Healthcare Support Workers, All Other Salary

The median healthcare support workers, all other salary in the United States is $48,430 per year ($23.28/hour). Salaries range from $34,770 at the entry level to $71,470+ for the top 10% of earners. There are 109,740 healthcare support workers, all other jobs nationwide. Employment is projected to grow 3.5% through 2034.

Last updated: June 2026 Β· Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Median Salary
$48,430
per year
Hourly Rate
$23.28
per hour
Employment
109,740
jobs in the U.S.

Salary Distribution

10th percentile
$34,770
25th percentile
$39,470
Median
$48,430
75th percentile
$59,710
90th percentile
$71,470

Job Growth (2024-2034)

+3.5%
As fast as average

Annual Openings

14,400
jobs/year (growth + replacements)

Education Required

High school diploma or equivalent

Healthcare Support Workers, All Other Career Guide

Interview questions, resume templates, and a career ladder written specifically for healthcare support workers, all others.

This is the BLS catch-all category for hospital and clinic support staff who don't map cleanly to CNA, MA, medical secretary, or PT/OT aide SOC codes. It covers patient transport (patient-transfer techs, hospital transporters), unit clerks / health unit coordinators (HUC), central sterile processing techs (SPD techs) at some hospitals, medical office support roles (referral coordinators, prior-auth specialists, benefits verifiers), telehealth support techs, and diagnostic imaging support (film/media coordinators, PACS support). BLS pegs the occupation at 109,740 employed with median $48,430, p10 $32,140, p90 $75,530. Entry patient-transport and unit-clerk roles start $32-42k; established HUCs and SPD techs land $42-56k; senior support-staff leads (Unit Coordinator, Sr SPD Tech, Referral Ops Lead) reach $58-75k+. Employers include HCA Healthcare (largest US private hospital operator), CommonSpirit Health, Ascension, Kaiser Permanente, Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, Providence, VA Health, Sutter Health, and Northwell Health. Union environments (CNA / SEIU / AFSCME / NYSNA in NY / 1199 SEIU in NY / DC 37 / SEIU-UHW in CA) publish transparent salary schedules with premium shift differentials. The CNA-to-LPN ladder is the classic advancement pathway; SPD tech certification (CBSPD / IAHCSMM CRCST) unlocks a specialty $10-18k pay lift.

Core Skills Hiring Managers Screen For

Patient-handling & body mechanics
Safe patient transfer using slide boards, Hoyer lifts, stand-and-transfer aids, and gait belts. Two-person transfer protocols for bariatric or high-fall-risk patients. OSHA-recommended safe-patient-handling standards. Hospital-specific policies on assistive-device use per patient acuity.
HIPAA & PHI-handling
Understand what constitutes Protected Health Information, the minimum-necessary standard, verbal-disclosure rules in shared spaces (elevators, hallways, cafeteria), and the specific documentation requirements when PHI is accessed. Breach reporting to hospital privacy officer within 24-72 hours per facility policy.
EMR / EHR fluency (Epic, Cerner / Oracle, Meditech)
Epic is the dominant EMR (Cleveland Clinic, Kaiser, Mayo, Sutter, most academic medical centers). Cerner / Oracle Health at CommonSpirit, Ascension, some HCA facilities. Meditech at community hospitals. Unit clerks and referral coordinators live in the EMR β€” inpatient orders, chart entries, insurance eligibility, referral processing, order status.
Insurance verification, prior authorization & referral workflow
Prior-auth process by payer (BCBS, Aetna, UHC, Cigna, Humana, Medicare, Medicaid). Real-time eligibility checks via Availity, Waystar, or the EMR insurance module. Peer-to-peer review scheduling. Denial-and-appeal workflow. Understand HCPCS Level II codes, CPT-4 coding basics, and ICD-10 lookups without being a full coder.
Central sterile processing (for SPD-tech pathway)
AAMI ST79 standards for steam sterilization; case-cart assembly for OR; instrument decontamination, ultrasonic cleaning, autoclave load qualification, biological indicator verification. CBSPD (Certification Board for Sterile Processing and Distribution) or IAHCSMM CRCST (Certified Registered Central Service Technician) required at most hospitals.
Unit-clerk / HUC workflow
Coordinate the flow of the nursing unit β€” orders processing, chart maintenance, admissions and transfers, physician-order transcription per hospital policy (some hospitals restrict this to licensed staff only). Answer patient call lights, direct visitors, coordinate ancillary services (transport, dietary, pharmacy). NAHUC (National Association of Health Unit Coordinators) certification is the standard credential.
Infection control & bloodborne pathogens
OSHA bloodborne pathogen standard (29 CFR 1910.1030) β€” universal precautions, PPE selection, needle-stick reporting, post-exposure prophylaxis. CDC infection-control guidelines for MRSA, C. diff, and airborne isolation. Annual competency required at every hospital.
Customer service & de-escalation
Healthcare support workers are on the front line of patient anxiety, family grief, and occasional aggression. Verbal de-escalation training (CPI Nonviolent Crisis Intervention, MOAB, or hospital-specific curricula). Never argue with a distressed family member; route through the nursing supervisor or patient advocate.

