OVERVIEW
What is a Health Unit Coordinator?
A health unit coordinator handles general administrative duties in a clinical setting, including patient outreach, appointment scheduling, and other duties. As a health unit coordinator, your focus on organizational duties will allow licensed healthcare staff members to provide high levels of care.
Unlike a healthcare coordinator—who works directly with patients to schedule appointments, implement treatment plans, and explain paperwork—health unit coordinators spend most of their time coordinating office processes. You will still communicate frequently with patients, especially when addressing any of their concerns or communicating with family members.
RESPONSIBILITIES
What Does a Health Unit Coordinator Do?
As a health unit coordinator, you will satisfy several responsibilities on a day-to-day basis. These individual duties include:
- Checking in new patients when they arrive at your healthcare facility.
- Scheduling patient appointments on behalf of their healthcare practitioners.
- Communicating with patients and family members to answer any questions and provide updates on the status of patient care and recovery.
- Addressing patient issues and complaints.
- Updating patient health records with any new or medically accurate information.
- Communicating with healthcare staff members to coordinate schedules, provide relevant patient updates, and identify any ways that the office could better serve its employees.
- Ordering any new medical items as office supplies become low, or whenever new medical materials are necessary.
EDUCATION & BEST DEGREES
How Do I Become a Health Unit Coordinator?
Health unit coordinators require specific education before they can begin their careers. You can take steps toward a health unit coordinator position through a bachelor’s degree in health services coordination. A health and human services degree program teaches students how to coordinate with healthcare providers, interact with patients, and provide essential administrative services in a clinical setting. This kind of degree gives students important skills and credentials that can help prepare them to work with patients in a healthcare setting while combining important administrative, technical, and business tasks.
Best Degrees for a Health Unit Coordinator
Health & Nursing
Health and Human Services – B.S.
An online health degree program for students who are committed to making a...
An online health degree program for students who are committed to making a difference for patients in a variety of ways.
- Time: 63% of students finish this program in 24 months
- Tuition: $4,210 per 6-month term
- Courses: 35 total courses in this program
Skills for your résumé that you will learn in this program:
- Epidemiology
- Community and Public Health
- Cultural Awareness
- Pathophysiology
- Healthcare Values and Ethics
- Substance Abuse Support
This degree allows you to work inside the healthcare industry, while also directly working with patients who need help.
How Much Does a Health Unit Coordinator Make?
$45,644
The exact income of a health unit coordinator depends on a number of factors, including their employer, employer location, employer’s funding, years of experience, education level, and the status of any active certifications. In general, the salary of a health unit coordinator averages $45,644 per year.
What is the Projected Job Growth?
28%
In general, employment for health unit coordinators (or health services managers) is expected to grow 28% from 2022 to 2032. This forecasted growth should add an expected 54,700 health service manager positions, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
SKILLS
What Skills Does a Health Unit Coordinator Need?
On a daily basis, health unit coordinators rely on a defined set of skills to complete tasks. These skills help them communicate with patients and healthcare staff, operate technology, and ultimately encourage a healthcare facility toward long-term success. The individual skills that a health unit coordinator needs can include:
Problem-solving. The ability to identify and address any problems that a clinical facility is facing or any issues that individual patients face.
Interpersonal communication. The ability to correspond appropriately with healthcare staff, doctors, medical suppliers, patients, and their family members.
Business management. The ability to coordinate business operations in a way that ensures the success of a medical clinic.
Phone etiquette. The ability to communicate with patients, schedule appointments, and answer questions over the phone.
Technological proficiency. The ability to operate all necessary pieces of office technology, including any computers, tablets, company phones, and online software programs.
Patient management. The ability to keep all patient schedules coordinated and organized, welcoming new patients and discharging patients who have completed their period of care.
Syntax interpretation. The ability to understand shorthand abbreviations and other terminology that medical practitioners and other healthcare staff members use.
These and other skills make for a successful health unit coordinator, an integral member of a healthcare team who leverages administrative skills to keep offices running without interruption.
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