What does a physician specialist do?
A Physician Specialist is a doctor who specializes in a particular field of medicine, such as pediatrics, urology, psychiatry, and more. Their responsibilities revolve around studying the patients' medical history, conducting assessments and evaluations, developing care and treatment plans, prescribing medication, and helping patients understand their conditions and symptoms. In some cases, a Physician Specialist may recommend patients to undergo surgeries and other procedures. Moreover, aside from treating and diagnosing medical conditions, a Physician Specialist maintains an active communication line with nurses and technicians for a smooth and efficient workflow.
Physician specialist responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real physician specialist resumes:
- Manage providers' office and call schedules, outlook calendars and assist with surgery scheduling.
- Generate referral letters for physicians, manage and sort medical documents within the EHR system, and assist with e-prescribing.
- Review complete ultrasound and non-stress testing reports and assign appropriate ICD-10 and CPT codes.
- Train in AllScripts EMR system.
- Retrieve medical records from EMR and save to flash drive.
- File written letters of appeal on claims deny by the Medicaid.
- Stay current with all government, HIPAA, and CCHIT regulations.
- Build relationships within the medical community while following strict Medicare, Medicaid and HIPPA guidelines.
- Organize material to train the clerical staff on the appropriate ICD-10 codes for scheduling purposes.
- Design and deliver technical on-site training for ICD-10 medical coding to physicians and statisticians throughout Iraq.
- Facilitate meetings with the FAA specialists and capture all risk items into a database for resolution.
- Perform analysis of health record documentation for define accounts and assigns CPT and ICD-9-CM codes as appropriate.
- Work side by side with nurses to review and ensure ICD-9 and HCPCS code specificity for DME prescriptions.
- Post adjustments, submit claims electronically, verify patient's coverage and update patient's information in EHR system.
- Perform EKG'S, phlebotomy, spirometer, flow check, sudo motor, allergy text and obtain vitals.
Physician specialist skills and personality traits
We calculated that 39% of Physician Specialists are proficient in Patients, Patient Care, and Surgery. They’re also known for soft skills such as Organizational skills, Writing skills, and Interpersonal skills.
We break down the percentage of Physician Specialists that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Patients, 39%
Educated Medical Professionals of the Medicare coverage/criteria and suggested appropriate equipment for their patients based on medical necessity.
- Patient Care, 23%
Performed as patient advocate coordinating meetings with physicians to establish patient care plans.
- Surgery, 18%
Code for Ambulatory Orthopedic surgery reports.
- Internal Medicine, 3%
Work at Indiana Internal Medicine Consultants with the pulmonologists obtaining authorizations from insurance for necessary scans and tests.
- Excellent Interpersonal, 2%
Possess strong client/goal orientation, and excellent interpersonal, communication and computer skills.
- Patient Registration, 2%
Interact with physicians and front desk staff to resolve errors in documentation, coding, and patient registration.
"patients," "patient care," and "surgery" are among the most common skills that physician specialists use at work. You can find even more physician specialist responsibilities below, including:
Organizational skills. The most essential soft skill for a physician specialist to carry out their responsibilities is organizational skills. This skill is important for the role because "secretaries and administrative assistants keep files, folders, and schedules in order so that an office runs efficiently." Additionally, a physician specialist resume shows how their duties depend on organizational skills: "utilized strong organizational, multitasking and customer service skills in a busy four provider primary care physicians office. "
Writing skills. Another essential skill to perform physician specialist duties is writing skills. Physician specialists responsibilities require that "secretaries and administrative assistants write memos and emails when communicating with managers, employees, and customers." Physician specialists also use writing skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "initiate inquiries, either by telephone or in writing, to third party payors to resolve reimbursement issues. "
Interpersonal skills. This is an important skill for physician specialists to perform their duties. For an example of how physician specialist responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "secretaries and administrative assistants interact with clients, customers, or staff." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a physician specialist: "developed lasting client relationships by applying effective communication and interpersonal skills in resolving problems and responding to customer inquiries. ".
The three companies that hire the most physician specialists are:
- Cleveland Clinic16 physician specialists jobs
- Northwell Health7 physician specialists jobs
- The State of Oregon7 physician specialists jobs
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Compare different physician specialists
Physician specialist vs. Scheduler
A scheduler is responsible for arranging appointments and carrying out reminder calls and correspondence to anyone involved. In a company setting, it is also a scheduler's responsibility to coordinate with various departments and personnel to organize an accurate timetable that will consist of meetings, gatherings, deadlines, or other pressing matters. Furthermore, a scheduler must have attention to detail as one must perform bookkeeping tasks, fix scheduling issues or conflicts, and organize documentation. There are also instances where one must process orders or payments.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a physician specialist are more likely to require skills like "surgery," "internal medicine," "insurance forms," and "financial agreements." On the other hand, a job as a scheduler requires skills like "customer service," "medical terminology," "data entry," and "home health." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Schedulers tend to make the most money working in the construction industry, where they earn an average salary of $53,150. In contrast, physician specialists make the biggest average salary, $138,632, in the health care industry.On average, schedulers reach lower levels of education than physician specialists. Schedulers are 8.2% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 5.1% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Physician specialist vs. Unit coordinator
A unit coordinator is responsible for providing quality care services to patients by supporting the daily operations of a health care facility under the supervision of medical professionals. Unit coordinators perform administrative and clerical tasks as needed, including responding to patients' inquiries and concerns, scheduling appointments, sorting medical records, verifying insurance details, and assisting the physician on the care plans and patients' activities. They also monitor the medical supply inventory, coordinate with suppliers, and ensure the cleanliness and orderliness of the facility by adhering to safety standards and protocols.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, physician specialist responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "patient care," "internal medicine," "patient registration," and "cpt." Meanwhile, a unit coordinator has duties that require skills in areas such as "customer service," "medical terminology," "cpr," and "patient flow." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
Unit coordinators earn a lower average salary than physician specialists. But unit coordinators earn the highest pay in the health care industry, with an average salary of $35,680. Additionally, physician specialists earn the highest salaries in the health care with average pay of $138,632 annually.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Unit coordinators tend to reach similar levels of education than physician specialists. In fact, they're 4.9% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 5.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Physician specialist vs. Scheduling coordinator
A scheduling coordinator is responsible for arranging the calendars and managing the appointments of a senior employee. Scheduling coordinators keep a record of meetings, reminding the key personnel as well as other participants of any schedule adjustments and cancellations. They are also responsible for booking venues for events and processing travel arrangements, following the specifications of the head personnel. A scheduling coordinator must be detail-oriented, as well as having excellent communication and organization skills to answer schedule queries and perform administrative tasks as needed.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, physician specialists are more likely to have skills like "internal medicine," "excellent interpersonal," "patient registration," and "insurance forms." But a scheduling coordinator is more likely to have skills like "customer service," "medical terminology," "home health," and "data entry."
Scheduling coordinators make a very good living in the health care industry with an average annual salary of $35,624. On the other hand, physician specialists are paid the highest salary in the health care industry, with average annual pay of $138,632.Most scheduling coordinators achieve a lower degree level compared to physician specialists. For example, they're 9.1% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 5.0% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Physician specialist vs. Referral coordinator
A referral coordinator works with insurance companies and care providers to share essential patient information and assists primarily in scheduling appointments and managing health insurance issues. As a referral coordinator, you will work directly with the patient, patient families, or even social workers, depending on the job and patient needs. Other job responsibilities include general administrative or clerical tasks such as setting up appointments for new and existing patients, verifying insurance information before appointments, and answering phone calls.
Types of physician specialist
Updated January 8, 2025
