What Does a Healthcare Customer Care Representative Do?
Customers of health care providers often need assistance finding information about products and services, placing orders, and resolving issues. In these situations, customer care representatives are there to step in and help. They handle a large volume of inbound and outbound calls for hospitals, medical offices, clinics, insurance companies, and nursing homes. In many cases, customer care representatives must follow call scripts to handle various topics and be a positive contact point between their company and its customers.
In a clinical setting, customer care representatives may also be responsible for administrative duties. These tasks can include patient intake paperwork, setting appointments, sending and receiving correspondence, data entry, and maintaining referral files. They are often also responsible for reviewing submitted documents to make sure they have the proper information for billing purposes. Customer care representatives play an important part in ensuring patient satisfaction for any healthcare organization.
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National Average Salary
Healthcare customer care representative salaries vary by experience, industry, organization size, and geography. To explore salary ranges by local market, please visit our sister site zengig.com.
The average U.S. salary for a Healthcare Customer Care Representative is:
$37,450
Healthcare Customer Care Representative Job Descriptions
The first step when hiring a great healthcare customer care representative is a well-crafted job description. Below are real-world examples to help give you the best chance of success on your recruiting journey.
Example 1
The representative provides a positive customer service experience that meets the needs of our patients by educating them on products and services, listening to concerns, addressing issues, and placing supply orders in a high-volume inbound call center.
Responsibilities
- Answer high-volume inbound customer calls via an automated phone system
- Make outbound calls to patients, referrals, and sales as needed
- Utilize resources to troubleshoot and resolve patient issues
- Use full product knowledge of at least two ABC Company therapies to service patients
- Communicate effectively and professionally with patients, teammates, healthcare professionals, and sales team
- Consistently meet and attain required Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
- Perform other duties as required
Education & experience
- High School Diploma or equivalent required
- 1-2 years of customer service experience required
- Call center experience preferred
Knowledge, skills, & abilities
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Proficient with MS Office and the ability to navigate multiple platforms
- Ability to learn ABC Company products and therapies
- Strong customer service skills with the ability to resolve patient concerns
- Demonstrate soft skills to enhance patient experience
Additional requirements
- Prolonged periods sitting at a desk and working on a computer
Example 2
ABC Company is looking for a Customer Service Representative to join our team. We are challenging the status quo by shining the light on radiology and making it a critical first step in diagnosis and proper treatment. Come join us and shine brighter together.
This position is full time, 9:30am-6pm central time, Monday-Friday.
As a Customer Service Representative in our Revenue Cycle Management (RCM) group, you’ll assist patients and clinics, referring doctors, attorneys, and insurance companies with medical billing questions. You’ll answer telephone calls, respond to voice mails, and route email/mail to ensure the appropriate departmental resource follows up on billing accounts. While exceeding our Quality Assurance standards, you’ll focus on the patient first, be accountable, and play an important part in creating a superior patient experience.
Essential duties and responsibilities
(85%) Customer Service
- Assists clinics, referring doctors, attorneys, insurance companies and patients/responsible parties with general questions
- Responds to RCM voice mail and email in a timely manner
- Routes telephone calls and mail to appropriate departmental resource for follow up on problem accounts
- Communicates effectively with various departments within Revenue Cycle Management
- Researches explanation of benefits (EOBs) and/or denials in imaging system in order to assist patients and explain balances
- Meets or exceeds team Quality Assurance standards
- Escalates more complex inquiries to Senior Customer Service Specialist for support and resolution
(10%) Administrative duties
- Faxes itemized statements and letters of protection (LOPs) to attorneys by request ensuring proper authorization is on file
- Updates billing system with updated patient demographic information
- Calls referring doctors, patients, insurance companies, and attorneys to get updated insurance or demographic information on patient accounts
- Researches missed discounts, duplicate charges, reverse collection decisions, and insurance denials
(5%) Performs other duties as assigned
Requirements
- High school diploma or equivalent
- 1-2 years previous customer service experience
- Proficient with using computer systems and typing
- Proficiency with Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, Word, and Outlook
Preferred
- Ability to speak Spanish or other languages in addition to English
- Health care experience
Example 3
What you’ll be doing
Do you have a passion for helping others and giving them peace of mind? Whether it’s getting answers for customers quickly, consulting on health-related products with compassion or resolving their issues with a smile, you’ll be the difference between their customer experience being just average or an exceptional one.
