What Is a Medical Office Assistant?
A medical office assistant is an essential member of a healthcare facility. With increased regulations and accountability and the advancement of technology, there are so many aspects to running a medical facility apart from hands-on patient care. Duties include updating electronic medical records, presenting reports, maintaining websites and processing insurance claims. All this means that healthcare practitioners need specialized medical office assistants to help with the successful day-to-day running of the clinic or hospital department.
What does a medical office assistant do?
If you are interested in the healthcare industry but would prefer not do to direct patient care, a medical office assistant job is ideal. The duties performed by a medical office administrator vary primarily according to the size and speciality of the facility. In smaller settings a medical office assistant will be required to do more tasks including some clinical work, whereas in larger centers like hospitals, tasks will be much more focused on a particular aspect of medical administration. Office assistants who work for podiatrists, ophthalmologists, chiropractors and so on have tasks that are specific to the type of practice.
A medical office assistant job description will primarily focus on secretarial work as well as often acting as a receptionist. A front office job will involve greeting patients as they enter the facility, verifying appointments and directing them to the appropriate areas. Routine duties are answering telephones, scheduling appointments, arranging for laboratory tests and hospital admissions, updating electronic medical records, making transcriptions and phoning in prescriptions.
Medical office assistant jobs also involve a lot of specialized work in relation to billing and insurance such as medical coding, transmitting billing claims, submitting, appealing and tracing claims, and obtaining insurance verification and authorization. Medical office assistants also usually do accounting and bookkeeping.
Particularly in smaller settings, office assistants will also be responsible for ordering and stocking medical supplies and ensuring that treatment rooms, equipment and waiting areas are clean. A medical office assistant can be required to do some basic clinical tasks including recording patients’ medical histories, taking vital signs of height, weight, temperature, blood pressure and pulse, preparing patients for examination, and collecting specimens for laboratory testing.
Medical office assistant training
Medical office assistant training can be acquired on the job but, as always, having a formal educational qualification will give you an edge over the competition. You can opt for traditional classroom-based courses or complete medical office assistant training online. The key issue is to choose a program which is accredited by the Accrediting Bureau of Health Education Schools (ABHES) or by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP) so you are assured of a high standard of training. If choosing medical office assistant training online make sure there is good tutor access, preferably with interactive virtual class sessions.
Often a one year certificate program will be sufficient as it covers the clerical and administrative aspects of the work. However, you may wish to choose a two year associate’s degree which teaches more than just office work and gives a much broader knowledge of medical assisting as well as more clinical skills. Many medical assistant schools also allow you to use the credits from the associate’s degree towards a bachelor’s degree if you are interested in furthering your education.
Medical office assistant courses typically cover the topics of medical billing and coding, insurance processing, medical ethics and legal concepts, patient relations, telephone and communication skills, medical terminology, medical records management, computer skills, transcription, OSHA regulations, office management, bookkeeping, accounting, first aid, vital signs and charting, simple diagnostic procedures, laboratory techniques and pharmaceutical principles. Students also complete a period of externship where they get to apply their knowledge and skills in medical offices.
Medical office assistant certification
Upon graduating, medical office assistant certification is optional but will be to your advantage as it gives you extra credibility and many prospective employers are now requiring candidates to be certified. There are a number of bodies which grant certification upon the successful completion of their examinations such as the American Association of Medical Assistants (AAMA) and the Association of Medical Technologies (AMT). The National Healthcare Association gives the specific credential of Certified Medical Administrative Assistant (CMAA), making a distinction between a medical office assistant and a clinical medical assistant.
Career options for a medical office assistant
Becoming a medical office assistant opens different career options. There is much more opportunity to focus on one particular aspect of a medical office assistant job in a hospital or large medical facility. Medical office assistants can take extra classes or further certification and become specialists. Medical coders use ICD9 diagnosis codes and CPT procedure codes to bill patients or gather research data. A coding specialist has further qualifications on billing coding and can gain certification through the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) as a Certified Coding Specialist (CCS) or Certified Coding Associate (CCA). The American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC) also offers a range of certifications including Certified Professional Coder (CPC) and Certified Professional Coder – Hospital (CPC-H). A medical billing specialist bills the insurance companies and an insurance claims analyst handles insurance claims from hospitals and clinics. A medical records clerk files and retrieves medical records in a hospital.
Medical office assistant salary
An initial medical office assistant salary usually ranges from $19,000 to $24,000, depending on the kind of medical office assisting work, the size of the organization and its location. Salaries can be augmented through education, certification and experience.
The prognosis for medical office assistant jobs is good with the healthcare industry continuing to expand and with a wide variety of job specialties to choose from and the possibility of advancement to office management.
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