Top 15 Medical Administrative Assistant Skills

Top 15 Medical Administrative Assistant Skills

To be best in your job as a medical administrative assistant you need to have certain skills and qualities.

This post shows the important skills to develop to be able to effectively handle the challenges of the job and provide great service to patients and medical staff.

Who is a Medical Administrative Assistant?

A medical administrative assistant is a well-educated executive secretary who works in a medical facility and is responsible for handling certain tasks, such as communicating with patients, scheduling appointments, and filing insurance claims.

Medical Administrative assistants perform various duties, such as interviewing patients for case histories prior to appointments, assisting patients with initial paperwork, updating and maintaining patients’ health records, processing insurance claims in compliance with law requirements, answering patients’ queries, and ensuring quality customer service. See complete medical administrative assistant job description.

They function in various work environments like hospitals and clinics, as well as other health facilities where services of a medical administrative assistant are needed.

15 Medical Administrative Assistant Skills and Qualities to Attain Greater Professional Height

1. Confidentiality. Medical administrative assistants should keep all information concerning their patients private so that patients can feel confident in them. They should not discuss patients’ confidential information with friends, family or coworkers.

2. Professionalism. Medical administrative assistants can wear their office uniform at work, but for more high profile executive assignments in which they have to represent their company suit and tie look more professional. They should not look down on their professional lifestyle as this characterizes their true personality.

3. Self-Confidence. Medical administrative assistants who are self-confident are seen as professional and not as a novice. Because they trust in their abilities, patients easily notice the confidence with which they work and believe in them.

4. Empathy. Medical administrative assistants should learn to sympathize with other people who are in a difficult situation. They should not make jest of a suffering patient but show some empathy.

5. Clerical Skills. Medical administrative assistants can perform much of the clerical tasks required to keep the medical facilities running smoothly during their usual workday activities. They can answer phone calls, schedule appointments, collect and record payments, and file and pull patient records. Medical administrative assistants may also fill out insurance forms, contact insurance companies, track inventories and order supplies.

6. Sound Judgment and Decision-making. For medical administrative assistants to be effective in their position, they must exercise sound judgment. The more experienced their judgment is the more effective and invaluable they can become. Medical administrative assistants usually work without much direction, so they need to make sound decisions without supervision.

7. Problem Solving Skills. Medical administrative assistants should always expect and recognize problems, and refer them to the right person or department for resolution. They need to understand logic and reasoning and use them for bringing solutions to problems.

8. Excellent Customer Service Skills. The work of a medical administrative assistant requires excellent customer service skills to be able to serve and support others. The medical administrative assistant begins to care for the patient right from the front desk, advocating for the patient with their insurance company and fine-tuning a clinic’s schedule.

9. Communication Skills. Medical administrative assistants engage in a role that involves talking to too many people each day. They need to be friendly when interacting with patients and doctors, and also make their points as clear as possible for easy understanding. Good communication skills are needed when exchanging information about office operations, requesting supplies in the office and explaining procedures for routing mail.

10. Organizational Skills. There is too much information that needs to be taken care of in the medical administrative assistant job. Assistants should have competence in managing a file system, tracking incoming and outgoing correspondence, and coordinating the flow of paperwork around the office. Medical administrative assistants become more successful when they are organized than when they are not. And they can influence their bosses with these skills.

11. Listening Skills. Working as a medical administrative assistant involves listening to a lot of patients and their families all day, so the assistant should exercise patience and listen attentively because of important notes to be made.

12. Competence. Medical administrative assistants should be competent and reliable on their duties for them to gain respect and trust from their bosses. The doctor is expecting the administrative assistant to competently and effectively handle all assignments.

13. Outgoing. Medical administrative assistants need to be naturally outgoing so they don’t have a problem handling conversations on a daily basis. Their competence in this regard will help them as they meet different people every now and then.

14. Technology Skills. Medical administrative assistants work with office software programs such as Word Processing, Spreadsheets, Databases, Graphic Presentation Software, and more. They may have to type and format presentations, manuals, reports, web content, newsletters, and other administrative publications. Even sending emails and using the web for research are part of technology skills.

15. Teamwork. A medical administrative assistant works with a team starting with the receptionist down to the laboratory. Getting along with others and working closely and cooperatively with peers are part of displaying teamwork skills.

Medical Administrative Assistant Skills for Resume

If you are writing a resume for a medical administrative assistant job, you can apply the above skills and qualities in completing the core competence or skills section of your resume.

This will show the recruiter that you have the right skills and qualities to be effective in performing the duties and responsibilities of the medical administrative assistant role in their organization. 

Conclusion:

Are you a medical administrative assistant who wants to be best on your job and excel in your career? If that is what you desire, then you need to develop some or all of the above skills and qualities.

If you are an employer looking for good medical administrative assistants to hire, you can increase your chances of getting quality candidates for the position by including the above skills in the job requirements that applicants must fulfill.

Did you find the above skills and qualities helpful in becoming a good administrative assistant in a medical office? Do let us know what you think about this post in the comment box below.