On a typical day, you’ll
- Answer incoming communications from customers
- Conduct research to provide answers for customers to resolve their issues
What you bring to the role
- High speed internet connection (>15 mbps)
- 6 months or more of customer service experience
- Integrity to follow HIPAA guidelines on maintaining patient privacy (just as you would expect if it were your private information being shared)
- High school diploma or equivalent
- Computer savvy
What you can expect
- Knowledgeable, encouraging, supporting, and present leadership
- Diverse and community minded organization
- Career-growth and lots of learning opportunities for aspiring minds
A bit more about your role
We’ll train you to be a subject matter expert in your field, so you can be confident in providing the highest level of service possible whether through voice, chat, or email interactions. We trust you already have the necessary ingredient that can’t be taught – a caring and supportive nature that will shine through as you help customers. You’ll also have a chance to make great new friends within the ABC Company community and grow your career in a dynamic, family-friendly atmosphere
How to Hire a Healthcare Customer Care Representative
When hiring a healthcare customer care representative, first consider the following:
- Recruiting: Do you have the knowledge, tools, and resources to attract and screen candidates?
- Complexity: Do you need a senior professional, or will mid or junior-level skills and experience suffice?
- Duration: Is this a one-time project or an ongoing need?
- Management: Do you have the time and expertise to direct the work effectively?
- Urgency: How soon does the work need to be completed?
- Headcount: Do you have the budget and approval for an internal employee, or should you consider alternate options?
Answering these questions will help determine the best course of action for your current hiring need. Fortunately, great options exist for every scenario. These are our recommendations:
1. Use 4 Corner Resources (or another professional recruiting firm)
The heavy lifting is done for you when working with a top-tier staffing company like 4 Corner Resources. We source, screen, recruit, and deliver only the most qualified candidate(s), saving you significant time and effort throughout the hiring process while you remain focused on your core business. Understanding your needs and ensuring the right candidate for the position is the key to our success.
This is the best route to take when:
- You need to fill the position quickly
- You want access to a vast talent pool of high-quality, prescreened candidates
- Your position is suited for temporary hiring services, contract staffing, or contract-to-hire recruiting, and you intend to direct the work activity.
- You are hiring an employee as a direct placement but aren’t able to recruit effectively or efficiently with your internal staff.
- You aren’t familiar with current salary rates, market trends, and available skill sets
2. Advertise your opening on a top job board
Your best option may be to advertise your opening on a proven job board. There are many widely used job sites out there that draw visits from qualified candidates. If you have someone internally who can dedicate the time and energy to sort through applications and screen individuals effectively, this can be a great choice.
We recommend using a job board when:
- Your internal recruiting team has the knowledge and experience to assess candidate qualifications
- You are hiring a direct employee and have time to manage the entire recruiting effort
- You have a process for receiving, screening, and tracking all resumes and applications
- You are prepared to respond to all applicants
We recommend CareerBuilder for healthcare customer care representative openings:
CareerBuilder
CareerBuilder has been a trusted source for hiring since 1995. Reach 80+ million unique, diverse U.S. job seekers annually by posting your jobs through their talent acquisition channels. Through CareerBuilder, you can engage candidates and drive them into your sourcing pipeline. We recommend using CareerBuilder for hiring when you have the internal resources and processes to review, screen, and reply to all applicants.
3. Leverage your internal resources
You can utilize your own website, social media, and employees to assist in your search for top candidates.
A company website posting should be the first step in notifying prospective candidates that you are hiring. Social media can also be a powerful tool for spreading the word about your new opening. As far as exposure is concerned, this option can be as good as some job boards when you have a large enough following across various platforms, like LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Twitter.
Current employees are every organization’s greatest asset. Encourage your internal team to promote job openings to their network by offering cash and other incentives.
We recommend these options when:
- Your brand has great name recognition
- You can consistently monitor and respond to candidate activity through your website and social media accounts
- You have a process in place to quickly and broadly communicate job openings and requirements
- You have an effective employee referral program in place
If you aren’t sure which path is best, schedule a discovery call today with our seasoned recruiting professionals. The 4 Corner team is on standby to help you find the best option for your unique hiring need.
Sample Interview Questions
- What experience do you have in customer service?
- How would you handle a difficult customer issue?
- What are some of your strengths and weaknesses?
- Why are you interested in working in the healthcare industry?
- Do you have any experience with healthcare products or services?
- How would you handle an irate customer over the phone?
- Have you ever worked with a phone dialer system?
- Do you have experience working with insurance companies or medical billing issues?
- What is a challenging situation you think you may face as a healthcare customer care representative?
- How would you deal with a customer who is trying to get information on a product that is not available yet?
- What do you think are the most important skills for a healthcare customer care representative?
