Referral specialist vs registration specialist

The differences between referral specialists and registration specialists 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 specialist, becoming a registration specialist takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a referral specialist has an average salary of $36,143, which is higher than the $30,422 average annual salary of a registration specialist.

The top three skills for a referral specialist include patients, customer service and medical terminology. The most important skills for a registration specialist are patients, customer service, and medical terminology.

Referral specialist vs registration specialist overview

	Referral Specialist	Registration Specialist
Yearly salary	$36,143	$30,422
Hourly rate	$17.38	$14.63
Growth rate	-8%	-4%
Number of jobs	72,016	79,118
Job satisfaction	4	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 44%	Bachelor's Degree, 38%
Average age	49	40
Years of experience	2	4

What does a referral specialist do?

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.

What does a registration specialist do?

A registration specialist is responsible for managing patient information, including the verification of their insurance details and medical treatment schedules. Registration specialists assign admission rooms and processing payments for discharge. They also assist patients with the completion of medical forms by helping them fill-out papers with the most accurate information. A registration specialist performs administrative and clerical duties as needed, requiring them to have excellent data management skills to process information and provide the highest quality care services for the patients.

Referral specialist vs registration specialist salary

Referral specialists and registration specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Referral Specialist	Registration Specialist
Average salary	$36,143	$30,422
Salary range	Between $29,000 And $43,000	Between $23,000 And $40,000
Highest paying City	Washington, DC	Boston, MA
Highest paying state	Connecticut	Massachusetts
Best paying company	Cognizant	Deloitte
Best paying industry	Non Profits	Health Care

Differences between referral specialist and registration specialist education

There are a few differences between a referral specialist and a registration specialist in terms of educational background:

	Referral Specialist	Registration Specialist
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 44%	Bachelor's Degree, 38%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	-	University of Pennsylvania

Referral specialist vs registration specialist demographics

Here are the differences between referral specialists' and registration specialists' demographics:

	Referral Specialist	Registration Specialist
Average age	49	40
Gender ratio	Male, 15.3% Female, 84.7%	Male, 14.5% Female, 85.5%
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, 10.7% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 18.0% Asian, 6.0% White, 59.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%
LGBT Percentage	9%	7%

Differences between referral specialist and registration specialist duties and responsibilities

Referral specialist example responsibilities.

Manage assignments of paying medical bills limit in depth that include organizing and researching regulations as pertain to veterans eligibility.
Interview patients, evaluate eligibility, collect co-pays, deductibles, including, but not limit to insurance verification.
Input HIPAA information, call physician offices to verify testing, collect copay's and deductibles.
Arrange for debt repayments or establish repayment schedules and send out insurance claims with the correct ICD-9 and CPT codes.
Research referrals and either deny or approve based on information obtain and appropriately identify diagnosis (CPT and ICD-9 coding).
Maintain confidentiality by following all applicable HIPAA regulations.

Registration specialist example responsibilities.

Attain and authenticate patient insurance information, counsel patients on changes in insurance policies, verify patient demographics.
Help patients through the registration and admitting processes and also contribute to the PBX department.
Input data entries for insurance billing; adding CPT codes and diagnosis from face sheets as patients arrive.
Act as hospital PBX operator.
Complete all charge entry, enter all CPT and ICD-9 codes for billing for multiple doctors each day.
Enter patient information and verify information according to HIPAA regulations.

Referral specialist vs registration specialist skills

Common referral specialist skills

Patients, 17%
Customer Service, 12%
Medical Terminology, 9%
PET, 6%
Patient Care, 3%
Data Entry, 3%

Common registration specialist skills

Patients, 25%
Customer Service, 14%
Medical Terminology, 8%
Patient Registration, 5%
Insurance Verification, 4%
Data Entry, 4%

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Referral Specialist vs Registration Specialist

Updated January 8, 2025

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