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.
Practice coordinator responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real practice coordinator resumes:
- 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).
- Perform fee coordination of patient visits including ICD-9 and CPT coding in addition to billing and correction of patient accounts.
- Audit patient census vs. physician billing, review physician billing for CPT and ICD-9 compliance before releasing to billing company.
- Register patients according to protocols, assisting patients in correctly completing appropriate forms, and documenting all information according to protocol.
- Promote continuity of care by accurately and completely communicating to other caregivers the status of patients for which care are provided.
- Review all MRI scans prior to scheduling the patient, review all records for severity of urgency.
- Implement correct procedural and diagnostic codes and follow proper CMS guidelines when filing insurance claims.
- Comply with CMS performance management requirements (i.e., client surveys, compliment/complaint, billing errors, employee feedback).
- Post all payments and making contractual adjustments to the patient account using EOB receive from insurance carriers.
- Answer questions about EOB's, explain billing and process claim forms, suggest payment options, problem solve.
Practice coordinator skills and personality traits
We calculated that 21% of Practice Coordinators are proficient in Patients, Customer Service, and Patient Care. They’re also known for soft skills such as Writing skills, Organizational skills, and Interpersonal skills.
We break down the percentage of Practice Coordinators that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Patients, 21%
Promoted continuity of care by accurately and completely communicating to other caregivers the status of patients for which care was provided.
- Customer Service, 14%
Better assisting customers to ensure quality customer service, and contributing to organization growth and success.
- Patient Care, 7%
Designed business and patient care policies and procedures for hospital and clinic operations within this dynamic for-profit acute care hospital.
- Front Desk, 5%
Manage business office operations for a small medical office including tasks of front desk, reception and client waiting area.
- Insurance Verification, 4%
Conducted revenue cycle clearance, patient registration accuracy, referral management, and insurance verification.
- Excellent Organizational, 4%
Interacted with clients and utilized excellent organizational skills to arrange and coordinate accurate orders to insure customer satisfaction.
"patients," "customer service," and "patient care" are among the most common skills that practice coordinators use at work. You can find even more practice coordinator responsibilities below, including:
Writing skills. One of the key soft skills for a practice coordinator to have is writing skills. You can see how this relates to what practice coordinators do because "secretaries and administrative assistants write memos and emails when communicating with managers, employees, and customers." Additionally, a practice coordinator resume shows how practice coordinators use writing skills: "trained department personnel on new reporting computer systems, and assisted in writing training manual. "
Organizational skills. Many practice coordinator duties rely on organizational skills. "secretaries and administrative assistants keep files, folders, and schedules in order so that an office runs efficiently.," so a practice coordinator will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways practice coordinator responsibilities rely on organizational skills: "organized and coordinated of office operations, procedures and resources to facilitate organizational effectiveness and efficiency. "
Interpersonal skills. practice coordinators are also known for interpersonal skills, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to practice coordinator responsibilities, because "secretaries and administrative assistants interact with clients, customers, or staff." A practice coordinator resume example shows how interpersonal skills is used in the workplace: "demonstrated excellent communication, leadership, customer service and interpersonal skills. "
The three companies that hire the most practice coordinators are:
- Tenet Healthcare48 practice coordinators jobs
- Envision Healthcare15 practice coordinators jobs
- Dana-Farber Cancer Institute11 practice coordinators jobs
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Practice coordinator vs. Medical staff coordinator
A medical staff coordinator is in charge of managing and overseeing hospital staff operations. Their responsibilities include performing administrative support tasks such as preparing and processing documentation, managing schedules, supervising payroll, maintaining extensive records, coordinating with internal and external parties, and developing strategies to optimize hospital processes. They may also participate in the hiring and training procedures, verifying and maintaining credentials, and promptly resolving any issues or concerns. Furthermore, as a medical staff coordinator, it is essential to lead and encourage the workforce to reach goals, all while implementing the hospital's policies and regulations.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, practice coordinator responsibilities require skills like "front desk," "insurance verification," "excellent organizational," and "primary care." Meanwhile a typical medical staff coordinator has skills in areas such as "staff bylaws," "health professionals," "peer review," and "fppe." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Medical staff coordinators really shine in the health care industry with an average salary of $53,338. Comparatively, practice coordinators tend to make the most money in the media industry with an average salary of $47,438.On average, medical staff coordinators reach similar levels of education than practice coordinators. Medical staff coordinators are 3.2% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 2.0% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Practice coordinator vs. Appointment coordinator
Appointment coordinators are professionals who are responsible for coordinating and initiating business appointments between external associates and the organization's top management. These coordinators are required to schedule all appointments for their customer service representatives and directing them to maintain a positive attitude and customer service to their clients. They must supervise the service department by implement employee procedures and answering most of their incoming phone calls. Appointment coordinators must also perform administrative duties such as faxing, filing records, and data entry.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, practice coordinator responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "patient care," "excellent organizational," "payroll," and "primary care." Meanwhile, an appointment coordinator has duties that require skills in areas such as "repair orders," "service calls," "phone calls," and "patient demographics." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
Average education levels between the two professions vary. Appointment coordinators tend to reach lower levels of education than practice coordinators. In fact, they're 8.1% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 2.0% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Practice coordinator 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.
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from practice coordinator resumes include skills like "excellent organizational," "primary care," "patient flow," and "excellent interpersonal," whereas a scheduling coordinator is more likely to list skills in "medical terminology," "phone calls," "office equipment," and "radiology. "
Scheduling coordinators earn the best pay in the health care industry, where they command an average salary of $35,624. Practice coordinators earn the highest pay from the media industry, with an average salary of $47,438.Most scheduling coordinators achieve a lower degree level compared to practice coordinators. For example, they're 7.6% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 1.0% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Practice coordinator 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.
Even though a few skill sets overlap between practice coordinators and referral coordinators, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a practice coordinator might have more use for skills like "excellent organizational," "payroll," "primary care," and "patient flow." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of referral coordinators require skills like "medical terminology," "patient demographics," "phone calls," and "strong customer service. "
In general, referral coordinators earn the most working in the health care industry, with an average salary of $35,297. The highest-paying industry for a practice coordinator is the media industry.The average resume of referral coordinators showed that they earn lower levels of education compared to practice coordinators. So much so that theyacirc;euro;trade;re 5.7% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree by 0.9%.Types of practice coordinator
Updated January 8, 2025











