Referral coordinator vs intake coordinator

The differences between referral coordinators and intake 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 intake coordinator takes usually requires 6-12 months. Additionally, an intake coordinator has an average salary of $38,880, which is higher than the $35,179 average annual salary of a referral coordinator.

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

Referral coordinator vs intake coordinator overview

	Referral Coordinator	Intake Coordinator
Yearly salary	$35,179	$38,880
Hourly rate	$16.91	$18.69
Growth rate	-8%	12%
Number of jobs	65,934	44,773
Job satisfaction	-	4
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 31%	Bachelor's Degree, 47%
Average age	49	43
Years of experience	2	12

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 intake coordinator do?

An intake coordinator is responsible for assisting patients with admissions to healthcare facilities. Intake coordinators help with the patients' registration process, record their health conditions and medical histories, verify their health insurance information, schedule consultation appointments, manage patients' charts, and respond to patients' inquiries and concerns. Intake coordinators perform administrative and clerical tasks as needed, such as entering patients' information on the database, filing necessary insurance documents, and creating reports. They must be detail-oriented, as well as have excellent communication and organization skills.

Referral coordinator vs intake coordinator salary

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

	Referral Coordinator	Intake Coordinator
Average salary	$35,179	$38,880
Salary range	Between $27,000 And $44,000	Between $29,000 And $50,000
Highest paying City	Portland, ME	Chicago, IL
Highest paying state	Maine	North Dakota
Best paying company	Horizon Laser Vision	Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker Llp
Best paying industry	Health Care	Health Care

Differences between referral coordinator and intake coordinator education

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

	Referral Coordinator	Intake Coordinator
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 31%	Bachelor's Degree, 47%
Most common major	Business	Psychology
Most common college	-	University of Pennsylvania

Referral coordinator vs intake coordinator demographics

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

	Referral Coordinator	Intake Coordinator
Average age	49	43
Gender ratio	Male, 10.2% Female, 89.8%	Male, 16.6% Female, 83.4%
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, 12.0% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 23.2% Asian, 5.5% White, 52.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 2.1%
LGBT Percentage	9%	11%

Differences between referral coordinator and intake 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.

Intake coordinator example responsibilities.

Help the individuals achieve those goals by working with them on action steps outline in the ISP.
Assist students on their IEP to complete activities and achieve annual goals relate to their transition into adulthood.
Manage assignments of paying medical bills limit in depth that include organizing and researching regulations as pertain to veterans eligibility.
Assist senior paralegals with case management and jury trial preparation for patent infringement and securities litigation matters.
Update youth charts in regards to allergies, medication use, and immunization history at each visit.
Work with medical doctors' offices, facilities and patients to ensure correct CPT codes are being process for clinical reviewer.

Referral coordinator vs intake coordinator skills

Common referral coordinator skills

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

Common intake coordinator skills

Patients, 21%
Customer Service, 11%
Home Health, 6%
Patient Referrals, 6%
Data Entry, 5%
Mental Health, 4%

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Referral Coordinator
Referral Coordinator vs Intake Coordinator

Updated January 8, 2025

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