In most of the hospitals that have employed me, the folks at the patient services window have been at the absolute bottom of the finance division food chain. Nice folks, but generally new at the job, generally not very experienced. (When they develop experience/seniority, they leave the direct customer service jobs and get a nice quiet cubicle away form irate patients). The front line folks are often not deemed sufficiently reliable to handle cash-they generally don't have a cash register, cannot make change, may not even have a safe place to put the money. Their superiors hassle them if they do take in cash. They would be happier to accept lab specimens than to accept money-they know where to take the specimens.