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What does a patient service representative do?

Updated January 8, 2025
8 min read
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.

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Patient service representative responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real patient service representative resumes:

  • 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.
  • Communicate effectively with insurance providers, patients and medical personnel, while answering phones and maintaining conformity with all HIPAA regulations.
  • Register patients for all radiology, laboratory, nuclear medicine, physical/occupational/speech therapy, direct admits, urgent care and surgery.
  • Respond to grievances in writing within the CMS mandate time frame.
  • Train new emergency room PSA staff for all phases of ER patient processing.
  • Check patients in and out via NextGen, schedule appointments and surgeries for doctors.
  • Obtain information about the patient's medical history, drug history, complaints and allergies.
  • Update and inform the PSA's of any changes in procedures, staffing and appointment scheduling.
  • Organize and distribute wheelchairs and stretchers evenly to each area of the emergency department for future patients.
  • Transport patients throughout the hospital also assist them onto stretchers, beds, wheel chairs, etc.

Patient service representative skills and personality traits

We calculated that 20% of Patient Service Representatives are proficient in Patients, Customer Service, and Excellent Interpersonal. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Computer skills, and Customer-service skills.

We break down the percentage of Patient Service Representatives that have these skills listed on their resume here:

  • Patients, 20%

    Helped incoming patients with the registration process and assisted with administrative support to office manager.

  • Customer Service, 12%

    Ensured positive customer service by quickly and accurately registering and discharging 60-80 patients/day at community-based walk-in urgent care clinic.

  • Excellent Interpersonal, 7%

    Position required heavy public interaction and excellent interpersonal and problem solving skills.

  • Check-In, 7%

    Handled patient check-in and check-out at outpatient clinic, verification of insurance and patient responsibility.

  • Patient Service, 6%

    Job My responsibilities as a Patient Service Representative at the Diagnostic Clinic are as follows: Schedule/reschedule/cancel appointments.

  • Excellent Organizational, 6%

    Keep records orderly and prioritizing tasks with excellent organizational skills.

"patients," "customer service," and "excellent interpersonal" are among the most common skills that patient service representatives use at work. You can find even more patient service representative responsibilities below, including:

Communication skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a patient service representative to have is communication skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "customer service representatives must be able to provide clear information in writing, by phone, or in person." Patient service representatives often use communication skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "process high volume data entry including scanning, copying/faxing, filing, electronic communications and verifying information in electronic health records. "

Customer-service skills. This is an important skill for patient service representatives to perform their duties. For an example of how patient service representative responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "representatives help companies retain customers by professionally answering questions and helping to resolve complaints." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a patient service representative: "support front lobby with patient registration, appointments, and walk-in inquires to provide outstanding customer service. ".

Interpersonal skills. patient service representative responsibilities often require "interpersonal skills." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "representatives should be able to create positive interactions with customers." This resume example shows what patient service representatives do with interpersonal skills on a typical day: "possess excellent organizational, leadership, interpersonal and communication skills. "

Listening skills. A commonly-found skill in patient service representative job descriptions, "listening skills" is essential to what patient service representatives do. Patient service representative responsibilities rely on this skill because "representatives must listen carefully to ensure that they understand customers in order to assist them." You can also see how patient service representative duties rely on listening skills in this resume example: "communicated with physicians and medical support staff to determine the need for patient services. "

Patience. Lastly, "patience" is an important element of what a patient service representative does. Patient service representative responsibilities require this skill because "representatives should be patient and polite, especially when interacting with dissatisfied customers." This resume example highlights how patient service representative duties rely on this skill: "conducted daily outbound calls to patience that were preparing for medical procedures to complete registration process. "

See the full list of patient service representative skills

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Compare different patient service representatives

Patient service representative vs. Authorization specialist

An authorization specialist is responsible for reviewing insurance claims and determining the necessary settlement for the clients and involved parties. Authorization specialists file documents and gather the required information for further investigation and analysis. They coordinate with the insurance agency and the medical institution and ensure that the correct communications are being sent out for reference. An authorization specialist must have excellent communication and organizational skills, especially in writing authorization requests and resolve claims timely and efficiently.

