Medical Office Assistant

Almost all doctors need a Medical Office Assistant. Medical offices as well as allied health care facilities need Medical Office Assistants to help keep their day to day operations in order. Medical practitioners rely on the efficiency of these Specialists so they can concentrate on their core focus and not administrative tasks related to the practice of their profession. In addition to being a big help to the physicians, they are also there to assist the patients.

What is a Medical Office Assistant and how does her job differ from a Medical Assistant? Basically the major difference is that a Medical Office Specialist is in-charge of the Medical Office Administration. She is not involved with the direct care of patients. However, a good number of Medical Office Assistants perform pre-screening of patients and other Medical Assistant functions.

Medical Office Assistant Job Description

Relatively speaking, a Medical Office Assistant assists the physician in the medical office. A medical office assistant job description includes filling and updating patients’ medical records. She is also in-charge of appointment scheduling, answering telephones, filling out insurance forms and coordinating laboratory services. She is the first line of contact for patients in a medical clinic. She is tasked with greeting patients as they enter the clinic. She also helps patients fill out all the necessary paperwork such as medical records and insurance documents. She must be able to work well with a team to make sure that patients are well taken care of.

Medical Office Assistant Duties

Medical Office Assistance is needed in clinics and allied health care facilities for basic clerical duties to initial medical screening. Their work begins upon the patient’s arrival in a medical facility. It is common for medical office assistants to have different duties in small practices but in large medical offices, they specialize in clerical tasks.

The duties of the medical office assistant include:

• Coordinating patient care in the clinic which may include waiting room, laboratory, exam room and x-ray procedure.
• Take vital signs of patients and records theses in the medical record. Vital signs to be taken include Blood Pressure, Height and Weight and Heart Rate.
• Updating of medical records including addresses, phone numbers and allergies on during each patient’s visit.
• Simple wound treatment.
• Scheduling follow-up appointments and tests.
• Sterilizing and cleaning medical instruments and materials.
• Keeping track of medical supplies orders and inventory.
• Coordinating clinic laundry.

Duties may also include administrative office procedures, billings, health insurance processing and medical transcription. A medical office assistant salary averaged $28,300 per year as of May 2008 as per records of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

How to Become a Medical Office Assistant

One of the most important jobs in clinics and hospitals is that of a medical office assistant. Most medical assistant jobs have normal 8 hour working days depending on the clinic’s operating hours. If assigned in a hospital, night duty may also be a possibility. Enrolling in a Medical Office Assistant Program in an accredited online university can put you ahead of your competition. These are usually two-year programs. Career and local community colleges on the other hand offer medical office assistant programs for regular attendance.

To become a better qualified medical office specialist, you need to

• Get technical education. Although online universities, vocational schools and universities as well as community colleges have courses that will train you to be a qualified medical office assistant, on the job training will give you the best hands-on experience. The best way to get a feel of the job is to work as an intern in a medical office.

• Be certified. Although an on-the-job training is essential, you can further advance your skills and increase your chances of being hired by getting a certification.

• Volunteer. To learn more about your field, volunteer at a medical office. Office work is all about experience and doing volunteer work will give you an instant edge compared to the other applicants. A couple of months or even a year of volunteer work will make your resume much more appealing and will give you a better chance of getting hired. With your volunteer work, the medical facility hiring you will not need to spend as much time on training you.

• Be Patient Friendly. Be sure to interact well with patients. As a medical office assistant, you are the first and last a patient gets in contact with in a hospital or clinic. Your bedside manners should leave a positive impression on the patients. A positive impression will make a patient feel at ease since most of them are sick, scared and weak. How well you treat your patients, will also help sell and promote the clinic you work for.

How to Get Medical Office Assistance Certification

Most medical office assistants have received their training on the job. You can definitely increase your chances of being hired if you are a Certified Medical Office Assistant. A certificate, combined with on-the-job training is more important than just basic training acquired on-the-job., especially when you are trying to get hired at a larger facility. One such certification is the National Certified Medical Office Assistant (NCMOA). You can acquire this certification if you enroll in vocational courses in fields relative to being a medical office assistant. Such vocational courses include basic computer literacy, medical terminology, medical transcription, basic accounting procedures, and medical insurance procedures. There are a lot of these courses available. Night classes, fast-track vocational courses and community college courses are always available to suit your work and family duty schedules. Some of these colleges offer scholarships and financial aid to qualified applicants. A one year full-time Medical Office Assistant employment may also qualify you for Certification. This is a better option for those who prefer on-the-job training to classroom training.

Medical Office Assistant as a Medical Assistant

Technically speaking Medical Office Assistant jobs involve administrative functions. However, it is common practice for Medical Official Assistants to multi-task as Medical assistants. Aside from their Administrative duties they are also tasked with basic Clinical duties such as taking the patient’s medical history, preparing patients for examination procedures, taking the patient’s vital signs and assisting the physical during physical examinations.

Some medical office assistants also perform phlebotomy. This is an outpatient procedure wherein blood (usually 16 ounces) is extracted from a patient for blood examination and administering intravenous fluid for volume replacement. A weak solution of Saline (water and salt) is normally used for volume replacement.

Aside from the physicians and health care providers, Medical Office Assistants are a vital component of medical clinics and allied health care facilities. They have a tough job of performing both administrative and clinical functions to ensure good patient service. A physician and health care facility cannot survive with them.