How to Become a Healthcare Support Workers, All Other

  1. 1
    Get a high school diploma or GED β€” most entry-level healthcare support roles require no more
    Patient transporters, unit clerks, and medical office support roles typically require only a HS diploma + basic customer-service and computer skills. Some employers require a state-issued CNA certificate for patient-transport roles; others train on the job.
  2. 2
    Complete BLS-Provider certification and any employer-required training
    American Heart Association BLS Provider is the near-universal entry requirement for any patient-contact healthcare support role. $60-100 for the course + $30-50 for renewal every 2 years. Some employers pay for the initial cert; most cover renewal.
  3. 3
    Start as a Patient Transporter, Unit Clerk, or Medical Office Support Specialist
    $32-42k. Hiring pipelines: hospital HR portals (HCA Careers, KaiserJobs, Ascension.jobs, VA USAJOBS), Indeed, and staffing agencies. Night and weekend shifts start higher; large academic medical centers pay 10-20% above community hospitals.
  4. 4
    Add a specialty credential β€” NAHUC certification, CBSPD / IAHCSMM CRCST, or referral-coordinator credential
    $5-15k pay lift. NAHUC (Nat'l Assoc of Health Unit Coordinators) certification is the HUC / unit-clerk standard. CBSPD or IAHCSMM CRCST for central sterile processing. Certified Referral Coordinator or Certified Patient Access Specialist (NAHAM) for referral / prior-auth roles. Most hospitals reimburse the exam + prep material.
  5. 5
    Choose the ladder β€” CNA to LPN to RN (clinical track) or Sr HUC / SPD Lead / Referral Ops Lead (specialist track)
    $50-75k+. Clinical track: CNA (typically 4-16 weeks, $500-2,000 or free through employer) β†’ LPN (12-18 months, $10-20k, often employer-sponsored via tuition benefit) β†’ ADN / RN (2-3 years, $12-35k, PSLF-eligible for public / non-profit hospitals). Specialist track: Sr HUC, Charge HUC, SPD Team Lead, or Referral Ops Manager at $58-78k with 3-6 direct reports.

