Career profile Patient Coordinator

Table of Contents

• What does a Patient Coordinator do?
• What is a typical salary for a Patient Coordinator?
• What personality traits are common among Patient Coordinators?
  • Career Interests
  • Values
  • Psychological Demands
• What education and training do Patient Coordinators need?
  • Typical educational degrees
  • Required knowledge and expertise
  • Important abilities
  • Critical skills

What does a Patient Coordinator do?

Patient Coordinators perform secretarial duties using specific knowledge of medical terminology and hospital, clinic, or laboratory procedures.

In addition, Patient Coordinators duties may include scheduling appointments, billing patients, and compiling and recording medical charts, reports, and correspondence.

What kind of tasks does a Patient Coordinator perform regularly?

Patient Coordinators are often responsible for overseeing or executing some or all of the following tasks:

• Answer telephones and direct calls to appropriate staff.
• Schedule and confirm patient diagnostic appointments, surgeries, or medical consultations.
• Complete insurance or other claim forms.
• Maintain medical records, technical library, or correspondence files.
• Greet visitors, ascertain purpose of visit, and direct them to appropriate staff.
• Receive and route messages or documents, such as laboratory results, to appropriate staff.
• Transmit correspondence or medical records by mail, e-mail, or fax.
• Interview patients to complete documents, case histories, or forms, such as intake or insurance forms.
• Operate office equipment, such as voice mail messaging systems, and use word processing, spreadsheet, or other software applications to prepare reports, invoices, financial statements, letters, case histories, or medical records.
• Perform bookkeeping duties, such as credits or collections, preparing and sending financial statements or bills, and keeping financial records.
• Perform various clerical or administrative functions, such as ordering and maintaining an inventory of supplies.

The above responsibilities are specific to Patient Coordinators. More generally, Patient Coordinators are involved in several broader types of activities:

What is a Patient Coordinator salary?

What personality traits are common among Patient Coordinators?

Interests

Career interests describe a person's preferences for different types of working environments and activities. When a person's interest match the demands of an occupation, people are usually more engaged and satisfied in that role.

Compared to most occupations, those who work as a Patient Coordinator are usually higher in their Conventional and Social interests.

Patient Coordinators typically have very strong Conventional interests. Conventional occupations frequently involve following set procedures and routines. These occupations can include working with data and details more than with ideas. Usually there is a clear line of authority to follow.

Also, Patient Coordinators typically have moderate Social interests. Social occupations frequently involve working with, communicating with, and teaching people. These occupations often involve helping or providing service to others.

Values

People differ in their values, or what is most important to them for building job satisfaction and fulfillment.

Compared to most people, those working as a Patient Coordinator tend to value Relationships, Support, and Working Conditions.

Most importantly, Patient Coordinators strongly value Relationships. Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to provide service to others and work with co-workers in a friendly non-competitive environment.

Second, Patient Coordinators moderately value Support. Occupations that satisfy this work value offer supportive management that stands behind employees.

Lastly, Patient Coordinators moderately value Working Conditions. Occupations that satisfy this work value offer job security and good working conditions.

Psychological Demands

Each occupation brings its own set of psychological demands, which describe the characteristics necessary to perform the job well.

In order to perform their job successfully, people who work as Patient Coordinators must consistently demonstrate qualities such as concern for others, attention to detail, and integrity.

Below, you'll find a list of qualities typically required of Patient Coordinators, ranked by importance:

What education and training do Patient Coordinators need?

Working as a Patient Coordinator usually requires a high school diploma.

Patient Coordinators need anywhere from a few months to one year of working with experienced employees. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with this occupation.

Educational degrees among Patient Coordinators

• 3.3% did not complete high school or secondary school
• 22.8% completed high school or secondary school
• 35.9% completed some college coursework
• 17.5% earned a Associate's degree
• 17.0% earned a Bachelor's degree
• 2.8% earned a Master's degree
• 0.7% earned a doctorate or professional degree

Knowledge and expertise required by Patient Coordinators

Important Abilities needed by Patient Coordinators

Patient Coordinators must develop a particular set of abilities to perform their job well. Abilities are individual capacities that influence a person's information processing, sensory perception, motor coordination, and physical strength or endurance. Individuals may naturally have certain abilities without explicit training, but most abilities can be sharpened somewhat through practice.

For example, Patient Coordinators need abilities such as oral comprehension, written comprehension, and oral expression in order to perform their job at a high level. The list below shows several important abilities for Patient Coordinators, ranked by their relative importance.

Critical Skills needed by Patient Coordinators

Skills are developed capacities that enable people to function effectively in real-world settings. Unlike abilities, skills are typically easier to build through practice and experience. Skills influence effectiveness in areas such as learning, working with others, design, troubleshooting, and more.

Patient Coordinators frequently use skills like speaking, active listening, and service orientation to perform their job effectively. The list below shows several critical skills for Patient Coordinators, ranked by their relative importance.

What is the source of this information?

The information provided on this page is adapted from data and descriptions published by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration under the CC BY 4.0 license. TraitLab has modified some information for ease of use and reading, and the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment, and Training Administration has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.

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