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The differences between patient service specialists and customer service specialists 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 specialist, becoming a customer service specialist takes usually requires 6-12 months. Additionally, a patient service specialist has an average salary of $33,563, which is higher than the $33,238 average annual salary of a customer service specialist.
The top three skills for a patient service specialist include patients, patient service and physical therapy. The most important skills for a customer service specialist are customer service, strong customer service, and cleanliness.
| Patient Service Specialist | Customer Service Specialist | |
| Yearly salary | $33,563 | $33,238 |
| Hourly rate | $16.14 | $15.98 |
| Growth rate | -4% | -4% |
| Number of jobs | 105,915 | 223,323 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 4 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 36% | Bachelor's Degree, 43% |
| Average age | 40 | 40 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 12 |
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.
Customer service specialists are employees who are responsible for providing the best customer experience to customers, usually for after-sales transactions. They attend to customers' inquiries and provide answers to their questions on products or services that the company offers. They also address customer complaints and help mitigate the concerns by offering solutions such as instructions on how to fix defects, or processing replacements or refunds. Customer service specialists also listen to customer feedback and ensure that these are logged properly so that proper departments will be able to receive them.
Patient service specialists and customer service specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Patient Service Specialist | Customer Service Specialist | |
| Average salary | $33,563 | $33,238 |
| Salary range | Between $27,000 And $40,000 | Between $26,000 And $42,000 |
| Highest paying City | Springfield, MA | Boston, MA |
| Highest paying state | Massachusetts | Massachusetts |
| Best paying company | Virginia Eye Institute | Dell |
| Best paying industry | Health Care | Finance |
There are a few differences between a patient service specialist and a customer service specialist in terms of educational background:
| Patient Service Specialist | Customer Service Specialist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 36% | Bachelor's Degree, 43% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | - |
Here are the differences between patient service specialists' and customer service specialists' demographics:
| Patient Service Specialist | Customer Service Specialist | |
| Average age | 40 | 40 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 12.5% Female, 87.5% | Male, 32.0% Female, 68.0% |
| Race ratio | 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% | Black or African American, 11.6% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 20.0% Asian, 6.8% White, 55.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% |
| LGBT Percentage | 7% | 7% |