Medical Administrative Assistant Guide

Nowadays, many people are wondering whether they should invest their time and effort in earning a diploma or an associate’s degree in medical administrative assisting because this career has been considered one of the high-paid jobs in United States.

If this career is totally new for you, let me share with you some information about it. You need to know the actual duties of a medial administrative assistant before you make your commitment in getting the academic qualification.

In general, a medical administrative assistant works in medical offices, hospitals, medical facilities, doctor’s offices, clinics, etc. First thing first, let’s see the main reason of having such personnel in these places. The main purpose of having the medical administrative assistants is to provide administrative assistance to the doctors or trained medical staff. They are required to get themselves familiar with all the basic medical terminologies, billing and coding, medical records, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPPA) and so on.

If you ask me about the actual duties of the personnel, I would classify them into 4 categories, i.e. clerical duties, record-keeping duties, medical duties, and financial duties. Seriously speaking, the duties of medical administrative assistants in different medical institutions are different. There is no standard job description. However, I am here to share with you all sorts of possible duties.

First thing first, we talk about clerical duties. The assistants who need to perform these are so called “Front Office Assistants”. They are required to assist the doctors with all the front desk works. They need to handle correspondence and attend to multiple telephone calls. Besides, they also assist the doctors to schedule appointments with patients.

There are also personnel who are playing the role of “Back Office Assistants”. They are required to spend their time doing the paper work. They need to update the patients’ medical records and keep them in proper order so that the doctors or physicians can access to them easily. Besides, they also need to update and file all the necessary charts.

In smaller medical institutions, some medical assistants are required to perform work like what the nurses do. They have to help to check-in and check-out the patients. They need to take the patients’ vital signs and medical histories when the patients check-in. Sometimes, if the doctors are busy, they need to explain the treatment plans to the patients too. When the patients are ready to leave, they have to explain the follow-up appointments to the patients. Other than these, they may be asked to prepare exam rooms for doctors or physicians. They need to perform some tasks such as sterilizing medical equipment, disposing waste and changing bed sheet when necessary.

Some medical administrative assistants have to deal with money. They are required to fill up insurance forms and gather the personal information of the patients. They even do basic bookkeeping at their workplaces where they need to take down the details of inventory and liaise with suppliers.

I am sure you will have better understanding about what a medical administrative assistant does after going through this article.

Next: Top 5 Medical Administrative Assistant School In US