Medical Office Administration

Medical Office Administration Career Overview

Careers in medical office administration range from work as a medical secretary who carries out administrative tasks in a small practice or clinic, to health services managers who run large medical facilities.

The growth of the healthcare industry makes the job opportunities almost unlimited. Healthcare is a challenging field to work in, and requires both attention to detail and an eye for long-term administration and management. Medical administration is ideal for anyone who is interested in working in healthcare but prefers administrative work over the hands-on work of diagnosis and treating patients.

As a medical office administration worker, it is helpful if you are good with people, especially since many of the people you will work with are under stress and ill. It is also beneficial if you are extremely organized, thrive when under pressure, and have an interest in health and wellness.

Medical Office Administration Training & Education

Health information technicians typically enter the field with an associate's degree. Because employers prefer to hire registered workers, technicians must graduate from an accredited associate's degree program, and pass a written exam offered by the American Health Information Management Association.

Medical secretaries, medical office assistants and registered medical assistants typically attended medical assisting programs at vocational and community colleges. They may also obtain certification from bodies like the American Association of Medical Assistants. However, a registered medical assistant must obtain certification from the American Medical Technologists Agency, which requires the completion of an accredited qualification, as well as an examination and a minimum of five years of experience as a medical assistant.

Anyone interested in a career as a healthcare administrator or medical services manager should plan to obtain a mster's degree in business or healthcare administration, particularly if they want to work in larger healthcare facilities.

Medical Office Admin Career & Salary Outlook

The outlook for medical office administration careers is very good, with most expected to grow over the next five to seven years. Opportunities for employment in the healthcare industry will continue to expand as people age, and as new technologies improve the population's average expected lifespan.

Medical secretaries, medical office assistants and registered medical assistants have a broad salary range, and may earn between $22,000 and $40,000 per year depending on their level of experience, qualifications, and place of work.

Health information technicians earn salaries of between $22,000 and $27,000 per year depending on where they work and their level of experience. Healthcare administrators and medical services managers may earn between $40,000 and more than $100,000, with their level of income mostly dependent on the type of facility in which they work and their level of experience.

Career Fields/Specializations

Healthcare Administrator Career

Healthcare administrators are as essential to medical facilities as doctors and nurses. Healthcare administrators manage and direct the healthcare facilities, and are responsible for both short- and long-term planning and the administration of:

• Budgets
• Staff
• Purchasing
• Billing
• Patient intake
• Public relations

Healthcare administrators may be general administrators responsible for supervising an entire facility, or they may specialize in a particular area of administration, such as human resources, finances and budgeting, or policy development. In most cases, general administrators tend to work in smaller medical facilities, from group practices to nursing homes, while specialists work in hospitals and other large facilities.

Healthcare administrators should have well-developed managerial and leadership abilities, as well as good interpersonal skills, written and verbal communication skills, and problem-solving skills. They should be well-organized, have good time-management skills, have a good eye for detail, and be self-confident and well presented.

Medical Office Assistant Career

Medical office assistants expand on their basic secretarial training skills and abilities to become proficient in working in medical offices. They may specialize in working with patients or with medical records. Their work is mainly administrative in nature.

Medical office assistants answer phones, make appointments, take messages, deal with patient inquiries, keep patient records up-to-date, deal with incoming and outgoing mail, organize patient samples for diagnostic testing, and organize test results. They may also work with medical notes for transcription.

Medical office assistants must have excellent communication and interpersonal skills, be well organized, and have good time-management skills. They should be able to deal with patients and their families with tact and respect, have good computer skills, and be able to work independently without supervision.

Medical Secretary Career

Medical secretaries work as administrators for healthcare workers, such as doctors, medical researchers, and medical service managers. They may work in private practices, hospitals, clinics, health centers, pharmaceutical companies, and medical schools.

Medical secretaries carry out a wide variety of administrative tasks, including answering phones, taking messages, making appointments, dealing with patient inquiries, keeping patient records updated, dealing with mail, sending patient samples out for diagnostic testing, and filing test results when they are received.

A medical secretary should have excellent written, verbal, and organizational skills. They should have excellent interpersonal skills, and be able to deal with patients and their relatives tactfully and with respect. They must also have good computer skills, be able to work accurately, and work well both independently and as part of a team.

Registered Medical Assistant Career

Registered medical assistants often have both clerical and clinical tasks, although in larger facilities they may specialize in solely clinical work. Registered medical assistants may:

• Take medical histories
• Record patient vital signs
• Explain diagnostic and treatment procedures to patients
• Prepare patients for medical exams
• Collect lab specimens
• Give patients dietary or other instruction
• Carry out similar types of clinical tasks

Administrative duties of a registered medical assistant include preparing examination rooms, purchasing equipment, restocking supplies, processing insurance claims, scheduling patient appointments, and organizing medical records.

Registered medical assistants should have excellent communication and interpersonal skills, as well as organizational, time management and prioritization skills. They should work well with patients, and be able to work independently when required.

Health Information Technician Career

Health information technicians deal with medical records and patient information. They typically work in public and private hospitals and clinics. They are responsible for organizing patient medical records, ensuring that all records are kept up-to-date, all required forms are completed, and that all relevant information, such as results of diagnostic tests, are included with the records.

Some health information technicians work for health insurance companies, where they are called health information coders or medical record coders. In these situations, they assign codes to medical procedures and assign patients to different groups based on the medical procedures they undergo, to determine how hospitals and other healthcare providers are reimbursed for the services they provide.

Wherever they work, health information technicians must be able to work with a high degree of accuracy, have good organizational skills and an eye for detail, and be able to concentrate on administrative tasks for long periods of time.

Medical Services Manager Career

Medical services managers (also known as health services managers) are administrators who work in hospitals, clinics, practices, and for HMOs. They plan and coordinate the delivery of healthcare services. They are responsible for both short- and long-term planning, and also overseeing:

• Purchasing
• Billing
• Budgeting
• Financial management
• Human resources
• Patient services
• Public relations and marketing

Medical services managers may be generalists who manage an entire facility, or specialists who work in one particular area of running the facility. Larger facilities (such as hospitals) generally have more than one medical services manager, where they each work in a specific department/area of administration. Smaller facilities (such as nursing homes or group medical practices) tend to have just one or two people running the facility.

Medical services managers must have excellent leadership and managerial skills, interpersonal and communication skills, problem-solving skills, and organizational and time management skills. They should be self-confident and well presented, and have a good eye for details without losing sight of the long term "big picture" involved in running a medical facility.