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.
Patient service coordinator responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real patient service coordinator resumes:
- 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.
- Supervise all daily cleaning and maintenance of kitchen equipment to ensure cleanliness and sanitary conditions are being meet.
- Ensure all health codes and cleanliness standards are met through detail daily cleaning of kitchen and nightly inspection.
- Answer incoming calls; describe services; registers patients into IDX; schedules appointments; prepares medical charts and handles correspondence.
- Maintain strict confidentiality of personal information according to HIPAA guidelines.
- Educate veterans on their benefits and provide them in-network physician information
- Handle and process confidential patient information following HIPAA and Medicare regulations.
- Coordinate and schedule with hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers all elective and emergency surgeries for patients.
- Facilitate patient check-in including arrival, referral verification, processing insurance co-payments and preparing medical records charts.
- Create value for the organization through values of patient compassion, care and advocacy systems
Patient service coordinator skills and personality traits
We calculated that 22% of Patient Service Coordinators are proficient in Patients, Customer Service, and Patient Care. They’re also known for soft skills such as Listening skills, Patience, and Problem-solving skills.
We break down the percentage of Patient Service Coordinators that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Patients, 22%
Collect information from incoming patients regarding services needed, verify insurance eligibility and determine patient financial liability, or financial status.
- Customer Service, 9%
Verified patients eligibility status with insurance companies to ensure proper coverage and payment for services while providing exceptional customer service.
- Patient Care, 7%
Staff management and supervision, operational, and financial functions and non-physician technical and professional services related to patient care.
- Medical Terminology, 5%
Relay information between providers and patients using appropriate medical terminology, maintain and foster effective, positive public relations.
- Front Desk, 5%
Resolved Physician and/or patient concerns related to front desk, registration and scheduling operations.
- Patient Flow, 4%
Managed patient flow and office procedure where done correctly Recorded and delivered messages to appropriate personnel.
"patients," "customer service," and "patient care" are among the most common skills that patient service coordinators use at work. You can find even more patient service coordinator responsibilities below, including:
Listening skills. The most essential soft skill for a patient service coordinator to carry out their responsibilities is listening skills. This skill is important for the role because "representatives must listen carefully to ensure that they understand customers in order to assist them." Additionally, a patient service coordinator resume shows how their duties depend on listening skills: "coordinated and communicated with staff and physicians to ensure quality patient service. "
Patience. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling patient service coordinator duties is patience. The role rewards competence in this skill because "representatives should be patient and polite, especially when interacting with dissatisfied customers." According to a patient service coordinator resume, here's how patient service coordinators can utilize patience in their job responsibilities: "respond to all patient interactions professionally with tact, patience, and compassion. "
Problem-solving skills. patient service coordinators are also known for problem-solving skills, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to patient service coordinator responsibilities, because "representatives must determine solutions to customers’ problems." A patient service coordinator resume example shows how problem-solving skills is used in the workplace: "filed insurance claims, resolved denied claims for physicians and asc. "
Communication skills. A big part of what patient service coordinators do relies on "communication skills." You can see how essential it is to patient service coordinator responsibilities because "customer service representatives must be able to provide clear information in writing, by phone, or in person." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical patient service coordinator tasks: "prepared and submitted dental insurance claims, providing constant communication for patients to assure reimbursement from dental plans. "
Customer-service skills. Another skill commonly found on patient service coordinator job descriptions is "customer-service skills." It can come up quite often in patient service coordinator duties, since "representatives help companies retain customers by professionally answering questions and helping to resolve complaints." Here's an example from a resume of how this skill fits into day-to-day patient service coordinator responsibilities: "check in admission reports excellent organizational skills strong customer relation skills"
The three companies that hire the most patient service coordinators are:
- Novant Health110 patient service coordinators jobs
- PT Solutions100 patient service coordinators jobs
- Massachusetts General Hospital69 patient service coordinators jobs
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Compare different patient service coordinators
Patient service coordinator vs. Patient liaison
Patient Liaisons are intermediaries addressing concerns on behalf of patients and families working in tandem with the hospital administrator. They are responsible for gathering data regarding patient care issues and inquiries, assessing patient well-being, suggesting improvements, and interpreting hospital service, policies, and procedures to patients and families. Patient Liaisons also work to educate health care professionals in humanizing the hospital experience for patients. They work in a hospital, clinic, nursing home, or programs related to public health.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, patient service coordinator responsibilities require skills like "patient care," "check-in," "excellent organizational," and "provides administrative support." Meanwhile a typical patient liaison has skills in areas such as "health system," "surgery," "social work," and "employee engagement." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Patient liaisons tend to make the most money working in the health care industry, where they earn an average salary of $32,280. In contrast, patient service coordinators make the biggest average salary, $35,469, in the health care industry.patient liaisons tend to reach similar levels of education than patient service coordinators. In fact, patient liaisons are 2.6% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.4% more likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Patient service coordinator vs. Patient care representative
PCRs (Patient Care Representatives) are given responsibilities like updating and verifying patient information after every visit, scheduling and reminding patients about appointments, and informing patients about delays and how long the estimated waiting times will be. They are also responsible for obtaining patients' personal information like their address, contact details, insurance information, and medical and surgical history. They must be able to communicate with patients, family members, and medical staff to give them all the information they need to treat the person looking for medical help.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that patient service coordinator responsibilities requires skills like "check-in," "patient service," "excellent organizational," and "provides administrative support." But a patient care representative might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "cash management," "pcr," "strong customer service," and "patient calls."
On average, patient care representatives earn a lower salary than patient service coordinators. Some industries support higher salaries in each profession. Interestingly enough, patient care representatives earn the most pay in the technology industry with an average salary of $36,400. Whereas patient service coordinators have higher pay in the health care industry, with an average salary of $35,469.In general, patient care representatives achieve similar levels of education than patient service coordinators. They're 0.6% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.4% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Patient service coordinator vs. Patient advocate
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.
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 service coordinator is likely to be skilled in "patient flow," "check-in," "patient service," and "home health," while a typical patient advocate is skilled in "financial assistance," "financial counselors," "english language," and "government agencies."
Patient advocates make a very good living in the health care industry with an average annual salary of $35,016. On the other hand, patient service coordinators are paid the highest salary in the health care industry, with average annual pay of $35,469.Most patient advocates achieve a similar degree level compared to patient service coordinators. For example, they're 4.1% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.4% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Patient service coordinator vs. Scheduling coordinator
A scheduling coordinator is responsible for arranging the calendars and managing the appointments of a senior employee. Scheduling coordinators keep a record of meetings, reminding the key personnel as well as other participants of any schedule adjustments and cancellations. They are also responsible for booking venues for events and processing travel arrangements, following the specifications of the head personnel. A scheduling coordinator must be detail-oriented, as well as having excellent communication and organization skills to answer schedule queries and perform administrative tasks as needed.
Types of patient service coordinator
Updated January 8, 2025
