.
- Work with Medicare, Medicaid and commercial insurances to verify insurance information for accuracy and completeness and resolve discrepancies as needed.
- Enter confidential personal health information and financial information into IDX system with a high rate of accuracy and confidentiality.
Patient care representative skills and personality traits
We calculated that 25% of Patient Care Representatives are proficient in Patients, Patient Care, and Home Health. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Computer skills, and Customer-service skills.
We break down the percentage of Patient Care Representatives that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Patients, 25%
Maintained practitioners' and patients' database to facilitate efficient time management and expedite continuity of calls.
- Patient Care, 13%
Monitored the status of all patients receiving Respite or General Inpatient Care and facilitated the communication between the agency/hospital/physician.12.
- Home Health, 7%
Worked closely with Microsoft to develop a Home Health specific CRM platform that LHC eventually bought and still uses today, 2009
- Cash Management, 5%
Managed collections of daily cash management.
- Phone Calls, 4%
Obtained client information by answering telephone calls; verifying information.
- CPT, 3%
Verified insurance, Medicaid, Medicare, registered patients, and coded proper ICD-9 and CPT codes on encounters.
Common skills that a patient care representative uses to do their job include "patients," "patient care," and "home health." You can find details on the most important patient care representative responsibilities below.
Communication skills. One of the key soft skills for a patient care representative to have is communication skills. You can see how this relates to what patient care representatives do because "customer service representatives must be able to provide clear information in writing, by phone, or in person." Additionally, a patient care representative resume shows how patient care representatives use communication skills: "coached pcr's to encourage self-sufficiency through constant communication and daily ride-alongs. "
Customer-service skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of patient care representatives is customer-service skills. This skill is critical to many everyday patient care representative duties, as "representatives help companies retain customers by professionally answering questions and helping to resolve complaints." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "skilled with patient registration and customer service comprehensive understanding of medical insurance claims experienced with patient confidentiality and hippa. "
Interpersonal skills. patient care representative 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 care representatives do with interpersonal skills on a typical day: "utilized customer service and interpersonal skills to resolve patient scheduling conflicts. "
Listening skills. Another crucial skill for a patient care representative to carry out their responsibilities is "listening skills." A big part of what patient care representatives relies on this skill, since "representatives must listen carefully to ensure that they understand customers in order to assist them." How this skill relates to patient care representative duties can be seen in an example from a patient care representative resume snippet: "communicated with billing, clinical and front desk staff to resolve any scheduling conflicts. "
Patience. Lastly, "patience" is an important element of what a patient care representative does. Patient care representative responsibilities require this skill because "representatives should be patient and polite, especially when interacting with dissatisfied customers." This resume example highlights how patient care representative duties rely on this skill: "handled sensitive calls with compassion and patience. "
The three companies that hire the most patient care representatives are:
- Pacific Medical Centers49 patient care representatives jobs
- Providence Health & Services47 patient care representatives jobs
- Providence Service26 patient care representatives jobs
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Compare different patient care representatives
Patient care representative vs. Medical receptionist
Medical receptionists are responsible for manning the front desk at a medical facility such as a clinic or a hospital. They manage schedules and appointments in the clinic or hospital. They help patients to their respective appointments. They also assist doctors, nurses, and other medical practitioners by ensuring that the schedule for the day is being followed. They are also in charge of assisting visitors by directing them wherever they would need to go. Medical receptionists also answer inquiries by patients or visitors. Medical knowledge, great customer service skills, and a friendly attitude are needed.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a patient care representative are more likely to require skills like "home health," "cash management," "excellent interpersonal," and "rehabilitation." On the other hand, a job as a medical receptionist requires skills like "check-in," "insurance forms," "test results," and "provides administrative support." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Medical receptionists tend to make the most money working in the health care industry, where they earn an average salary of $32,483. In contrast, patient care representatives make the biggest average salary, $36,400, in the technology industry.The education levels that medical receptionists earn slightly differ from patient care representatives. In particular, medical receptionists are 2.1% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a patient care representative. Additionally, they're 0.1% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Patient care representative vs. Patient registrar
A patient registrar is responsible for receiving patients in a hospital or other health care institutions, verifying their information, and leading them to the appropriate facility for their health care needs. Patient registrars manage the hospital's database, updating patients' information, confirming insurance details, taking calls, responding to patients' inquiries and concerns, scheduling appointments, and performing related administrative and clerical tasks as needed. A patient registrar must have excellent communication and organizational skills to provide the best quality care services to the patients.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real patient care representative resumes. While patient care representative responsibilities can utilize skills like "cash management," "excellent interpersonal," "pcr," and "vital signs," patient registrars use skills like "pbx," "health insurance," "surgery," and "insurance cards."
On average, patient registrars earn a lower salary than patient care representatives. Some industries support higher salaries in each profession. Interestingly enough, patient registrars earn the most pay in the health care industry with an average salary of $33,106. Whereas patient care representatives have higher pay in the technology industry, with an average salary of $36,400.patient registrars earn similar levels of education than patient care representatives in general. They're 0.5% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Patient care representative vs. Patient advocate
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.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, patient care representatives are more likely to have skills like "home health," "cash management," "patient registration," and "rehabilitation." But a patient advocate is more likely to have skills like "financial assistance," "financial counselors," "english language," and "government agencies."
Patient advocates earn the best pay in the health care industry, where they command an average salary of $35,016. Patient care representatives earn the highest pay from the technology industry, with an average salary of $36,400.patient advocates typically earn similar educational levels compared to patient care representatives. Specifically, they're 4.7% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.6% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Patient care representative vs. Patient liaison
Patient Liaisons are intermediaries addressing concerns on behalf of patients and families working in tandem with the hospital administrator. They are responsible for gathering data regarding patient care issues and inquiries, assessing patient well-being, suggesting improvements, and interpreting hospital service, policies, and procedures to patients and families. Patient Liaisons also work to educate health care professionals in humanizing the hospital experience for patients. They work in a hospital, clinic, nursing home, or programs related to public health.
Types of patient care representative
Updated January 8, 2025