We looked at the average patient service representative salary and compared it with the wages of an authorization specialist. Generally speaking, authorization specialists are paid $4,042 higher than patient service representatives per year.Even though patient service representatives and authorization specialists are distinct careers, a few of the skills required for both jobs are similar. For example, both careers require patients, customer service, and patient service in the day-to-day roles and responsibilities.

There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, patient service representative responsibilities require skills like "excellent interpersonal," "check-in," "psr," and "patient billing." Meanwhile a typical authorization specialist has skills in areas such as "emr," "medical necessity," "clinical data," and "medical services." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.

Authorization specialists earn the highest salaries when working in the health care industry, with an average yearly salary of $35,974. On the other hand, patient service representatives are paid more in the health care industry with an average salary of $33,107.authorization specialists tend to reach similar levels of education than patient service representatives. In fact, authorization specialists are 0.8% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.2% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.

Patient service representative 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.

Patient liaison positions earn lower pay than patient service representative roles. They earn a $162 lower salary than patient service representatives per year.While the salary may differ for these jobs, they share a few skills needed to perform their duties. Based on resume data, both patient service representatives and patient liaisons have skills such as "patients," "customer service," and "excellent interpersonal. "

Each career also uses different skills, according to real patient service representative resumes. While patient service representative responsibilities can utilize skills like "check-in," "excellent organizational," "psr," and "patient care," patient liaisons use skills like "health system," "surgery," "social work," and "employee engagement."

Patient liaisons earn a lower average salary than patient service representatives. But patient liaisons earn the highest pay in the health care industry, with an average salary of $32,280. Additionally, patient service representatives earn the highest salaries in the health care with average pay of $33,107 annually.In general, patient liaisons achieve similar levels of education than patient service representatives. They're 4.4% more likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.2% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Patient service representative vs. Patient registrar

A patient registrar is responsible for receiving patients in a hospital or other health care institutions, verifying their information, and leading them to the appropriate facility for their health care needs. Patient registrars manage the hospital's database, updating patients' information, confirming insurance details, taking calls, responding to patients' inquiries and concerns, scheduling appointments, and performing related administrative and clerical tasks as needed. A patient registrar must have excellent communication and organizational skills to provide the best quality care services to the patients.

On average scale, patient registrars bring in higher salaries than patient service representatives. In fact, they earn a $1,018 higher salary per year.Using the responsibilities included on patient service representatives and patient registrars resumes, we found that both professions have similar skill requirements, such as "patients," "customer service," and "medical terminology.rdquo;

Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from patient service representative resumes include skills like "excellent interpersonal," "check-in," "patient service," and "excellent organizational," whereas a patient registrar is more likely to list skills in "pbx," "health insurance," "surgery," and "rehabilitation. "

Patient registrars earn the highest salary when working in the health care industry, where they receive an average salary of $33,106. Comparatively, patient service representatives have the highest earning potential in the health care industry, with an average salary of $33,107.When it comes to education, patient registrars tend to earn similar degree levels compared to patient service representatives. In fact, they're 0.7% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.0% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Patient service representative vs. Patient care specialist

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 care specialists average a higher salary than the annual salary of patient service representatives. The difference is about $1,681 per year.According to resumes from patient service representatives and patient care specialists, some of the skills necessary to complete the responsibilities of each role are similar. These skills include "patients," "customer service," and "medical terminology. "While some skills are required in each professionacirc;euro;trade;s responsibilities, there are some differences to note. "excellent interpersonal," "check-in," "patient service," and "excellent organizational" are skills that commonly show up on patient service representative resumes. On the other hand, patient care specialists use skills like cpr, emr, departmental policies, and vital signs on their resumes.In general, patient care specialists earn the most working in the health care industry, with an average salary of $32,483. The highest-paying industry for a patient service representative is the health care industry.In general, patient care specialists hold similar degree levels compared to patient service representatives. Patient care specialists are 2.1% more likely to earn their Master's Degree and 0.6% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Types of patient service representative

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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