Medical Office Assistant Job Description, Key Duties and Responsibilities

This post presents detailed information on the medical office assistant job description, including the key tasks, duties, and responsibilities they commonly perform.

It also highlights the major requirements that you may be expected to meet to be hired for the medical office assistant role.

What Does a Medical Office Assistant Do?

The medical office assistant job description involves greeting patients and visitors, answering telephone calls, and facilitating patient check-in and check-out procedures.

It also entails maintaining medical records and appointment schedules.

The medical office assistant takes vital signs, conducts health questionnaires, and makes comments in medical record books.

Medical assistants perform administrative jobs such as filing patient’s health insurance claims and preparing bills for them.

They schedule appointments, answer queries by phone or e-mail, take notes during patient examination or treatment sessions, and organize files, schedule appointments.

It is also part of their duties to prepare correspondence to patients regarding their healthcare concerns/calls with doctors/nurses etc.

They are responsible for interpreting test results, formulating diets, and making referrals.

Medical assistants also compile reports of medical examinations, write medical history, and interpret medical data.

In some hospitals or clinics, the medical office assistant may be responsible for preparing patients for X-rays, drawing blood samples, and inserting intravenous lines for patients undergoing treatment.

This position is required to work at the patient’s bedside during surgical procedures and assist doctors/nurses in any way possible (such as holding retractors).

It is sometimes necessary for the medical office assistant to collect specimens from patients (blood samples etc.).

One of their duties is providing information to patients and visitors who need to know about the hospital’s policies, procedures and protocols.

They interview patients, prepare medical records, and assist doctors/nurses in any way possible.

It is also their responsibility to keep patient charts up-to-date.

Medical office assistants make sure that drugs and equipment are stocked and are in good order.

They also ensure medical equipment are cleaned and maintained.

It is their job to keep accurate record and observe strict confidentiality when dealing with patients’ medical data/information etc.

Medical Office Assistant Job Description Sample/Example/Template

The medical office assistant job description involves the following duties, tasks, and responsibilities:

Assist the physician, nurses, and clerical staff
Take patient histories and vital signs
Assist physicians in examinations or minor surgical procedures
Assist nurses in drawing blood for testing and preparing patients for physical examinations or treatment
Prepare instruments, such as bandages and sponges, and small equipment such as stethoscopes, for medical use
Prepare specimen slides to be used in diagnostic procedures such as x-rays and blood tests (cytologic slides)
Track and maintain patient records, files, and documents
Clean examination rooms, the examining room, and the operating room
Assist in scheduling appointments, answering telephones, filing papers, and arranging transportation to hospital admissions or other facilities
Enter information into computer files as directed according to physician’s orders.
Maintain cleanliness of medical facilities by keeping equipment orderly and in proper working order
Prepare or assist physician with anatomical models for medical or educational presentations or exhibits (for example, skeletons)
Install, maintain or repair hospital equipment such as heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC), water supplies, piped music systems, and other equipment.

Medical Office Assistant Job Description for Resume

If you are making a new resume or CV as someone who has worked before or are currently working in the role of a medical office assistant, you can make the resume effective by highlighting that work experience in it.

To do this, you can apply the medical office assistant duties and responsibilities provided in the above job description sample in the Work Experience section of your resume.

This will tell the recruiter/employer that you have been successful performing the job of a medical office assistant, which can greatly influence them to consider you for an interview and the job, especially if the new position that you are seeking requires someone with some medical office assistant work experience.

Medical Office Assistant Requirements: Abilities, Skills, and Knowledge for Career Success

Here are major requirements you may be expected to meet to be hired for medical office assistant position:

Good communication skills: Medical office assistants need to communicate with other department staff and the physician to ensure that all requests by them have been met
Computer skills: They need the capacity to use computers in medical office work such as using word processing, spreadsheets, databases and presentations software applications, internet browser and email programs (such as Gmail)
Skills in math: Medical office assistants need to calculate payments and prepare statements, bills, invoices and balance sheets
Relay words well: They need to understand physicians’ orders accurately and relay information to other department staff in a clear manner
Friendly personality: They need to be friendly with patients in order to put them at ease before examinations and procedures
Knowledge of medical terminology: Medical office assistant have to understand the medical terms used by physicians when communicating with patients and department staff members, such as radiologists or laboratory technicians during diagnosis or treatment procedures using slides, x-rays or blood work results
Curiosity: They need to ask questions about new or unfamiliar procedures or processes from physicians and other department staff members in order to understand the details of the procedures and processes

More Medical Office Assistant Requirements

Making decisions: Medical office assistant have to make decisions based on their own judgment and understanding rather than just following the physician’s orders blindly
Proofreading skills: They have to read and edit text for grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, clarity, conciseness and accuracy of information, consistency in terminology and writing style
Manual dexterity: Medical office assistant need to have sufficient manual skill and coordination to manipulate instruments, equipment and materials, such as syringes, microscopes, stethoscopes, bandages and other small material
Teamwork skills: They work with other department staff in a team structure to assist physicians and patients
Strong interpersonal skills: Medical office assistant have to be able to communicate effectively with fellow staff members who speak English as a second language on a daily basis.

Medical Office Assistant Salary

The average pay for medical office assistants is $34,291 according to glassdoor.com and $39,466 by indeed.com annually.

As published by Indeed, the best paying cities are New York, NY, $48,202; Sacramento, CA, $46,058; San Diego, CA, $44,256; Long Beach, CA, $43,639 and Baltimore, MD, $42,760 per year.

There are currently around 666,385 medical office assistants working in the United States.

Women make up 89.4% of all medical office assistants, while men make up 10.6%.

An employed medical office assistant is 36 years old on average.

White (55.8%) is the most frequent ethnicity among medical office assistants, followed by Hispanic or Latino (21.3%), Black or African American (10.9%), and Asian (8.3%).

Conclusion

The job of a medical office assistant is not just limited to taking vital signs of patients and preparing documents for filing.

Medical office assistants are a valuable asset in any medical office as most work tasks include assisting patients who come in for an appointment by answering their questions, checking them in and preparing them for examination or treatment.

This post is helpful to individuals interested in the medical office assistant career. They will be able to learn all they need to know about the duties and responsibilities assigned to the job.

It is also useful to recruiters/employers in creating a detailed medical office assistant job description for their organizations.