Patient service coordinator vs patient advocate

The differences between patient service coordinators 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 service coordinator and a patient advocate. Additionally, a patient advocate has an average salary of $36,325, which is higher than the $34,754 average annual salary of a patient service coordinator.

The top three skills for a patient service coordinator include patients, customer service and patient care. The most important skills for a patient advocate are patients, customer service, and patient care.

Patient service coordinator vs patient advocate overview

	Patient Service Coordinator	Patient Advocate
Yearly salary	$34,754	$36,325
Hourly rate	$16.71	$17.46
Growth rate	-4%	-4%
Number of jobs	100,708	88,778
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 43%	Bachelor's Degree, 50%
Average age	40	40
Years of experience	4	4

What does a patient service coordinator do?

Patient services coordinators act as a liaison between a healthcare organization and patients. Their primary job is to provide quality service to patients. Their duties and responsibilities include fielding telephone calls from patients, assessing patients' issues, and interacting with team members, medical personnel, and employees from other departments. Also, they are responsible for ensuring compliance with regulatory and hospital requirements and maintaining quality service. Patient services coordinators must also ensure to maintain their technical knowledge by participating in personal networks, attending educational workshops, and reviewing professional publications.

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 service coordinator vs patient advocate salary

Patient service coordinators and patient advocates have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Patient Service Coordinator	Patient Advocate
Average salary	$34,754	$36,325
Salary range	Between $27,000 And $43,000	Between $29,000 And $45,000
Highest paying City	Tacoma, WA	Springfield, MA
Highest paying state	California	Massachusetts
Best paying company	County of Riverside	Cognizant
Best paying industry	Health Care	Health Care

Differences between patient service coordinator and patient advocate education

There are a few differences between a patient service coordinator and a patient advocate in terms of educational background:

	Patient Service Coordinator	Patient Advocate
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 43%	Bachelor's Degree, 50%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	University of Pennsylvania

Patient service coordinator vs patient advocate demographics

Here are the differences between patient service coordinators' and patient advocates' demographics:

	Patient Service Coordinator	Patient Advocate
Average age	40	40
Gender ratio	Male, 13.4% Female, 86.6%	Male, 17.5% Female, 82.5%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 13.5% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 22.7% Asian, 7.1% White, 50.7% 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 service coordinator and patient advocate duties and responsibilities

Patient service coordinator example responsibilities.

Register patients for diagnostic testing, surgery, direct admissions from physician offices and new patient admissions for newborns.
Process release of information requests for patients and third party groups including outside providers, rehabilitation facilities, and law offices.
Schedule patients using state-of-the-art EMR, oversee physician calendar, correspondence, and communicate with referring physician offices.
Welcome patients as they arrive and perform check-in responsibilities: verifying, collecting and confirming insurance and demographic information.
Collect information from incoming patients regarding services need, verify insurance eligibility and determine patient financial liability, or financial status.
Perform interviews to gather necessary information for registration, admission and accurate prioritization of patients to assist medical staff with triage.

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 service coordinator vs patient advocate skills

Common patient service coordinator skills

Patients, 22%
Customer Service, 9%
Patient Care, 7%
Medical Terminology, 5%
Front Desk, 5%
Patient Flow, 4%

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 Service Coordinator
Patient Service Coordinator vs Patient Advocate

Updated January 8, 2025

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