Patient relations representative vs patient advocate

The differences between patient relations representatives and patient advocates can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a patient relations representative and a patient advocate. Additionally, a patient advocate has an average salary of $36,325, which is higher than the $32,856 average annual salary of a patient relations representative.

The top three skills for a patient relations representative include patients, customer service and home health. The most important skills for a patient advocate are patients, customer service, and patient care.

Patient relations representative vs patient advocate overview

	Patient Relations Representative	Patient Advocate
Yearly salary	$32,856	$36,325
Hourly rate	$15.80	$17.46
Growth rate	-4%	-4%
Number of jobs	98,099	88,778
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 44%	Bachelor's Degree, 50%
Average age	40	40
Years of experience	4	4

What does a patient relations representative do?

Public health officers assess the effectiveness of recommended risk reduction actions. The health officers focus on the overall health of communities instead of treating individual patients. These officers manage the work of staff members, statisticians, and doctors. They are responsible for developing tools to address behavioral causes of diseases, recognizing groups at threat for specific preventable diseases, and training medical teams about precautionary medicine problems. The qualifications of becoming public health administrators include efficiency and patience, stress management and problem resolution, and dependability and motivation.

What does a patient advocate do?

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.

Patient relations representative vs patient advocate salary

Patient relations representatives and patient advocates have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Patient Relations Representative	Patient Advocate
Average salary	$32,856	$36,325
Salary range	Between $26,000 And $41,000	Between $29,000 And $45,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	Springfield, MA
Highest paying state	Alaska	Massachusetts
Best paying company	UC Merced	Cognizant
Best paying industry	Health Care	Health Care

Differences between patient relations representative and patient advocate education

There are a few differences between a patient relations representative and a patient advocate in terms of educational background:

	Patient Relations Representative	Patient Advocate
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 44%	Bachelor's Degree, 50%
Most common major	Health Care Administration	Business
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	University of Pennsylvania

Patient relations representative vs patient advocate demographics

Here are the differences between patient relations representatives' and patient advocates' demographics:

	Patient Relations Representative	Patient Advocate
Average age	40	40
Gender ratio	Male, 18.0% Female, 82.0%	Male, 17.5% Female, 82.5%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 10.5% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 21.8% Asian, 5.7% White, 56.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%	Black or African American, 10.5% Unknown, 5.2% Hispanic or Latino, 23.6% Asian, 6.8% White, 53.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%
LGBT Percentage	7%	7%

Differences between patient relations representative and patient advocate duties and responsibilities

Patient relations representative example responsibilities.

Assist with patient inquiries, release of information, while maintaining HIPAA regulation.
Ensure patient's HIPAA regulations are being meet by hospital staff.
Conduct family interviews for financial aid, Medicaid or discounts to family income status.
Collect demographic information for new and establish patients and loads it into an automate registration/ scheduling system.
Register new patients and updates existing patient demographics by collecting detail patient information including personal and financial information.
Obtain all necessary documentation prior to surgery such as proof of identification, copy of insurance and require insurance referrals.

Patient advocate example responsibilities.

Manage the complaint process as required by CMS for the hospital.
Provide support for emergencies by managing inappropriate behaviors, aggressive patients, CPR and persons in crisis.
Train to welcome and register patients at ESI triage window.
Document patients medical problems using ICD 9 and CPT coding for patients diagnosis.
Pull any incoming referrals, triage them, and schedule patients with the appropriate doctor.
Collect and review patient information to determine patients' eligibility for Medicaid and charity program assistance.

Patient relations representative vs patient advocate skills

Common patient relations representative skills

Patients, 22%
Customer Service, 14%
Home Health, 11%
Patient Care, 9%
Medical Terminology, 9%
Patient Relations, 5%

Common patient advocate skills

Patients, 28%
Customer Service, 11%
Patient Care, 5%
Medicaid, 4%
Financial Assistance, 4%
Patient Accounts, 4%

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Office and Administrative Industry
Patient Relations Representative
Patient Relations Representative vs Patient Advocate

Updated January 8, 2025

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