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The differences between referral specialists and billing specialists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both a referral specialist and a billing specialist. Additionally, a referral specialist has an average salary of $36,143, which is higher than the $35,624 average annual salary of a billing specialist.
The top three skills for a referral specialist include patients, customer service and medical terminology. The most important skills for a billing specialist are patients, customer service, and data entry.
| Referral Specialist | Billing Specialist | |
| Yearly salary | $36,143 | $35,624 |
| Hourly rate | $17.38 | $17.13 |
| Growth rate | -8% | -3% |
| Number of jobs | 72,016 | 55,205 |
| Job satisfaction | 4 | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 44% | Bachelor's Degree, 31% |
| Average age | 49 | 46 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
Referral specialists are responsible for ensuring patients are already cleared for specialty service office visits. They resolve registration, pre-certification, and case-related affairs before the client's appointment. Also, they give support to clinical staff to manage the administrative components of clinical referrals for many services. They must gather relevant information from financial counselors, insurance carriers, and other supplementary staff to make sure the patient's financial responsibility for services are provided. Additionally, they act as a liaison between the patients, physicians, hospitals, health insurance vendors, or other referral sources.
Billing specialists are accounting or finance employees who are responsible for sending out billing invoices to clients. They calculate charges that their clients have incurred. They then write bills, ensure that all details are correct, and send these out to clients. They also manage payment due dates and ensure that clients are duly reminded of such deadlines. Billing specialists also manage client accounts and ensure that they are paying on time. They help identify clients who have outstanding payables and send out collection notices to them. At times, billing specialists also manage the receipt of payments to manage account records better.
Referral specialists and billing specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Referral Specialist | Billing Specialist | |
| Average salary | $36,143 | $35,624 |
| Salary range | Between $29,000 And $43,000 | Between $27,000 And $45,000 |
| Highest paying City | Washington, DC | Washington, DC |
| Highest paying state | Connecticut | Delaware |
| Best paying company | Cognizant | TIBCO Software |
| Best paying industry | Non Profits | Manufacturing |
There are a few differences between a referral specialist and a billing specialist in terms of educational background:
| Referral Specialist | Billing Specialist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 44% | Bachelor's Degree, 31% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between referral specialists' and billing specialists' demographics:
| Referral Specialist | Billing Specialist | |
| Average age | 49 | 46 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 15.3% Female, 84.7% | Male, 12.7% Female, 87.3% |
| 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, 10.9% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 19.2% Asian, 7.4% White, 57.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.9% |
| LGBT Percentage | 9% | 7% |