Career Progression

Patient Transporter / Unit Clerk / Medical Office Support Specialist
0-3 yrs$32,000-$42,000 base + shift differentials + benefits (union or non-union)
  • β€’Safely transport patients between units, radiology, procedure rooms, and discharge
  • β€’Maintain the unit β€” orders processing, chart maintenance, visitor coordination
  • β€’Verify insurance eligibility and process routine referrals in the EMR
  • β€’Complete BLS Provider recertification and annual competencies
Next: Sr Support Staff, SPD Tech, or CNA at 2-4 years with a specialty credential.
Sr Healthcare Support Worker / SPD Tech / HUC / Referral Coordinator
3-8 yrs$42,000-$58,000 + shift differentials
  • β€’Own a specialty area β€” central sterile processing, unit coordination, referral operations, or complex prior-auth work
  • β€’Precept new hires through the 4-8 week orientation program
  • β€’Manage payer-specific workflow (Medicare LCD compliance, commercial insurer prior-auth complexity)
  • β€’Run daily unit huddles or serve as charge coordinator on off shifts
Next: Team Lead, Charge HUC, or LPN at 6-10 years with certification and possibly LPN school.
Team Lead / Charge HUC / SPD Team Lead / Referral Ops Lead
6-12 yrs$55,000-$75,530 (BLS p90)
  • β€’Lead 4-15 support staff on a unit, in the SPD department, or in the referral / prior-auth team
  • β€’Own onboarding, scheduling, and performance-improvement plans
  • β€’Represent the team in unit-based councils, revenue-cycle committees, or SPD Quality Council
  • β€’Own department metrics (transport turnaround time, SPD tray recall rate, referral turnaround, prior-auth denial rate)
Next: Practice Manager, LPN clinical role, or SPD Manager at 10-15 years.
SPD Manager / Patient Access Manager / Practice Manager / LPN Charge
10+ yrs$75,000-$105,000 + full benefits + pension in public / union settings
  • β€’Manage a department (SPD, patient access, referral operations) with 15-60 staff and $500k-3M annual budget
  • β€’Report to Director of Operations, Perioperative Services, or Practice Administrator
  • β€’Own accreditation-visit readiness (Joint Commission, AAAHC) and payer-audit response
  • β€’Drive metric improvement β€” SPD 100% instrument-tray readiness, patient-access denial rate below industry average, transport turnaround under 20 minutes
Next: Director of Operations, Perioperative Director, or move to the clinical-leader track (LPN -> ADN -> BSN -> Nurse Manager).

Interview Questions & Answers

5 free questions below. Career Kit unlocks 17 total plus resume bullets for every level.

