6 free templates by setting, medical, dental, home health, and office, with the HIPAA and FLSA guidance generic templates skip. Download as DOCX.
For a medical or dental practice, the scheduling coordinator is one of the most important front-office hires you make. They are the first voice a patient hears, they book the appointments that fill your providers' days, and they handle protected health information from their first shift. Get the hire right and the schedule runs itself. Get it wrong and you feel it in no-shows, gaps, and frustrated patients. The job description that brings in the right person names the setting, lists the real duties, and gets the compliance right, which is exactly what most templates online miss.
At FirstHR, we build for the small practices and agencies making this hire without an HR department, where the owner or office manager writes the posting and the coordinator reports straight to them. The six templates below cover the role by setting: general office, medical office, dental, home health and staffing, a small-practice first hire, and an entry-level appointment scheduler. Each is ready to use, with the HIPAA and FLSA guidance built in. Fill in the brackets and post, and the guide to writing a job description covers the fundamentals.
TL;DR
Six free scheduling coordinator job description templates by setting: General/Office, Medical Office, Dental, Home Health/Staffing, Small Practice / First Hire, and an entry-level Appointment Scheduler. The role is almost always non-exempt and hourly, and in healthcare it requires HIPAA training and an OIG exclusion-list check. Closest pay anchor: about $44,640/year for a medical office (BLS, medical secretaries, May 2024). Download as DOCX.
What Is a Scheduling Coordinator?
A scheduling coordinator manages appointments, calendars, and resources so a team and its customers stay on schedule. The core work is booking, confirming, rescheduling, and canceling appointments, answering the phone, resolving conflicts, sending reminders, and keeping the scheduling system accurate. Most scheduling coordinators work in healthcare, so the role often adds insurance verification, recall and waitlist management, and protecting patient privacy.
The title has no single federal occupation code; the work is spread across several. In a medical or dental practice it maps closely to medical secretaries and administrative assistants (SOC 43-6013), while a general office version maps to secretaries and administrative assistants. For the employer writing the posting, the defining features are that it is a front-office, patient-facing role, that it varies a lot by setting, and that in healthcare it carries compliance obligations a generic template will not mention. The six templates split by setting so the document matches the real role.
Scheduling Coordinator Duties and Responsibilities
Scheduling coordinator duties cluster into four areas: scheduling and calendars, communication, records and systems, and coordination. A strong job description picks the specific responsibilities from each area that match your setting rather than listing every possible task. These are the duties grouped the way the templates use them.
Scheduling and calendars
Book, confirm, reschedule, and cancel appointments
Manage calendars and resolve conflicts
Balance daily flow and availability
Communication
Answer calls and scheduling requests
Send reminders and follow up on no-shows
Coordinate between staff and customers
Records and systems
Keep the scheduling system accurate
Update customer or patient information
Verify insurance or eligibility where it applies
Coordination
Manage the waitlist and fill cancellations
Track authorizations or production goals
Escalate issues to the manager
The emphasis shifts by setting: a medical version adds insurance verification, a dental version adds recall and production, and a home health version adds caregiver matching and authorizations. For a structured way to scope any role before posting, the guide to defining job responsibilities walks through the process.
Which Template Should You Use?
Pick the template by setting. The scheduling core runs through all six, but each one emphasizes the duties, systems, and compliance that fit a specific kind of scheduling coordinator. Use this guide to choose the closest fit, then adjust.
General / Office
Any business
The universal, industry-neutral baseline: appointments, calendars, conflict resolution, and reminders. Start here if your role does not fit a specific setting.
Medical Office
Clinics and practices
Patient scheduling with insurance verification, EHR records, and HIPAA built in. For a doctor's office, clinic, or specialty practice.
Dental
Dental practices
Production-focused scheduling: recall, treatment plan booking, ASAP list, and dental insurance. For a dental office front desk.
Home Health / Staffing
Agencies
Caregiver-to-client matching, shift coverage, EVV, and payer authorizations. For a home care or staffing agency.
Small Practice / First Hire
Your first scheduling hire
A broad, own-it-all front-office role for a growing practice making its first dedicated scheduling coordinator hire.
Appointment Scheduler
Entry-level
A no-experience-required, training-provided version focused on answering calls and booking appointments. A path into a coordinator role.
