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.
Patient service specialist responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real patient service specialist resumes:
- 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.
- Run daily report for patients who have radiology services complete, as well as other administrative duties.
- Obtain data and paperwork from patients, inputting data in the electronic health record system (EHR).
- Deliver exceptional customer service while showing compassion and sympathy to every patient
- Maintain cleanliness and sanitary conditions of all equipment in laboratory setting.
- Share suggestions with physical therapists and athletic trainers regarding potential rehabilitation improvements.
- Provide patient-specific notations in EMR system to assist practitioners in providing tailor treatments.
- Maintain patient confidence and protect hospital operations by keeping information confidential under HIPPA policies.
- Facilitate communications between MRI technologists and ordering physicians regarding patients' critical test results.
- Maintain patient confidentiality compliant with HIPAA and all state and federal regulations regarding patient privacy.
Patient service specialist skills and personality traits
We calculated that 20% of Patient Service Specialists are proficient in Patients, Patient Service, and Physical Therapy. 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 Specialists that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Patients, 20%
Coordinate with Patient Intake Coordinators to establish appropriate placement of patients according to individual patient preferences and physician orders.
- Patient Service, 9%
Created training and organizational development plans to raise patient service satisfaction as measured by survey results.
- Physical Therapy, 8%
Provided accurately transcribed initial evaluations and daily notes for all team members of a physical therapy clinic.
- Rehabilitation, 8%
Obtained patient demographic, billing, insurance, and other necessary intake information for patients seeking rehabilitation services.
- Patient Appointments, 8%
Scheduled patient appointments and procedures for multiple specialty departments in two different regions, utilizing two different medical software programs.
- Front Desk, 7%
Coordinate daily functions of imaging Front Desk area and prior Authorization for Procedures/Scans.
"patients," "patient service," and "physical therapy" are among the most common skills that patient service specialists use at work. You can find even more patient service specialist responsibilities below, including:
Communication skills. One of the key soft skills for a patient service specialist to have is communication skills. You can see how this relates to what patient service specialists do because "customer service representatives must be able to provide clear information in writing, by phone, or in person." Additionally, a patient service specialist resume shows how patient service specialists use communication skills: "coordinated all communication within the emergency department as related to patient services. "
Customer-service skills. This is an important skill for patient service specialists to perform their duties. For an example of how patient service specialist 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 specialist: "schedule and register medical faculty associates patients while providing effective customer service during the appointment scheduling process. ".
Interpersonal skills. A big part of what patient service specialists do relies on "interpersonal skills." You can see how essential it is to patient service specialist responsibilities because "representatives should be able to create positive interactions with customers." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical patient service specialist tasks: "learn quickly, enjoy challenges, and work well under pressure, effective communication, excellent interpersonal and organizational skills. "
Listening skills. A commonly-found skill in patient service specialist job descriptions, "listening skills" is essential to what patient service specialists do. Patient service specialist 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 specialist duties rely on listening skills in this resume example: "display strong verbal and written communication, human relations sensitivity, strong customer service, and listening and telephone etiquette skills. "
Patience. Lastly, "patience" is an important element of what a patient service specialist does. Patient service specialist responsibilities require this skill because "representatives should be patient and polite, especially when interacting with dissatisfied customers." This resume example highlights how patient service specialist duties rely on this skill: "greet patience, schedule follow up appointments, answer phone calls from patients, insurance companies and doctors. "
The three companies that hire the most patient service specialists are:
- Select Medical316 patient service specialists jobs
- Cleveland Clinic182 patient service specialists jobs
- University of Washington109 patient service specialists jobs
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Compare different patient service specialists
Patient service specialist 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.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between patient service specialists and patient advocate. For instance, patient service specialist responsibilities require skills such as "patient service," "physical therapy," "rehabilitation," and "office equipment." Whereas a patient advocate is skilled in "customer service," "financial assistance," "financial counselors," and "english language." This is part of what separates the two careers.
Patient advocates earn the highest salaries when working in the health care industry, with an average yearly salary of $35,016. On the other hand, patient service specialists are paid more in the health care industry with an average salary of $33,449.On average, patient advocates reach similar levels of education than patient service specialists. Patient advocates are 4.5% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.4% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Patient service specialist vs. Patient representative
A patient representative is responsible for assisting the patients with their health care needs by identifying their medical concerns, assessing their medical history, and referring them to the appropriate physicians or other medical professionals for immediate treatments and further examinations. Patient representatives verify the patients' insurance information, guiding them on filling out medical forms, processing payments for medical services, and updating them for the release of medical results. A patient representative must have excellent communication and organizational skills, especially when responding to patient's inquiries and concerns timely and accurately, and performing additional administrative and clerical tasks as needed.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that patient service specialist responsibilities requires skills like "patient service," "physical therapy," "office equipment," and "triage." But a patient representative might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "check-in," "customer service," "computer system," and "emr."
Patient representatives may earn a lower salary than patient service specialists, but patient representatives earn the most pay in the non profits industry with an average salary of $34,572. On the other hand, patient service specialists receive higher pay in the health care industry, where they earn an average salary of $33,449.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Patient representatives tend to reach similar levels of education than patient service specialists. In fact, they're 0.5% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.4% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Patient service specialist vs. Insurance verification specialist
An insurance verification specialist is responsible for confirming a patient's insurance details and eligibility to receive medical care services. Insurance verification specialists review the insurance documents of the patients, including its coverage and limitations, and escalate concerns to the supervisor for immediate resolution. They process paperwork accordingly upon coordinating with the patients and attending health professionals. An insurance verification specialist must have excellent communication and organizational skills, finishing administrative tasks efficiently under minimal supervision.
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 specialist is likely to be skilled in "patient service," "rehabilitation," "office equipment," and "patient care," while a typical insurance verification specialist is skilled in "customer service," "health insurance," "patient insurance coverage," and "medical procedures."
Insurance verification specialists earn the best pay in the pharmaceutical industry, where they command an average salary of $35,651. Patient service specialists earn the highest pay from the health care industry, with an average salary of $33,449.Most insurance verification specialists achieve a similar degree level compared to patient service specialists. For example, they're 1.9% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Patient service specialist 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.
Types of patient service specialist
Updated January 8, 2025
