Home • Education Center • Healthcare • Medical Office Assistant

As a medical office assistant it will be your job to keep the office of the doctors or other health care providers you work for running smoothly. To do your job well, you will need knowledge of anatomy, physiology and medical terminology. You also will need to study medical office administration skills including keyboarding, transcription, record keeping, accounting and insurance processing. You can enroll in a medical office assisting certificate program or a two-year associate?s degree program in medical office assisting. How long it will take you to complete the program depends on whether you go full-time or part-time. Medical office assisting also requires some on-the-job training.

Where You Will Find Opportunities as a Medical Office Assistant

Medical office assistants can work in a variety of settings, including:

• Offices of physicians and other health care providers
• Public or private hospitals
• Inpatient and outpatient facilities
• Other health care settings such as nursing and residential care facilities

Associations, such as the American Association of Medical Assistants (AAMA) and the Association of Medical Technologists (AMT), award certifications to medical office assistants who pass their exams. To distinguish yourself, you may want to earn certification as a medical office assistant in a specialty such as podiatry or optometry. Because the need for health care is expanding as the population ages, the employment picture for medical assistants is bright. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a 34 percent growth from 2008 to 2018, which is much faster than average for all occupations. How much you can earn as a medical office assistant varies depending on where you work, your experience, and your skill level. The median annual salary of a medical office assistant in 2008 was $28,300. Annual salaries typically range from $20,600 to $39,570.