Match the Template to the Setting
A doctor's office or clinic: Medical Office. A dental practice: Dental. A home care or staffing agency: Home Health / Staffing. A general business with calendars and meetings: General / Office. Your first dedicated scheduling hire at a growing practice: Small Practice / First Hire. An entry-level, training-provided booking role: Appointment Scheduler. Every version is non-exempt and hourly, so plan to track hours and pay overtime.
Download all six as a single Word document or copy individual templates. Each follows the same structure: company or practice summary, job summary, key responsibilities, qualifications, a compliance note where it applies, the non-exempt classification, pay, and how to apply, with an EEO statement. Fill in the brackets and post.
Download All 6 Job Description Templates
General, medical office, dental, home health, small practice, and appointment scheduler. All in one DOCX.
Template 1: General / Office Scheduling Coordinator
The universal, industry-neutral baseline: appointments, calendars, conflict resolution, reminders, and records. Use this for a general business role that does not fit one specific setting.
General Scheduling Coordinator Job Description
SCHEDULING COORDINATOR JOB DESCRIPTION
Company: __ ([City, State])
Reports to: __ (Office Manager / Operations Manager)
[One or two sentences about your business, what you do, and the team this
person will support.]
JOB SUMMARY
[Company Name] is hiring a Scheduling Coordinator to manage appointments,
calendars, and resources so our team and customers stay on schedule. You will
book and confirm appointments, resolve conflicts, keep the schedule accurate,
and serve as a friendly point of contact. This role suits someone organized,
detail-oriented, and calm under a busy phone.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Schedule, confirm, reschedule, and cancel appointments
•Manage calendars and resolve scheduling conflicts
•Answer phones and respond to scheduling requests
•Send reminders and follow up on no-shows
•Maintain accurate records in the scheduling system
•Coordinate between staff, departments, and customers
•Track availability and balance the daily schedule
•Report scheduling issues to the manager
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•High school diploma or equivalent
•[1+] years in scheduling, administrative, or customer service work
•Strong organization and attention to detail
•Clear phone and written communication
•Comfortable with scheduling software and basic computer tools
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
•Experience in [your industry]
•Familiarity with [your scheduling or calendar system]
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Pay: $_ per hour [+ benefits]
To apply, email __ with your resume.
[Company Name] is an equal opportunity employer.
Template 2: Medical Office Scheduling Coordinator
Patient scheduling with insurance verification, EHR records, waitlist management, and HIPAA built in. For a doctor's office, clinic, or specialty practice.
Medical Office Scheduling Coordinator Job Description
MEDICAL OFFICE SCHEDULING COORDINATOR JOB DESCRIPTION
Practice: __ ([City, State])
Reports to: __ (Practice Manager / Office Manager)
What to Include in a Scheduling Coordinator Job Description
Every strong scheduling coordinator job description includes the same core sections. The templates above are built around them, so you can fill in the blanks, but it helps to know what each one is for.
Section
What it covers
Job title
A clear, searchable title like Scheduling Coordinator or Medical Scheduling Coordinator
Company or practice overview
One or two lines about your business and the team this person supports
Job summary
Two or three sentences on the role's front-office and scheduling focus
Key responsibilities
8 to 10 specific duties across scheduling, communication, records, and coordination
Systems
The scheduling, EHR, or practice-management software they will use
Compliance
For healthcare: HIPAA training, OIG check, and a background check
Classification and pay
Non-exempt and hourly, with an honest pay range
Reports to
Who the coordinator answers to, often the owner or practice manager
Keep the language neutral and inclusive throughout. The EEOC prohibits job advertisements that show a preference based on a protected characteristic, and the SHRM guide covers the standard sections of a job description.
HIPAA, OIG, and FLSA
This is the part generic scheduling templates skip, and for a healthcare practice it is the part that matters most: the HIPAA obligations that come with handling patient information, the OIG screening required before hiring, and the straightforward FLSA classification. Get these right and your posting protects the practice.
HIPAA: a scheduling coordinator is a first steward of PHI
In a healthcare setting, this is the single most important thing to get right. Appointment dates and times, patient names, and the reason for a visit are all protected health information under HIPAA. A scheduling coordinator sees and handles this information all day, which makes the role one of the first stewards of PHI in the practice. Plan for HIPAA privacy training at onboarding and a refresher at least annually, follow the Minimum Necessary standard so staff only access what they need, and document that the training happened. Generic scheduling templates leave this out entirely, but for a medical or dental practice it is not optional. This is general information, not legal advice.
