How To Become A Medical Collector: What It Is and Career Path

What is a medical collector and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

A medical collector is a debt collector who specializes in healthcare-related debt. They collect information related to a patient's overdue bill and work with the patient to develop repayment plans and alternative payment options. They are also responsible for resolving discrepancies and arranging for adjustments or refunds as needed. A medical collector's ultimate objective is to generate revenue through professional billing practices and proper and ethical collection efforts.

Medical collectors work for healthcare providers or collection agencies that deal with medical debt collection. In order to succeed in their role, they should have reasonable experience in medical debt collection, strong math skills, communication skills, negotiation skills, research skills, and interpersonal skills.

A medical collector's work schedule depends on the institution they are working for. For a healthcare provider, they typically work in an office setting up to 40 hours a week. Those who work in collection agencies work in the field, visiting hospitals to talk to patients.

ScoreMedical CollectorUS Average

Salary

2.8

Avg. Salary $36,235

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

7.9

Growth Rate -8%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.8

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.48%

Asian 3.34%

Black or African American 13.56%

Hispanic or Latino 22.63%

Unknown 3.90%

White 56.08%

Gender

female 81.97%

male 18.03%

Age - 46

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 46

Stress Level

7.9

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

4.9

Complexity Level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

7.6

Work Life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a medical collector

Explore medical collector education requirements

Most common medical collector degrees

Bachelor's

24.4 %

Associate

23.2 %

High School Diploma

22.7 %

Start to develop specific medical collector skills

Skills	Percentages
Patients	22.30%
Healthcare	9.30%
Customer Service	7.36%
Medical Collections	4.79%
Appeals	4.60%

Complete relevant medical collector training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New medical collectors learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a medical collector based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real medical collector resumes.

Research medical collector duties and responsibilities

Use EMR software to manage patient records and files; reinforce and uphold patient confidentiality as required by HIPAA and clinic.
Perform as a mediator between insurance companies and patients collecting nationwide extensive medical bills.
Utilize A/R reports and identify accounts that are past payments.
Maintain a filing system of clients' medical records and disclosure following HIPPA guidelines.

Prepare your medical collector resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your medical collector resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a medical collector resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Medical Collector Resume templates

Build a professional Medical Collector resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Medical Collector resume.

Apply for medical collector jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a medical collector job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

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