Q1. Walk me through how you'd handle a HIPAA breach or near-miss.situational
Concrete: (1) if there's an active breach in progress (someone looking at a chart they shouldn't be, PHI on a whiteboard visible to the public), interrupt immediately and take the safe action β€” close the chart, cover the whiteboard, redirect the situation; (2) never confront the person publicly β€” pull them aside privately; (3) report to the unit charge nurse and hospital Privacy Officer per facility policy β€” most hospitals require reporting within 24-48 hours; (4) document objectively β€” what happened, when, who was involved, what PHI was potentially disclosed, what corrective action you took; (5) do not discuss the incident with coworkers who aren't involved β€” even talking about the breach is a secondary HIPAA concern; (6) follow up on any corrective-action plan from the Privacy Officer. Interviewers screen for candidates who know the reporting path and don't hesitate to escalate β€” the wrong answer is 'I'd talk to my coworker first to give them a chance.'
Q2. Tell me about a time you helped a distressed patient or family member.behavioral
STAR. Situation: transporting a 78-year-old patient to same-day discharge; her adult son arrived to pick her up but she couldn't remember whether her physician had cleared her to drive home. She was crying, confused, and the son was becoming loud and demanding. Task: keep the situation calm, get the right information without adding to her distress. Action: (1) got them into a quiet family-consult room with water; (2) apologized for the confusion and explained I would find out immediately; (3) paged the discharge nurse and confirmed the discharge order in Epic; (4) shared the discharge instructions with the son, who calmed down once he had specific written information; (5) confirmed the patient's understanding using teach-back β€” she repeated her medication schedule and the follow-up appointment; (6) walked them to the car and made sure they had the discharge packet with the after-hours nurse-line number. Result: family thanked the unit; a positive comment on the HCAHPS patient-satisfaction survey. Interviewers reward candidates who demonstrate customer-service instinct + navigating the healthcare system on the patient's behalf, not just following a script.
Q3. How do you handle a prior authorization denial?technical
Concrete for referral / patient-access roles: (1) understand the denial reason β€” read the exact denial code and rationale (medical necessity, not covered benefit, missing documentation, out-of-network); (2) contact the ordering provider to obtain the clinical documentation supporting the request β€” often the denial is fixable with clinician notes that weren't included initially; (3) for medical-necessity denials, initiate the peer-to-peer review β€” schedule the provider's call with the insurer's medical director within the appeal window (typically 30-72 hours); (4) for benefit-coverage denials, provide the patient with the estimated out-of-pocket cost and connect them to financial counseling if needed; (5) file the formal written appeal per payer template if peer-to-peer fails; (6) document every step in the EMR and the payer portal (Availity, Navinet, or payer-specific). Interviewers screen for candidates who know the difference between denial types and know the appeal path β€” vague 'I'd call the insurance company' fails.
Q4. Why healthcare support work rather than nursing school or MA training?culture
The honest answer: you like the healthcare setting and patient contact, but you either aren't in a position to commit 2-4 years to nursing school right now, or you're specifically interested in the support-role work (unit coordination, sterile processing, patient access) as a career in itself. Be specific: 'I'm working full-time on the transporter role while I'm 12 months into an LPN program at [community college] β€” the transporter shift gives me hospital fluency plus tuition-benefit access.' Or: 'I chose SPD tech because the specialty pays $58-72k with strong shift differentials, and I like the technical-precision work of instrument sterilization.' Vague 'I love helping people' fails; specific ladder-awareness or specialty-choice reasoning wins.
Q5. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?closer
Ladder awareness. For the clinical track: 'Patient transporter now, currently in a CNA program (targeting completion within 8 weeks), then LPN school at [community college] with tuition benefit from this employer, targeting my ADN / RN within 5 years and Charge Nurse or Nurse Manager within 7-10.' For the specialist track: 'HUC now with 3 years experience, NAHUC certified, targeting Charge HUC in 2-3 years and Practice Manager or Patient Access Manager within 5-7.' For SPD: 'SPD tech with CBSPD certification, targeting SPD Team Lead in 3-4 years and SPD Manager within 6-8.' Name the specific credential path β€” hiring managers value candidates who understand the ladder and the employer's tuition-benefit levers.

Resume Template β€” Sr Healthcare Support Worker / HUC / SPD Tech (3-8 yrs)

Copy these bullets into your resume as a starting point. Career Kit includes bullets for every level of the ladder.

Sr Healthcare Support Worker / HUC / SPD Tech (3-8 yrs)
  • β–ΈSPD Tech II at [400-bed community hospital]; 5 years experience; CBSPD-certified. Processed 2,800+ instrument trays per month with zero microbiological failures in 24-month period.
  • β–ΈPrecepted 12 new SPD techs through 6-week orientation; 11 of 12 successfully passed CBSPD within 12 months of hire.
  • β–ΈLed SPD Quality Council initiative on tray-standardization; recall rate dropped from 3.4 per 1,000 trays to 0.8, saving an estimated $180,000 in re-processing cost annually.
  • β–ΈCBSPD certification + AHA BLS + AAMI ST79 continuing education. $52k base + $4.50/hour weekend + evening differential + full benefits (PTO, medical, 403(b) match, PSLF-eligible).

What Gets You Rejected

  • βœ—No BLS Provider certification β€” mandatory at every US hospital; interviewers screen out candidates who haven't completed this at minimum.
  • βœ—Weak on HIPAA fundamentals β€” cannot articulate the minimum-necessary standard, verbal-disclosure rules, or breach-reporting timeline.
  • βœ—No EMR fluency β€” every real healthcare support role expects at least Epic, Cerner / Oracle, or Meditech at intermediate proficiency.
  • βœ—Cannot describe safe patient-handling protocol β€” no gait-belt use, no Hoyer-lift familiarity, no understanding of 2-person transfer requirements.
  • βœ—No credential path β€” 3+ years in the role and no progress on CNA, NAHUC, CBSPD / IAHCSMM CRCST, or NAHAM certification.

