Patient Account Representative

A Patient Account Representative may work in a hospital, Doctor ’s office, or other medical facility, helping patients to understand their medical costs and finding ways to cover them. Like most health care professions, this is a growing field.

Patient Account Representatives have been called “ Billing Clerks for the medical profession,” but the job is much more than that to the patients they help. The goal of your job as a Patient Account Representative will be to resolve patient account balances. Your duties most likely include medical claims processing and billing, collecting past due payments from patients, and contacting Attorneys or Collections Agents to assist in collecting outstanding balances.

Although these tasks sound oriented toward money rather than people, many of your duties are meant to benefit the patients: You make sure the bills are accurate, contact insurance companies to resolve claim issues, and help patients find resources that may help them out, such as Medicaid or state-run health care programs. The best part of your day will often be helping a struggling patient with a delinquent medical bill discover that they are eligible for federal, state, or county funding assistance for their medical bills.

Since you will spend much of your time on the phone and the computer with the patients and the insurance agencies, a positive and empathetic attitude, good people skills, and the occasional hot and steamy Cappuccino will undoubtedly help you through the day. Great organizational skills and a talent for cutting through red tape will also help you succeed.