Patient service coordinator vs patient service specialist

The differences between patient service coordinators and patient service specialists 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 service specialist. Additionally, a patient service coordinator has an average salary of $34,754, which is higher than the $33,563 average annual salary of a patient service specialist.

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

Patient service coordinator vs patient service specialist overview

	Patient Service Coordinator	Patient Service Specialist
Yearly salary	$34,754	$33,563
Hourly rate	$16.71	$16.14
Growth rate	-4%	-4%
Number of jobs	100,708	105,915
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 43%	Bachelor's Degree, 36%
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 service specialist do?

A patient service representative serves as a patient's primary point of contact in a hospital or clinic, ensuring accuracy and customer satisfaction. They are mainly responsible for gathering a patient's information and medical history, verifying insurance forms, managing accounts, and processing payments, arranging appointments, and even performing reminder calls and correspondence. There are also instances when a patient service representative must discuss situations to patients and their families, and even alert the doctors when a patient displays strange or unlikely behavior.

Patient service coordinator vs patient service specialist salary

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

	Patient Service Coordinator	Patient Service Specialist
Average salary	$34,754	$33,563
Salary range	Between $27,000 And $43,000	Between $27,000 And $40,000
Highest paying City	Tacoma, WA	Springfield, MA
Highest paying state	California	Massachusetts
Best paying company	County of Riverside	Virginia Eye Institute
Best paying industry	Health Care	Health Care

Differences between patient service coordinator and patient service specialist education

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

	Patient Service Coordinator	Patient Service Specialist
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 43%	Bachelor's Degree, 36%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	University of Pennsylvania

Patient service coordinator vs patient service specialist demographics

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

	Patient Service Coordinator	Patient Service Specialist
Average age	40	40
Gender ratio	Male, 13.4% Female, 86.6%	Male, 12.5% Female, 87.5%
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, 12.0% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 21.9% Asian, 6.4% White, 54.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6%
LGBT Percentage	7%	7%

Differences between patient service coordinator and patient service specialist 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 service specialist example responsibilities.

Benefit coverage eligibility or concerns for patients will be complete timely to achieve identify outcomes or solutions.
Greet patients and visitors with warmth, compassion, and demonstrate commitment to exceptional service.
Provide customer service to patients via registration, co-pay and co-insurance payment collection, appointment scheduling and telephone service
Obtain patient demographic, billing, insurance, and other necessary intake information for patients seeking rehabilitation services.
Screen, triage, register and verify a high volume of client eligibility and demographic data.
Direct callers to appropriate personnel, and initiate a triage slip for response by medical personnel.

Patient service coordinator vs patient service specialist 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 service specialist skills

Patients, 20%
Patient Service, 9%
Physical Therapy, 8%
Rehabilitation, 8%
Patient Appointments, 8%
Front Desk, 7%

Patient Service Coordinator vs. similar jobs

Patient Service Coordinator related careers

Patient Service Coordinator related jobs

What similar roles do

Zippia Careers
Office and Administrative Industry
Patient Service Coordinator
Patient Service Coordinator vs Patient Service Specialist

Updated January 8, 2025

Browse office and administrative jobs