Patient service coordinator vs referral coordinator

The differences between patient service coordinators and referral coordinators can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 2-4 years to become a patient service coordinator, becoming a referral coordinator takes usually requires 1-2 years. Additionally, a referral coordinator has an average salary of $35,179, 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 referral coordinator are patients, customer service, and medical terminology.

Patient service coordinator vs referral coordinator overview

	Patient Service Coordinator	Referral Coordinator
Yearly salary	$34,754	$35,179
Hourly rate	$16.71	$16.91
Growth rate	-4%	-8%
Number of jobs	100,708	65,934
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 43%	Bachelor's Degree, 31%
Average age	40	49
Years of experience	4	2

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 referral coordinator do?

A referral coordinator works with insurance companies and care providers to share essential patient information and assists primarily in scheduling appointments and managing health insurance issues. As a referral coordinator, you will work directly with the patient, patient families, or even social workers, depending on the job and patient needs. Other job responsibilities include general administrative or clerical tasks such as setting up appointments for new and existing patients, verifying insurance information before appointments, and answering phone calls.

Patient service coordinator vs referral coordinator salary

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

	Patient Service Coordinator	Referral Coordinator
Average salary	$34,754	$35,179
Salary range	Between $27,000 And $43,000	Between $27,000 And $44,000
Highest paying City	Tacoma, WA	Portland, ME
Highest paying state	California	Maine
Best paying company	County of Riverside	Horizon Laser Vision
Best paying industry	Health Care	Health Care

Differences between patient service coordinator and referral coordinator education

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

	Patient Service Coordinator	Referral Coordinator
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 43%	Bachelor's Degree, 31%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	-

Patient service coordinator vs referral coordinator demographics

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

	Patient Service Coordinator	Referral Coordinator
Average age	40	49
Gender ratio	Male, 13.4% Female, 86.6%	Male, 10.2% Female, 89.8%
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, 9.6% Unknown, 3.8% Hispanic or Latino, 12.0% Asian, 3.8% White, 70.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%
LGBT Percentage	7%	9%

Differences between patient service coordinator and referral coordinator 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.

Referral coordinator example responsibilities.

Establish rapport with all PCP offices, hospital personnel, and manage care representatives.
Ensure CPT and ICD-9 coding are accurate and complete according to AMA's guidelines and for third party intermediaries.
Contact medical insurance companies and provide ICD-9 diagnosis and CPT procedure codes for patient's illness, condition or injury.
Apply ICD-9 and CPT-4 codes to complete referral requests online or via fax.
Conduct the entire office's EHR process and create a system to track old and new patient's records.
Incorporate core organizational values of quality, respect, integrity, partnership, and compassion in all activities and decisions.

Patient service coordinator vs referral coordinator skills

Common patient service coordinator skills

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

Common referral coordinator skills

Patients, 30%
Customer Service, 12%
Medical Terminology, 7%
Patient Care, 4%
Data Entry, 4%
EMR, 3%

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Patient Service Coordinator
Patient Service Coordinator vs Referral Coordinator

Updated January 8, 2025

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