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.
Patient relations director responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real patient relations director resumes:
- 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.
- Collaborate with management teams to monitor and implement regulation changes relate to CMS, Medicaid, and other third party partners.
- Provide oversight of benefit counseling for 37K beneficiaries.
- Collaborate on various department specific tip sheets ranging from insurance registration to scheduling guidelines.
- Improve inter-departmental communications and relationships with measurable results and better service to patients, physicians, and internal customers.
- Monitor or evaluate medical conditions and respond to medical emergencies of patients in collaboration with other health care professionals.
- Direct daily operations developing and coordinating care services for geriatric residents with cognitive impairment like Alzheimer's and dementia.
- Work with Kronos ensuring work hours for staff enter correctly.
- Maintain employees time on Kronos, and make any necessary correction.
- Work with ER and ICU leadership in the development and implementation of a hypothermia program.
Patient relations director skills and personality traits
We calculated that 21% of Patient Relations Directors are proficient in Patients, Patient Care, and Patient Safety. They’re also known for soft skills such as Analytical skills, Detail oriented, and Leadership skills.
We break down the percentage of Patient Relations Directors that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Patients, 21%
Improved inter-departmental communications and relationships with measurable results and better service to patients, physicians, and internal customers.
- Patient Care, 9%
Provided representation and expertise to member hospitals on a variety of statutory, regulatory and accreditation requirements concerning patient care.
- Patient Safety, 7%
Developed a robust patient safety program for a 350-bed hospital including event severity scoring system.
- Revenue Cycle, 5%
Instituted standardized Revenue Cycle education and certification at flagship hospital, subsequently expanding to associated system hospitals.
- Customer Service, 5%
Manage all receiving and directing of patient-related communication according to customer service procedures, HIPPA guidelines, and office policy.
- Acute Care, 4%
Assisted in planning and coordinating facility and community educational programs including an annual Woman's Conference and annual Acute Care Seminars.
Common skills that a patient relations director uses to do their job include "patients," "patient care," and "patient safety." You can find details on the most important patient relations director responsibilities below.
Analytical skills. The most essential soft skill for a patient relations director to carry out their responsibilities is analytical skills. This skill is important for the role because "medical and health services managers review and evaluate healthcare metrics for ways to improve efficiency and meet goals." Additionally, a patient relations director resume shows how their duties depend on analytical skills: "directed the development and implementation of tools for gathering and benchmarking hospital performance data in the area of patient safety. "
Detail oriented. Many patient relations director duties rely on detail oriented. "medical and health services managers must pay attention to detail," so a patient relations director will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways patient relations director responsibilities rely on detail oriented: "coordinated special promotions, and verified detailed information for various insurance claims. "
Leadership skills. This is an important skill for patient relations directors to perform their duties. For an example of how patient relations director responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "medical and health services managers hire, train, and direct staff." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a patient relations director: "developed and implemented hospital wide (leadership and staff) patient satisfaction education and performance improvement initiatives. ".
Technical skills. patient relations director responsibilities often require "technical skills." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "medical and health services managers must stay up to date with advances in healthcare technology, such as the coding and electronic health record (ehr) systems their facility adopts." This resume example shows what patient relations directors do with technical skills on a typical day: "led the patient services staff comprised of technical support, knowledge base and training, and patient success teams. "
Communication skills. Another common skill required for patient relations director responsibilities is "communication skills." This skill comes up in the duties of patient relations directors all the time, as "medical and health services managers must convey information to their staff, other healthcare workers, and, sometimes, patients and insurance agents." An excerpt from a real patient relations director resume shows how this skill is central to what a patient relations director does: "manage calls and communication for food services, environmental services, equipment distribution and international patient services. "
The three companies that hire the most patient relations directors are:
- Takeda Pharmaceuticals U.S.A., Inc.77 patient relations directors jobs
- Compass Group USA12 patient relations directors jobs
- HealthTrust12 patient relations directors jobs
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Compare different patient relations directors
Patient relations director vs. Clinical manager
A clinical manager is responsible for monitoring medical procedures and administrative duties to ensure the smooth flow of operations in a healthcare facility. Clinical managers manage the facility's staffing needs, evaluate budget reports, assist healthcare professionals on administering medical duties, and develop strategic procedures to optimize treatments and maximize productivity. A clinical manager enforces strict sanitary and safety regulations for everyone's strict compliance. They also need to have excellent knowledge of the medical industry to promote medical processes and provide the highest quality care.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, patient relations director responsibilities require skills like "patient care," "revenue cycle," "acute care," and "surgery." Meanwhile a typical clinical manager has skills in areas such as "direct patient care," "quality patient care," "patient education," and "quality standards." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Clinical managers earn the highest salaries when working in the health care industry, with an average yearly salary of $72,510. On the other hand, patient relations directors are paid more in the health care industry with an average salary of $89,986.The education levels that clinical managers earn slightly differ from patient relations directors. In particular, clinical managers are 0.2% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a patient relations director. Additionally, they're 0.2% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Patient relations director vs. Director of clinical operations
A director of clinical operations is responsible for monitoring the overall operations of a clinic facility, ensuring the efficiency of staff performance in providing the best quality care services for the patients. Directors of clinical operations enforce safety guidelines and security procedures during operations for everyone's strict compliance to prevent hazards and unforeseen circumstances within the premises. They also assist in clinical trials, as well as reviewing medical procedures, recommending strategic plans to improve medical approaches. A director of clinical operations handles the clinic budget, allocates adequate resources for every department's needs, and tracks medical inventory reports.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that patient relations director responsibilities requires skills like "patient safety," "revenue cycle," "acute care," and "patient service." But a director of clinical operations might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "healthcare," "gcp," "project management," and "clinical trials."
On average, directors of clinical operations earn a higher salary than patient relations directors. Some industries support higher salaries in each profession. Interestingly enough, directors of clinical operations earn the most pay in the pharmaceutical industry with an average salary of $139,321. Whereas patient relations directors have higher pay in the health care industry, with an average salary of $89,986.In general, directors of clinical operations achieve similar levels of education than patient relations directors. They're 4.0% more likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.2% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Patient relations director vs. Director, network operations
As a network operations director, you will be responsible for overseeing the availability and overall performance of a company's network. You will perform varied tasks that include analyzing the network and recommending changes or upgrades, ensuring compliance to best practices, promoting continuous information operations, and overseeing other technical resources. A network operations director is expected to provide expertise in networking and operating system and project management. You are responsible for managing all vendor-related support contracts for software, hardware, and connectivity.
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a patient relations director is likely to be skilled in "patients," "patient care," "patient safety," and "revenue cycle," while a typical director, network operations is skilled in "network management," "network development," "san," and "ipa."
Directors, network operations make a very good living in the hospitality industry with an average annual salary of $150,612. On the other hand, patient relations directors are paid the highest salary in the health care industry, with average annual pay of $89,986.When it comes to education, directors, network operations tend to earn similar degree levels compared to patient relations directors. In fact, they're 2.7% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.9% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Patient relations director vs. Director of health services
A Director Of Health Services is responsible for evaluating and supervising the overall activities for health maintenance and promotion of a health department. They are also responsible for budgeting, procurement, and requisition of biological supplies and equipment.
Types of patient relations director
Updated January 8, 2025
