Patient service representative vs patient care specialist

The differences between patient service representatives and patient care 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 representative and a patient care specialist. Additionally, a patient care specialist has an average salary of $34,157, which is higher than the $32,476 average annual salary of a patient service representative.

The top three skills for a patient service representative include patients, customer service and excellent interpersonal. The most important skills for a patient care specialist are patients, patient care, and data entry.

Patient service representative vs patient care specialist overview

	Patient Service Representative	Patient Care Specialist
Yearly salary	$32,476	$34,157
Hourly rate	$15.61	$16.42
Growth rate	-4%	-4%
Number of jobs	165,920	146,861
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 32%	Bachelor's Degree, 40%
Average age	40	40
Years of experience	4	4

What does a patient service representative do?

A Patient Service Representative is responsible for coordinating with patients, ensuring accuracy and satisfaction at all times. The duties of a Patient Service Representative revolves around greeting and responding to patients, offering assistance in documentation, gathering and maintaining their personal information, and even communicating with the family or guardian. They also have to collect payments and process insurance details, obtain medical history, and even keep the patients updated in various aspects. Aside from this, it is crucial for a Representative coordinate with supervisors or personnel in-charge at all times.

What does a patient care specialist do?

A patient service or care specialist works at different medical facilities. Primary responsibilities include checking patients in and out, scheduling follow-up appointments as well as checking patient eligibility for services or programs. Patient service specialists should maintain a systematic referral log to correlate patient referrals to other specialists. Applicants for the job should have the basic computer knowledge to effectively manage data of patient's files, knowledge of medical terminologies, and possess good interpersonal and customer service skills.

Patient service representative vs patient care specialist salary

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

	Patient Service Representative	Patient Care Specialist
Average salary	$32,476	$34,157
Salary range	Between $27,000 And $38,000	Between $20,000 And $55,000
Highest paying City	Seattle, WA	Boston, MA
Highest paying state	Vermont	Massachusetts
Best paying company	University of California, Berkeley	KPG
Best paying industry	Health Care	Health Care

Differences between patient service representative and patient care specialist education

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

	Patient Service Representative	Patient Care Specialist
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 32%	Bachelor's Degree, 40%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	University of Pennsylvania

Patient service representative vs patient care specialist demographics

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

	Patient Service Representative	Patient Care Specialist
Average age	40	40
Gender ratio	Male, 11.9% Female, 88.1%	Male, 20.3% Female, 79.7%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 10.3% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 21.5% Asian, 6.3% White, 55.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%	Black or African American, 11.7% Unknown, 5.2% Hispanic or Latino, 21.1% Asian, 6.3% White, 55.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%
LGBT Percentage	7%	7%

Differences between patient service representative and patient care specialist duties and responsibilities

Patient service representative example responsibilities.

Manage the daily release of charges to A/R.
Adhere with all state and federal regulations such as EMTALA and HIPPA requirements and appropriately collect co-payments and deductibles from patients.
Provide caring and compassion to elderly and developmentally disable patients.
Demonstrate respect, compassion and confidentiality for patients and family members.
Provide professional and accurate service to schedule patient appointments, check-in and verify insurance eligibility.
Provide quality customer service to patients and observe all protocols regarding HIPPA regulations to ensure patient confidentiality.

Patient care specialist example responsibilities.

Use EMR software to manage patient records and files; reinforce and uphold patient confidentiality as required by HIPAA and clinic.
Utilize software applications to document call interactions using medical terminology and responsible for initially engaging patients by explaining the services.
Verify CPT codes along with diagnosis code for guarantee payment for surgeries.
Process daily fee tickets and correctly enter office visit ICD 9 and CPT codes into the system for billing.
Adhere to HIPPA confidentiality guidelines.
Track Medicaid eligibility of clients.

Patient service representative vs patient care specialist skills

Common patient service representative skills

Patients, 20%
Customer Service, 12%
Excellent Interpersonal, 7%
Check-In, 7%
Patient Service, 6%
Excellent Organizational, 6%

Common patient care specialist skills

Patients, 33%
Patient Care, 17%
Data Entry, 5%
Medical Terminology, 4%
CPT, 2%
CPR, 2%

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Office and Administrative Industry
Patient Service Representative
Patient Service Representative vs Patient Care Specialist

Updated January 8, 2025

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