Patient service specialist vs patient liaison

The differences between patient service specialists and patient liaisons 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 specialist and a patient liaison. Additionally, a patient service specialist has an average salary of $33,563, which is higher than the $32,314 average annual salary of a patient liaison.

The top three skills for a patient service specialist include patients, patient service and physical therapy. The most important skills for a patient liaison are patients, customer service, and medical terminology.

Patient service specialist vs patient liaison overview

	Patient Service Specialist	Patient Liaison
Yearly salary	$33,563	$32,314
Hourly rate	$16.14	$15.54
Growth rate	-4%	-4%
Number of jobs	105,915	84,302
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 36%	Bachelor's Degree, 51%
Average age	40	40
Years of experience	4	4

What does a patient service specialist do?

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.

What does a patient liaison do?

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 service specialist vs patient liaison salary

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

	Patient Service Specialist	Patient Liaison
Average salary	$33,563	$32,314
Salary range	Between $27,000 And $40,000	Between $24,000 And $42,000
Highest paying City	Springfield, MA	Boston, MA
Highest paying state	Massachusetts	Massachusetts
Best paying company	Virginia Eye Institute	Brigham and Women's Hospital
Best paying industry	Health Care	Health Care

Differences between patient service specialist and patient liaison education

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

	Patient Service Specialist	Patient Liaison
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 36%	Bachelor's Degree, 51%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	University of Pennsylvania

Patient service specialist vs patient liaison demographics

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

	Patient Service Specialist	Patient Liaison
Average age	40	40
Gender ratio	Male, 12.5% Female, 87.5%	Male, 16.2% Female, 83.8%
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, 11.5% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 20.1% Asian, 6.9% White, 55.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%
LGBT Percentage	7%	7%

Differences between patient service specialist and patient liaison duties and responsibilities

Patient service specialist example responsibilities.

Benefit coverage eligibility or concerns for patients will be complete timely to achieve identify outcomes or solutions.
Greet patients and visitors with warmth, compassion, and demonstrate commitment to exceptional service.
Provide customer service to patients via registration, co-pay and co-insurance payment collection, appointment scheduling and telephone service
Obtain patient demographic, billing, insurance, and other necessary intake information for patients seeking rehabilitation services.
Screen, triage, register and verify a high volume of client eligibility and demographic data.
Direct callers to appropriate personnel, and initiate a triage slip for response by medical personnel.

Patient liaison example responsibilities.

Provide support for emergencies by managing inappropriate behaviors, aggressive patients, CPR and persons in crisis.
Conduct all insurance verification and obtain authorization to treat sub-acute rehabilitation patients.
Attend Michigan state eligibility hearings, when necessary to assist and gain Medicaid disability benefits for patients.
Interview patients of hospital facility to obtain necessary documentation to secure Medicaid coverage as payment of inpatient hospital charges.
Set up payment plan, verify personal information per HIPAA guidelines.
Respect and maintain HIPPA and patient confidentiality and dignity of patients at all times.

Patient service specialist vs patient liaison skills

Common patient service specialist skills

Patients, 20%
Patient Service, 9%
Physical Therapy, 8%
Rehabilitation, 8%
Patient Appointments, 8%
Front Desk, 7%

Common patient liaison skills

Patients, 37%
Customer Service, 16%
Medical Terminology, 4%
Health System, 3%
HIPAA, 3%
Surgery, 2%

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Patient Service Specialist
Patient Service Specialist vs Patient Liaison

Updated January 8, 2025

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