Patient access representatives are the liaisons to health care information for patients.
As a patient access representative, your daily tasks include discussing medical billing and procedure options.
Along with helping the patient population, you also work with staff, medical teams, and insurance companies.
Let’s calculate the cost of training and getting a job as a patient access representative.
This information will help determine if this healthcare administration occupation suits your career goals.
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- How Much is Patient Access Representative Training?
- What is a Patient Access Representative Training School?
- How Long Does It Take to Earn a Full Salary as a Patient Access Representative?
- What is a Salary for a Patient Access Representative?
- What is the Price of Patient Access Representative Certification and Licensing?
- Is Becoming a Patient Access Representative Worth It?
How Much is Patient Access Representative Training?
As a patient access representative (PAR), training involves earning a professional certificate or a diploma.
You can train in one to three months using online courses, such as with Penn and Foster.
This training provides everything necessary to sit for a certification exam as a PAR.
On-the-job training, including clinicals, is also required to be eligible for a certification exam.
Typically, you do not get paid while training on the job for school, but some work-study programs do offer a stipend.
This stipend is generally enough to pay for books or tuition while in school.
Any work experience you can gain while training for PARs will be beneficial.
The cost for patient access representative training is approximately $2,700 in total.
However, some programs are as costly as $5,000, but these are more often applied courses.
Expect to pay less with the use of financial aid and scholarships.
What is a Patient Access Representative Training School?
Most colleges and trade schools provide patient access representative training as a professional program.
To be eligible for a professional certificate course, you must already have an associate’s or bachelor’s degree.
However, some schools will allow anyone to take a certificate course.
How Long Does It Take to Earn a Full Salary as a Patient Access Representative?
You will need anywhere from three months to a year to earn a full salary as a patient access representative.
This timeframe depends on your available job opportunities and steady patient loads.
You can begin working directly with patients as an intern or when doing clinicals in a training program for PAR.
This will speed up the process of making a decent salary as a full-time patient access representative in your state.
Getting hired at a general hospital or busy community clinic will be easier than working for a private research institute or an insurance firm.
Look for entry-level PAR jobs to start your career faster as a PAR in the US.
What is a Salary for a Patient Access Representative?
The average salary for a patient access representative in the US is from $27,000 to $38,000 earned annually.
This includes earnings in the form of hourly wages or a capped salary plus job benefits, as well as insurance and vacation pay.
As a typical patient access representative, expect to earn an hourly wage of $15.61.
Educational attainments, certifications, and work history will factor into a bigger paycheck.
If your goal is to make as much money as possible as a PAR, consider a move to the Ben and Jerry’s loving state of Vermont.
In VT, patient access representatives bring home an average salary of $42,275.
This is $4,000 more than any state’s highest-paid US PAR jobs.
On the other end of the pay spectrum, patient access representatives in Oklahoma are at the bottom.
If you work and live in OK, you get about $28,460 a year.
This salary is at the lower end of the national average, and some PARs even earn a thousand dollars less.
What is the Price of Patient Access Representative Certification and Licensing?
To be a certified patient access representative in the US requires some certification.
This process involves applying and sitting for a board exam, a systematic test offered by an organization or association.
Once you sit for a board exam, you take the test.
If you pass the test, you earn a certificate.
The National Association of Healthcare Access Management (NAHAM) provides one certification exam.
This exam is for the Certified Healthcare Access Associate (CHAA) certification.
You must pay $200 to $300 to sit for this exam, depending on if you have a membership.
The CHAA certification is the most common to earn as a patient access representative.
Is Becoming a Patient Access Representative Worth It?
Compare the numbers as you look into training to be a certified patient access representative.
The cost of the school for PAR training is around $3,000.
Training in PAR certification requires at most six months to accomplish.
You then pay $300 at most to sit for a national board certification exam as a patient access representative.
Certification is required for employment, which pays $27,000 to $38,000 on average in most states.
You can pay off any school debt expediently with this salary.
Also, the job offers satisfaction in helping patients manage healthcare records and information.
If you want to work in healthcare and enjoy assisting people, a career as a patient access representative is a good occupation.