OIG exclusion check: required before hiring in healthcare
Healthcare practices that bill Medicaid or Medicare must screen new hires against the OIG List of Excluded Individuals and Entities (LEIE) before hiring and monthly afterward, and this applies to administrative staff like scheduling and intake coordinators, not just clinicians. The penalties are real: one Ohio company settled with the OIG to pay a 765,000 dollar fine for employing an excluded individual as an intake coordinator, and civil monetary penalties can reach tens of thousands of dollars per claim. Build the LEIE check into your pre-employment task list so it is never skipped. This is general information, not legal advice.
FLSA: a scheduling coordinator is non-exempt and hourly
Classification is usually straightforward for this role. The work is routine scheduling and coordination rather than the independent judgment on matters of significance that the administrative exemption requires, and pay typically sits below or near the federal exempt salary threshold of 684 dollars per week (35,568 dollars per year). So the safe default is to treat a scheduling coordinator as non-exempt, hourly, and overtime-eligible unless a specific role clearly meets both the duties test and the salary threshold. Mark the role non-exempt on the posting, track hours, and pay overtime for hours over 40 in a week. Some states set a higher salary floor than the federal level. This is general information, not legal advice.
Pay benchmark: anchor to the closest federal occupation
Scheduling coordinator has no single federal occupation code, so pay data comes from related occupations. In a medical or dental practice the closest map is medical secretaries and administrative assistants, with a median wage near 44,640 dollars per year, while a general office version maps to secretaries and administrative assistants at about 47,460 dollars per year (BLS, May 2024). Most scheduling coordinators are paid hourly in the 20 to 21 dollar range. Set your range using current market data for your specific setting and region, and remember that because the role is non-exempt, overtime applies on top of base pay. This is general information, not legal advice.
A $765,000 Lesson on the OIG Check
Healthcare employers must screen new hires against the OIG exclusion list before hiring, and this applies to administrative staff, not just clinicians. One Ohio company settled with the OIG to pay a $765,000 fine for employing an excluded individual as an intake coordinator (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services OIG). Build the LEIE check into your pre-employment task list so it is never skipped.
For the underlying wage rules behind the non-exempt classification, the exempt versus non-exempt guide and the Fair Labor Standards Act overview explain the tests. This is general information, not legal advice; confirm with an employment attorney, since some states set a higher salary floor than the federal level.
Scheduling Coordinator Skills and Tools
Most scheduling coordinator roles weigh practical organization and communication skills over formal education; a high school diploma plus relevant experience is common. List what is truly required separately from what is preferred, and name your actual systems.
Type
What to look for
Systems
EHR or practice management, scheduling and calendar software
Organization, multitasking, calm under a busy phone, discretion
Compliance
Willingness to complete HIPAA training and follow privacy rules
Name the specific EHR or scheduling system your practice uses, since that is what candidates filter on. A coordinator who already knows your system ramps faster, but a strong, organized communicator can learn most platforms quickly.
Scheduling Coordinator Pay
Scheduling coordinators are usually paid hourly, with pay varying by setting, region, and experience. Because the title has no single federal occupation code, the data anchor comes from related occupations.
Pay Anchor: $44,640 to $47,460 (BLS)
In a medical or dental practice the closest occupation is medical secretaries and administrative assistants, with a median wage of about $44,640 per year. A general office version maps to secretaries and administrative assistants at a median of about $47,460 per year, where the lowest 10 percent earned under $33,840 and the highest 10 percent over $76,550 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2024). Most scheduling coordinators are paid roughly $20 to $21 an hour.
The medical secretary occupation is the one bright spot in this family for demand. While secretaries and administrative assistants overall are projected to see little or no change from 2024 to 2034, employment growth is projected for medical secretaries, driven by the growth of the healthcare industry. For a small practice, that means steady demand and ongoing competition for reliable front-office staff, so publish a clear, competitive pay range.
Hiring a Scheduling Coordinator for a Small Practice
A large hospital network hires scheduling staff through a central department. A small practice or agency makes this hire directly, often as a key front-office role, and faces three things most hiring guides skip: the patient-facing scope, the HIPAA and OIG obligations, and the systems-and-training ramp. Here is how to handle all three.
Your scheduling coordinator is the face and voice of the practice
At a small medical or dental practice, the scheduling coordinator is often the first person a patient talks to and the last one they see on the way out. They book the appointment, answer the phone, verify the insurance, and set the tone for the whole visit. That is a bigger role than the title suggests, and the job description should reflect it. Be clear about the front-office, patient-facing nature of the work, name the systems they will use, and say who they report to, since at a small practice that is usually the owner or office manager rather than a scheduling department.
