Practice coordinator vs referral coordinator

The differences between practice coordinators and referral coordinators can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both a practice coordinator and a referral coordinator. Additionally, a practice coordinator has an average salary of $46,591, which is higher than the $35,179 average annual salary of a referral coordinator.

The top three skills for a practice coordinator include patients, customer service and patient care. The most important skills for a referral coordinator are patients, customer service, and medical terminology.

Practice coordinator vs referral coordinator overview

	Practice Coordinator	Referral Coordinator
Yearly salary	$46,591	$35,179
Hourly rate	$22.40	$16.91
Growth rate	-8%	-8%
Number of jobs	78,398	65,934
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 53%	Bachelor's Degree, 31%
Average age	49	49
Years of experience	2	2

What does a practice coordinator do?

A practice coordinator is in charge of overseeing the daily operations at clinics and medical offices, ensuring everything runs smoothly and efficiently while enforcing the hospital's policies and regulations. They mostly have administrative duties such as developing strategies to improve clinic and staff operations, handling calls and correspondence, liaising with key clients and suppliers, supervising budgets and timelines, establishing guidelines, and monitoring the progress of all procedures, resolving issues should there be any. They must also gather and analyze current programs, implementing solutions against problem areas.

What does a referral coordinator do?

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.

Practice coordinator vs referral coordinator salary

Practice coordinators and referral coordinators have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Practice Coordinator	Referral Coordinator
Average salary	$46,591	$35,179
Salary range	Between $30,000 And $70,000	Between $27,000 And $44,000
Highest paying City	Washington, DC	Portland, ME
Highest paying state	Washington	Maine
Best paying company	Venable	Horizon Laser Vision
Best paying industry	Media	Health Care

Differences between practice coordinator and referral coordinator education

There are a few differences between a practice coordinator and a referral coordinator in terms of educational background:

	Practice Coordinator	Referral Coordinator
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 53%	Bachelor's Degree, 31%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	-	-

Practice coordinator vs referral coordinator demographics

Here are the differences between practice coordinators' and referral coordinators' demographics:

	Practice Coordinator	Referral Coordinator
Average age	49	49
Gender ratio	Male, 13.5% Female, 86.5%	Male, 10.2% Female, 89.8%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 9.6% Unknown, 3.8% Hispanic or Latino, 12.0% Asian, 3.8% White, 70.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%	Black or African American, 9.6% Unknown, 3.8% Hispanic or Latino, 12.0% Asian, 3.8% White, 70.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%
LGBT Percentage	9%	9%

Differences between practice coordinator and referral coordinator duties and responsibilities

Practice coordinator example responsibilities.

Manage inpatient transfers to rehabilitation and medical facilities, along with preparing and monitoring outpatient billings insurance verification and referrals.
Verify and update all insurance and HIPAA forms and information as needed.
Perform blood glucose and PTINR testing, EKG's, and injections.
Schedule new patient, follow-up and surgical center appointments using EMR scheduling software.
Prepare medical records and documentation for patient visits, including loading of information into the EMR system.
Implement and ensure compliance with laws and regulations that affects the clinic (HIPAA, OSHA, and CLIA).

Referral coordinator example responsibilities.

Establish rapport with all PCP offices, hospital personnel, and manage care representatives.
Ensure CPT and ICD-9 coding are accurate and complete according to AMA's guidelines and for third party intermediaries.
Contact medical insurance companies and provide ICD-9 diagnosis and CPT procedure codes for patient's illness, condition or injury.
Apply ICD-9 and CPT-4 codes to complete referral requests online or via fax.
Conduct the entire office's EHR process and create a system to track old and new patient's records.
Incorporate core organizational values of quality, respect, integrity, partnership, and compassion in all activities and decisions.

Practice coordinator vs referral coordinator skills

Common practice coordinator skills

Patients, 21%
Customer Service, 14%
Patient Care, 7%
Front Desk, 5%
Insurance Verification, 4%
Excellent Organizational, 4%

Common referral coordinator skills

Patients, 30%
Customer Service, 12%
Medical Terminology, 7%
Patient Care, 4%
Data Entry, 4%
EMR, 3%

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Practice Coordinator
Practice Coordinator vs Referral Coordinator

Updated January 8, 2025

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