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

What is a patient registrar and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Visiting a hospital, we usually see people standing at reception who luckily get help after answering a few questions. But who asks them these questions and why? The patient registrar, like the traffic sergeant, controls the patient's traffic at the hospital. Asking just a few questions about your medical condition helps them guide you on what to do next. Whether you want to get an appointment, admission, dues clearance, or administrative guidance, you have to ask Patient Registrar for that.

There is no specific academic requirement for this job, and you can apply for the post after graduating from high school. But there is no compromise on your skills. You must have a stronghold over your communication and interpersonal skills. In order to fulfill your job responsibilities, you should also have a basic knowledge of computers and calculations.

Patient registrar is a desk job where you have to answer phone calls, make appointments, deal with the patients, and by doing so, you can earn $14.42 per hour, on average.

ScorePatient RegistrarUS Average

Salary

2.6

Avg. Salary $33,494

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.3

Growth rate -4%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

9.2

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.74%

Asian 6.44%

Black or African American 10.95%

Hispanic or Latino 22.96%

Unknown 5.42%

White 53.49%

Gender

female 86.89%

male 13.11%

Age - 39

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 - 39

Stress level

8.3

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.3

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.5

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a patient registrar

Explore patient registrar education requirements

Most common patient registrar degrees

Bachelor's

31.6 %

Associate

26.3 %

High School Diploma

19.8 %

Start to develop specific patient registrar skills

Skills	Percentages
Patients	25.06%
Customer Service	11.37%
Medical Terminology	10.97%
Patient Registration	4.06%
Patient Care	3.68%

Complete relevant patient registrar training and internships

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

Research patient registrar duties and responsibilities

Process release of information requests according to HIPAA regulations and manage valuables safe for entire facility.
Specialize in high degree of compassion when communicating with patients providing information and insurance details.
Receive patients, record patient demographic information and verify insurance for emergency department, laboratory, and radiology
Register patients and ensure correctness of all demographic information in AS400, verify insurance on various websites and collect patient co-payments.

Prepare your patient registrar resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your patient registrar resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a patient registrar resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable patient registrar resume templates

Build a professional patient registrar resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your patient registrar resume.

Apply for patient registrar jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a patient registrar job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do patient registrars rate their job?

-/5

5 stars

4 stars

3 stars

2 stars

1 star

Patient registrar reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Jul 2023

Cons

No upward opportunity after manager role

A zippia user wrote a review on Jan 2020

Pros

Putting that patient/customet first and directing (directions) that person to their Doctors office and setting or cancelling their appointments, just helping people.