Medical Assistant Job Description & Medical Assistant Duties
Job description medical assistant – What do medical assistants do? Learn what the typical clinical, office, and administrative medical assistant duties are.
The medical assistant profession is not to be confused with a Physician’s Assistant. The Physician Assistant is a professional who is licensed to practice medicine under the supervision of a licensed doctor.
The medical assistant is a health care worker who performs administrative and clinical tasks for licensed health care providers to keep the practice running efficiently. The medical administrative assistant can be certified or registered, but many are not. Many medical assistants are trained on the job.
Medical office assistant jobs are typically in doctor or clinic offices, hospitals, inpatient and outpatient facilities, and urgent care facilities.
The primary support duties for job description medical assistant: administrative, reception, and clinical. Most medical office assistant jobs will include these in varying degrees.
Job Description Medical Assistant – Typical Duties
Administrative Duties
- Updating and filing patient medical records
- Some medical billing tasks
- Correspondence with insurance companies, other physician offices, and patients
- Hospital admission arrangements
- Completing insurance forms
- Obtaining patient demographic information
- Book keeping and accounting of patient accounts and office accounts
- Ordering medical supplies
If billing is done in house, the duties of the medical assistant may include entering diagnosis and treatment information, submitting insurance claims (paper and electronic), patient billing, and other medical billing specialist tasks.
Reception Tasks
- Administering patient registration forms to make sure they are filled out correctly and answer patient questions
- Answering telephone
- Patient reception
- Entering patient information in practice management software
- Scheduling appointments
Clinical
- Accessing, obtaining copies, and maintaining patient health record files
- Patient blood draws and collecting urine samples
- Collect and prepare laboratory specimens
- Prepare patients for examinations or diagnostic tests
- Explain treatments, medications, and special diet requirements to patients
- Recording vital signs such as pulse, temperature, blood pressure, etc.
- Authorize prescription refills per doctors instruction
- Prepare patients for tests like X-rays, MRI’s, electrocardiograms, CAT scans, etc.
- Change patient dressings and remove sutures
Many of the clinical tasks of a medical support assistant require communication between the physician and patient. It’s important to have good communications and memory skills. Medical assistant professionals typically have to work under the supervision of a doctor, physician assistant, nurse, or nurse practitioner as governed by state laws when caring for patients.
Medical office assistant jobs are projected to be one of the fastest growing occupations through the next several years according to the United States Department of Labor.