Referral coordinator vs insurance coordinator

The differences between referral coordinators and insurance coordinators can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 1-2 years to become a referral coordinator, becoming an insurance coordinator takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a referral coordinator has an average salary of $35,179, which is higher than the $32,788 average annual salary of an insurance coordinator.

The top three skills for a referral coordinator include patients, customer service and medical terminology. The most important skills for an insurance coordinator are patients, customer service, and insurance verification.

Referral coordinator vs insurance coordinator overview

	Referral Coordinator	Insurance Coordinator
Yearly salary	$35,179	$32,788
Hourly rate	$16.91	$15.76
Growth rate	-8%	-3%
Number of jobs	65,934	108,509
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 31%	Bachelor's Degree, 36%
Average age	49	44
Years of experience	2	4

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.

What does an insurance coordinator do?

An insurance coordinator is responsible for evaluating and validating insurance information to verify claims and process the necessary claims resolutions for parties. Insurance coordinators submit claims statements timely to the insurance officers for review, coordinate with the clients for inquiries and updates, and reach out to medical institutions for accurate filing of payments. An insurance coordinator must have excellent communication and analytical skills to assess reports, resolve claims discrepancies, and escalate high-level complaints to the officers for immediate action.

Referral coordinator vs insurance coordinator salary

Referral coordinators and insurance coordinators have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Referral Coordinator	Insurance Coordinator
Average salary	$35,179	$32,788
Salary range	Between $27,000 And $44,000	Between $25,000 And $41,000
Highest paying City	Portland, ME	Oakland, CA
Highest paying state	Maine	New Hampshire
Best paying company	Horizon Laser Vision	University of California, Berkeley
Best paying industry	Health Care	Pharmaceutical

Differences between referral coordinator and insurance coordinator education

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

	Referral Coordinator	Insurance Coordinator
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 31%	Bachelor's Degree, 36%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	-	-

Referral coordinator vs insurance coordinator demographics

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

	Referral Coordinator	Insurance Coordinator
Average age	49	44
Gender ratio	Male, 10.2% Female, 89.8%	Male, 9.9% Female, 90.1%
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, 13.8% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 14.4% Asian, 3.9% White, 63.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%
LGBT Percentage	9%	11%

Differences between referral coordinator and insurance coordinator duties and responsibilities

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.

Insurance coordinator example responsibilities.

Verify patient dental insurance coverage and limitations with major private and business dental insurance providers as well as Medicaid and Medicare.
File to record patient demographics in numerous EMR systems and paper charts if applicable.
Prepare providers and staff for ICD-10 transition.
Post and reconcile all daily insurance, patient payments and transactions within the EMR system.
Experience in registration in healthcare, business office and physician billing, with reimbursement and collections.
Process all Medicare claims, explaining HMO changes to patients in detail and accurately documenting all benefits.

Referral coordinator vs insurance coordinator skills

Common referral coordinator skills

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

Common insurance coordinator skills

Patients, 26%
Customer Service, 11%
Insurance Verification, 7%
Insurance Eligibility, 4%
Medicaid, 3%
Medical Terminology, 3%

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Referral Coordinator
Referral Coordinator vs Insurance Coordinator

Updated January 8, 2025

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