Salary Negotiation Levers

  • βœ“Shift differential β€” night shift adds $2-6/hour (typically 15-25% differential), weekend $2-4/hour, holiday 1.5x-2x base. Full-time night shift at a large system adds $8-15k/year over day-shift base.
  • βœ“Specialty credential premium β€” CBSPD or IAHCSMM CRCST for SPD adds $5-12k. NAHUC for unit clerks adds $3-6k. NAHAM Certified Patient Access Specialist adds $3-8k for referral / prior-auth roles.
  • βœ“Union environment premium β€” SEIU, 1199 SEIU (NY), NYSNA, CNA-affiliated, AFSCME, DC 37 (NYC), and SEIU-UHW (CA) hospitals publish salary schedules 15-30% above non-union community hospitals with stronger differentials and pensions.
  • βœ“Metro adjustment β€” NYC, SF Bay Area, Boston, Seattle, DC pay 25-45% above BLS national median for healthcare support roles. Union metros compound this.
  • βœ“Academic medical center premium β€” Cleveland Clinic, Mayo, Kaiser, Johns Hopkins, Stanford, UCLA, and other AMCs typically pay 10-25% above community hospitals due to acuity, complexity, and Magnet-designation retention pressure.
  • βœ“Tuition benefit + LPN/RN sponsorship β€” HCA, Kaiser, Ascension, and many union hospitals offer $2,500-10,000/year tuition benefit or full LPN / ADN / BSN sponsorship in exchange for a 2-4 year post-completion service commitment. Worth $10-40k+ over a career.
  • βœ“PSLF eligibility β€” public and non-profit hospitals (all major systems except HCA, Tenet, Community Health Systems) are 501(c)(3) or public agencies. Get the employer-certification signed at hire; the federal-loan forgiveness after 10 years of qualifying payments can save $30-100k+.
  • βœ“Sign-on bonus β€” competitive markets (Sun Belt, retirement destinations, hard-to-staff hospitals) offer $2,000-8,000 sign-on for CNA, HUC, SPD, and patient-access roles. Ask HR at offer stage.

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Healthcare Support Workers, All Other Salary by State

Best Cities (cost-adjusted) β†’

Salary Map β€” Click a state for details

$34K
$74Kβ–  No data

Top Paying States

District of Columbia
$74K
+52%
Washington
$62K
+28%
Alaska
$61K
+27%
Massachusetts
$58K
+20%
Delaware
$58K
+19%
New York
$57K
+17%
Kansas
$55K
+13%
New Mexico
$52K
+8%
Idaho
$52K
+8%
Nevada
$51K
+5%
Vertical line = national median. Click a state for full details.
StateMedianvs. National
District of Columbia$73,590+52.0%
Washington$62,040+28.1%
Alaska$61,300+26.6%
Massachusetts$58,340+20.5%
Delaware$57,760+19.3%
New York$56,510+16.7%
Kansas$54,830+13.2%
New Mexico$52,170+7.7%
Idaho$52,160+7.7%
Nevada$50,790+4.9%
1–10 of 51

Healthcare Support Workers, All Other Salary by Metro Area

Metro AreaMedianvs. National
Napa, CA$76,490+57.9%
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA$66,520+37.4%
Springfield, MA$65,760+35.8%
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA$64,540+33.3%
Mount Vernon-Anacortes, WA$64,310+32.8%
Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX$64,080+32.3%
Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA$62,660+29.4%
Anchorage, AK$62,550+29.2%
Lewiston-Auburn, ME$62,230+28.5%
Bellingham, WA$61,850+27.7%
1–10 of 283
Data Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS). Data reflects the most recent annual survey.
How does this compare to pro athletes?
A healthcare support workers, all other earning $48,430/year would need 1231 years to match Stephen Curry's NBA salary, or 1321 yearsto match Patrick Mahomes' NFL contract.
See all sports & celebrity salaries β†’
πŸ“ˆ See how healthcare support workers, all other salaries have changed over the past decade.
View Healthcare Support Workers, All Other salary trend (2011–2024) β†’