The HIPAA and screening obligations are real even at a two-provider office
A small practice does not get a pass on HIPAA or OIG screening. A scheduling coordinator handles protected health information from day one, so the practice owes them HIPAA training at onboarding and annually, the same as a large hospital. If the practice bills Medicaid or Medicare, the OIG exclusion-list check applies to this administrative hire too. The compliance does not scale down with the size of the office. The advantage a small practice has is that it is simpler to set up the training and the pre-employment checklist once and keep it current, which is exactly what a structured onboarding process is for.
Onboarding a scheduling hire is mostly access, training, and a clear first 90 days
Whichever version you use, the work after hiring is front-office onboarding made specific by healthcare: a signed offer letter, the I-9 and tax forms, signed confidentiality and HIPAA acknowledgments, the OIG exclusion check, access to the EHR or scheduling system, and training on your booking, insurance, and recall process. A new coordinator is only useful once they can actually run your systems, so a clear plan for the first 90 days matters. FirstHR fits this people side for a small practice: e-signature for the offer letter and HIPAA acknowledgments, training modules for HIPAA and your scheduling process, task workflows for the pre-employment background and OIG check, document management for signed forms and training records, and an AI onboarding wizard and 30-60-90 plan to structure the ramp. FirstHR is an onboarding and HR platform, not an EHR or practice-management system, and it does not run payroll or administer benefits, so pair it with those providers. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
From Hiring to Onboarding
The job description is step one. Once a candidate accepts, the same document becomes the basis for the offer and a front-office onboarding made specific by healthcare. Because the role handles patient information and front-desk turnover tends to be high, a smooth, repeatable process pays off every time you hire.
Send the offer
Confirm the role, hourly pay, schedule, and start date in writing. An offer letter template makes this fast for a front-office hire.
Run pre-employment checks
Background check, and for healthcare, the OIG exclusion-list (LEIE) check, with signed confidentiality and HIPAA acknowledgments.
Train before day one
HIPAA training for healthcare settings, plus your scheduling, insurance, and recall process, with a signed acknowledgment on file.
Store the records
Keep signed forms, HIPAA acknowledgments, and training records organized and ready, alongside EHR or scheduling-system access.
Once your offer is ready, the offer letter template handles the next step, and an onboarding template gives the new hire a structured start. FirstHR connects the offer, paperwork, e-signatures, HIPAA and process training, and the onboarding workflow in one place so a small practice can manage the full process, including the pre-employment background and OIG check, from one system. FirstHR is an onboarding and HR platform, not an EHR or practice-management tool, and it does not run payroll or administer benefits, so connect those separately. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
Key Takeaways
A scheduling coordinator manages appointments, calendars, and front-office flow; most work in medical, dental, or home health settings.
Use the template that matches the setting: general office, medical, dental, home health, small practice, or entry-level appointment scheduler.
In healthcare, the role handles PHI, so plan for HIPAA training at onboarding and annually.
Run a pre-employment background check, and for Medicaid or Medicare billers, the OIG exclusion-list (LEIE) check, which applies to this administrative role too.
The role is non-exempt and hourly; the closest pay anchor is about $44,640 a year for a medical office, near $20 to $21 an hour.
Onboarding is where the compliance gets handled: signed HIPAA acknowledgments, the OIG check, system access, and process training.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a scheduling coordinator do?
A scheduling coordinator manages appointments, calendars, and resources so a team and its customers stay on schedule. Day to day, that usually means booking, confirming, rescheduling, and canceling appointments, answering the phone, resolving scheduling conflicts, sending reminders, following up on no-shows, and keeping the scheduling system accurate. In a healthcare setting, which is where most scheduling coordinators work, the role also includes verifying insurance, managing a recall or waitlist, and protecting patient privacy. The exact mix varies by setting: a medical office version focuses on patient flow and insurance, a dental version centers on production and recall, a home health version matches caregivers to client visits, and a general office version manages calendars and meetings. The templates on this page split by these settings so the document matches the real role.
Where do scheduling coordinators usually work?
