Medical Office Receptionist Job Description, Key Duties and Responsibilities

This post provides complete information on the job description of a medical office receptionist, to help you learn the work they do.

It highlights the key duties, tasks, and responsibilities that commonly make up the medical office receptionist work description.

What Does a Medical Office Receptionist Do?

A medical office receptionist is a staff whose role in a medical center is to handle front desk activities such as answering phone calls, welcoming patients/clients and directing them to the appropriate personnel or department.

The medical office receptionist job description is to receive visitors to the clinic and ensure that they are comfortable before seeing the medical expert, and perform other administrative tasks of a receptionist.

As the first person to meet with patients/visitors, he/she is always at the front desk, smartly dressed to receive patients because they make the first impression about the hospital on patients, and this can either be good or bad.

He/she is responsible for checking patients in and checking them out when leaving.

While medical office receptionists attend to patients at the front desk, they are also by the telephone to answer all incoming calls to the clinic from patients who want to make inquires about services offered, thus, the receptionist provides all answers in a professional and courteous manner.

When calls are for specific staff of the clinic, the receptionist directs such calls to the people in question with their consent, and takes a message from the caller in their absence.

It’s the responsibility of medical office receptionists to schedule appointments for patients who want to see the doctor. They carefully book patient appointments to suit doctor’s busy schedule, prevent clash of appointment dates between patients, and inform the doctor when patients arrive for appointments.

In cases where there’s an emergency and the doctor cannot meet up with the appointment, the office receptionist cancels it and reschedules another.

The receptionist also does administrative duties such as recording bookings, filing, scanning documents, and billings of patients.

Medical Office Receptionist Job Description Example/Sample/Template

The duties, tasks, and responsibilities which make up the work activities of most hotel receptionists are shown in the job description example below:

• Welcome and receive patients/visitors to the clinic by greeting them and attending to them inquiries, and also attend to them on the phone
• Facilitate patient satisfaction and clinic experience by directing them accordingly and booking appointments for them when necessary
• Constantly check clinic equipment and accessories to know the availability of stock and informs management of inadequate equipment and confirms delivery of supplies made
• Keep records of patient treatment history and make them available to management when needed
• Collect patient personal and financial information to create patient file and account, and constantly update the records to meet up with changes that might occur in patients’ life
• Keep records of revenue by tracking patient financial condition, receiving charges made on patients, monitoring credit given to patients and evaluating third-party activities
• Respect patient privacy by keeping all information and records collected from patients highly confidential and use them only for official purposes when necessary.

Information from the job description sample above can be utilized in writing some sections of the resume for seeking the position, especially the job history section.

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

Below are key requirements usually needed from applicants vying for the position of receptionist in a medical office.

• Excellent telephone etiquette
• Exhibit punctuality
• Excellent computer skills, especially in both Microsoft Word and Excel
• Have good organizational skills
• Have good interpersonal skills
• Have basic arithmetic knowledge.

See detailed medical receptionist’s skills and qualities which can be used in preparing resumes: medical receptionist skills for resume

Medical Office Receptionist Resources

To be more effective in your work as a medical office receptionist and to take your career to the top, here are useful resources you can access:

Professional Organizations

Useful Blogs

Helpful Books