Senior patient account representative vs debt collector

The differences between senior patient account representatives and debt collectors can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 6-12 months to become both a senior patient account representative and a debt collector. Additionally, a senior patient account representative has an average salary of $57,603, which is higher than the $33,865 average annual salary of a debt collector.

The top three skills for a senior patient account representative include patients, CPT and data entry. The most important skills for a debt collector are customer service, outbound calls, and payment arrangements.

Senior patient account representative vs debt collector overview

	Senior Patient Account Representative	Debt Collector
Yearly salary	$57,603	$33,865
Hourly rate	$27.69	$16.28
Growth rate	-8%	-8%
Number of jobs	126,399	23,385
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 36%	High School Diploma, 34%
Average age	46	46
Years of experience	12	12

What does a senior patient account representative do?

A senior patient account representative typically works at a hospital, clinic, or other medical facility. They handle matters concerning medical insurance claims and patient billing. Their duties include collecting and processing payments, arranging billing and payment plans, coordinating with insurance providers, verifying patient information, and maintaining accurate records. They also directly assist patients by answering inquiries, explaining payment arrangements and other details, keeping an open communication line with patients and insurance providers, and settling refunds. They also supervise junior patient account representatives.

What does a debt collector do?

Debt collectors are also known as collection agencies and are responsible for recovering past due debts. Most of them are hired by companies to collect debt either for a fee or a percentage of the total amount recovered. Also, some debt collectors buy delinquent debts at a discount and seek to collect the debt's full amount. They have many strategies to collect debts, including calling debtor's phones, sending letters, and even visiting them at their home. However, if debtors fail to pay their due, debt collectors can either update the debtor's credit report or sue them over debt. Once sued and debtors ignore court hearings and lose by default, results could either be garnishment on debtor'debtors' wages or levies on their bank.

Senior patient account representative vs debt collector salary

Senior patient account representatives and debt collectors have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Senior Patient Account Representative	Debt Collector
Average salary	$57,603	$33,865
Salary range	Between $32,000 And $101,000	Between $26,000 And $43,000
Highest paying City	-	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	-	California
Best paying company	-	Mayor Ethan Berkowitz
Best paying industry	-	Construction

Differences between senior patient account representative and debt collector education

There are a few differences between a senior patient account representative and a debt collector in terms of educational background:

	Senior Patient Account Representative	Debt Collector
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 36%	High School Diploma, 34%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	-	-

Senior patient account representative vs debt collector demographics

Here are the differences between senior patient account representatives' and debt collectors' demographics:

	Senior Patient Account Representative	Debt Collector
Average age	46	46
Gender ratio	Male, 11.6% Female, 88.4%	Male, 30.7% Female, 69.3%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 14.3% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 18.2% Asian, 3.6% White, 59.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%	Black or African American, 12.2% Unknown, 4.0% Hispanic or Latino, 20.0% Asian, 3.4% White, 59.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%
LGBT Percentage	8%	8%

Differences between senior patient account representative and debt collector duties and responsibilities

Senior patient account representative example responsibilities.

Manage Facebook and patient communication programs.
Review physician's documentation to ensure correct CPT codes and ICD-9 codes are billed correctly for services render.
Use online referral system to obtain authorization for treatment for a specialist office using ICD-9 and CPT codes.
Train new staff in billing and follow-up of Medicaid HMO plans including both the hospital and electronic billing system.
Provide reports and information to various clients; comply with HIPAA regulations.
Input ICD-9 codes and HCPC to help with calculating cost for each patient.

Debt collector example responsibilities.

Prevent impeding loss and increasing profitability through negotiation and enforcement of schedule collection campaigns, consistently achieving high success standards.
Work with FHA, obama programs at the time.
Educate customers on ways to get medical assistance such as Medicaid, Medicare etc.
Prevent foreclosure by putting people on repayment plans, submitting requests for modifications, or deed in lieu.
File Medicaid, Medicare and commercial claims consisting of PPO discounts, nurse practitioner discounts, humanitarian discounts, etc.
Maintain security and confidentiality of company and client information, following FDCPA regulations.

Senior patient account representative vs debt collector skills

Common senior patient account representative skills

Patients, 20%
CPT, 9%
Data Entry, 8%
Medical Terminology, 6%
Medicaid, 6%
Appeals, 5%

Common debt collector skills

Customer Service, 9%
Outbound Calls, 9%
Payment Arrangements, 8%
Delinquent Accounts, 8%
Credit Card Payments, 6%
FDCPA, 5%

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Senior Patient Account Representative
Senior Patient Account Representative vs Debt Collector

Updated January 8, 2025

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