Most scheduling coordinators work in healthcare, primarily medical and dental practices, clinics, and home health or staffing agencies, though general office and corporate settings also use the role. Because there is no single federal occupation code for the title, the work is spread across several categories. In a medical office the role maps closely to medical secretaries and administrative assistants, while a general office version maps to secretaries and administrative assistants. The practical takeaway for an employer is to write the posting for your specific setting rather than using a generic template, since a medical scheduling coordinator and an office scheduling coordinator do meaningfully different work even though they share a title.
Is a scheduling coordinator exempt or non-exempt under the FLSA?
A scheduling coordinator is almost always non-exempt and hourly, which means overtime-eligible. The work is routine scheduling and coordination rather than the independent judgment on matters of significance that the administrative exemption requires, and pay typically sits below or near the federal exempt salary threshold of 684 dollars per week, or 35,568 dollars per year, which a salaried exemption would require in addition to the duties test. So the safe default is to treat the role as hourly, non-exempt, and overtime-eligible unless a specific position clearly meets both the duties test and the salary threshold. Mark it non-exempt on the posting, track hours, and pay overtime for hours over 40 in a workweek. Some states set a higher salary floor than the federal level. This is general information, not legal advice.
Does a scheduling coordinator need HIPAA training?
Yes, in a healthcare setting. A scheduling coordinator handles protected health information (PHI), including appointment dates and times, patient names, and the reason for a visit, which makes the role one of the first stewards of PHI in a practice. Under HIPAA, the employer must provide privacy training at onboarding and refreshers at least annually, and staff must follow the Minimum Necessary standard, accessing only the information they need to do the job. This applies to a two-provider office the same as a large hospital, because the obligation is based on handling PHI, not on the size of the employer. Generic scheduling templates almost never include this, but for a medical or dental practice it is essential. This is general information, not legal advice.
Do I need to run a background or OIG check for a scheduling coordinator?
For a healthcare practice, yes. A pre-employment background check is standard, and practices that bill Medicaid or Medicare must also screen new hires against the OIG List of Excluded Individuals and Entities (LEIE) before hiring and monthly afterward. Critically, this applies to administrative staff such as scheduling and intake coordinators, not only to clinicians. The penalties are significant: employers have paid six-figure settlements for employing an excluded individual in an administrative role, and civil monetary penalties can run to tens of thousands of dollars per claim. The simplest way to stay compliant is to build the background check and the OIG exclusion-list check into your pre-employment task list so they are never skipped. This is general information, not legal advice.
How much does a scheduling coordinator make?
Scheduling coordinators are usually paid hourly, with pay varying by setting, region, and experience. Because the title has no single federal occupation code, pay figures come from related occupations. In a medical or dental practice the closest map is medical secretaries and administrative assistants, which had a median wage of about 44,640 dollars per year in May 2024. A general office version maps to secretaries and administrative assistants, with a median of about 47,460 dollars per year, where the lowest 10 percent earned under 33,840 dollars and the highest 10 percent over 76,550 dollars. Most scheduling coordinators are paid in roughly the 20 to 21 dollar per hour range. Set your range using current market data for your specific setting and region, and remember that because the role is non-exempt, overtime applies on top of base pay.
What is the difference between a scheduling coordinator and an appointment scheduler?
The two overlap heavily and the titles are often used interchangeably, but there is a general distinction in scope. An appointment scheduler usually focuses on the booking itself: answering calls, scheduling and confirming appointments, and keeping the calendar accurate, often as an entry-level role with training provided. A scheduling coordinator typically owns a broader slice of the work, which can include insurance verification, recall or waitlist management, caregiver-to-client matching, coordination across staff and providers, and serving as a key front-office contact. In practice, at a small practice one person frequently does both sets of tasks under whichever title the employer prefers. When you write the posting, focus on the actual duties you need and use the title your candidates are most likely to search for. This page includes both a coordinator version and an entry-level appointment scheduler version.
What should a scheduling coordinator job description include?
A strong scheduling coordinator job description names the setting up front, whether medical, dental, home health, or general office, and includes a short company or practice summary, a job summary that makes the scheduling and front-office focus clear, and responsibilities grouped into scheduling, communication, records, and coordination. It should name the specific scheduling, EHR, or practice-management system you use, state the non-exempt, hourly classification, and give an honest pay range, since a growing number of states require one. For healthcare roles, the most valuable additions that generic templates skip are the compliance expectations: HIPAA training, the OIG exclusion-list check, and a pre-employment background check. Close with an equal opportunity statement and clear apply instructions, then bridge into onboarding once someone accepts. This is general information, not legal advice.
