Patient relations director vs service director

The differences between patient relations directors and service directors can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 4-6 years to become both a patient relations director and a service director. Additionally, a service director has an average salary of $114,981, which is higher than the $94,921 average annual salary of a patient relations director.

The top three skills for a patient relations director include patients, patient care and patient safety. The most important skills for a service director are patients, healthcare, and patient care.

Patient relations director vs service director overview

	Patient Relations Director	Service Director
Yearly salary	$94,921	$114,981
Hourly rate	$45.64	$55.28
Growth rate	28%	28%
Number of jobs	91,308	64,277
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 55%	Bachelor's Degree, 59%
Average age	47	47
Years of experience	6	6

What does a patient relations director do?

A patient relations director is primarily in charge of spearheading and overseeing the efforts in maintaining an active communication line between patients and health care providers. Their responsibilities revolve around devising strategies to improve client interactions, liaising with patients and their families, answering inquiries, and providing information assistance as needed. They must also address the concerns and issues raised by patients or families, resolving them promptly and efficiently. Furthermore, as a patient relations director, it is essential to lead and encourage staff to reach goals, all while implementing the hospital's policies and regulations.

What does a service director do?

A service director is responsible for managing and implementing customer service policies and ensuring that all staff strictly adhere to reach the highest customer satisfaction. Service directors' duties include identifying business opportunities to improve customers' experience, monitoring the performance of the customer service team, developing strategic procedures on service delivery, creating new promotional offers and services, and coaching the team to increase business productivity. A service director must have excellent leadership and communication skills, as well as extensive knowledge of the customer service industry to lead the team and boost company sales.

Patient relations director vs service director salary

Patient relations directors and service directors have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Patient Relations Director	Service Director
Average salary	$94,921	$114,981
Salary range	Between $61,000 And $145,000	Between $70,000 And $188,000
Highest paying City	North Las Vegas, NV	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	Nevada	California
Best paying company	AstraZeneca	Mayo Clinic
Best paying industry	Health Care	Technology

Differences between patient relations director and service director education

There are a few differences between a patient relations director and a service director in terms of educational background:

	Patient Relations Director	Service Director
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 55%	Bachelor's Degree, 59%
Most common major	Nursing	Business
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	University of Pennsylvania

Patient relations director vs service director demographics

Here are the differences between patient relations directors' and service directors' demographics:

	Patient Relations Director	Service Director
Average age	47	47
Gender ratio	Male, 25.0% Female, 75.0%	Male, 57.2% Female, 42.8%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 11.5% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 15.1% Asian, 7.1% White, 61.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%	Black or African American, 11.2% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 14.4% Asian, 7.6% White, 61.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%
LGBT Percentage	12%	12%

Differences between patient relations director and service director duties and responsibilities

Patient relations director example responsibilities.

Manage oversight to joint commission and other regulatory requirements.
Lead interdisciplinary teams working on quality improvement initiatives and prepare for a JCAHO survey.
Coach staff on hospital systems such as CMS, IEX, CTI and TCS.
Maintain monthly reports, payroll, and budget.
Create bi-weekly schedule for staff, approve PTO's & vacation requests.
Cover shifts for outlying facilities when either PTO is taken or employees call out.

Service director example responsibilities.

Lead and manage implementation and customization of SharePoint to replace legacy document approval system and document filing system.
Lead the training program for child psychiatry residents.
Manage social medias (Weibo, Facebook and etc . )
Assist in managing client accounts by managing HVAC alignments and ensuring contractual requirements are meet.
Manage a staff of 280 FTE s and a management team of 6 in a union environment.
Manage all daily operations, both clinical and support, during and after Medicare trials to ensure long-term business viability.

Patient relations director vs service director skills

Common patient relations director skills

Patients, 21%
Patient Care, 9%
Patient Safety, 7%
Revenue Cycle, 5%
Customer Service, 5%
Acute Care, 4%

Common service director skills

Patients, 12%
Healthcare, 10%
Patient Care, 10%
Customer Service, 9%
Oversight, 5%
Surgery, 4%

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Patient Relations Director
Patient Relations Director vs Service Director

Updated January 8, 2025

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