Medical Administrative Assistant Career Guide: Duties, Outlook, and Training

Key Insights:

• Medical administrative assistants assist healthcare organizations with office tasks, such as scheduling appointments and managing health records. Their job duties can help support practice efficiency while contributing to the patient experience.
• Medical administrative assistants typically need formal training to learn medical terminology and other knowledge and skills required to perform administrative functions within the healthcare industry.
• Medical administrative assistant training may help prepare individuals for this job role. Ultimate Medical Academy (UMA) offers two program options, enabling learners to choose the one that aligns with their educational career path interests.

If you are interested in working in healthcare and would rather perform office duties than provide patient care, you may enjoy a medical administrative assistant role. What does this healthcare professional do? What’s the job outlook? Do you need medical administrative assistant training to pursue this type of position? This career guide answers all these questions and more.

What Is a Medical Administrative Assistant?

Medical administrative assistants help healthcare offices run efficiently. Sometimes referred to as a medical office secretary or medical office assistant, an individual in this role performs administrative tasks to support an office’s day-to-day operations.

When pursuing your own healthcare, you may have interacted with a medical administrative assistant without realizing it. They may have answered the phone when you called to schedule an appointment or checked you in at the front counter when you arrived for your visit.

Because medical administrative assistants are typically the first person a patient sees when entering a healthcare office, they “help set the stage for a patient’s experience,” explains the National Healthcareer Association (NHA).¹ This makes them a valuable position within the healthcare process.

What Does a Medical Administrative Assistant Do?

Exact job functions can vary based on the employer. That said, typical medical administrative assistant duties and responsibilities can include:

• Answering the phones
• Scheduling patient appointments
• Managing health records
• Assisting with insurance claims

By performing these types of tasks, a medical administrative assistant can help a healthcare office or practice run smoothly. To see a more expansive list of the duties this role may be assigned, it can be helpful to read through local medical administrative assistant job descriptions posted on online job search sites. These can provide information about the responsibilities expected from area employers.

Is a medical administrative assistant the same as a medical assistant?

No, these are two different healthcare positions. One significant difference when comparing medical administrative assistant vs. medical assistant roles is that the latter has clinical job functions.

This means that a medical assistant can directly assist with patient care. They may measure a patient's vital signs, for instance, or collect blood samples for testing. Medical administrative assistants are non-clinical healthcare professionals who perform office tasks rather than providing direct patient care.

Medical Administrative Assistant Job Outlook

If you’re considering a medical administrative assistant career path, you may be wondering how in demand this position is.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) doesn’t provide the job outlook for medical administrative assistants specifically. Instead, these positions fall under the category of medical secretaries and administrative assistants. The BLS projects that these occupations will grow 4% between 2024 and 2034, resulting in roughly 35,300 new positions during this period.²

An aging population and the growing prevalence of chronic health conditions like heart disease, cancer, and diabetes are driving job growth in the healthcare sector of the labor market.³ As more people need services, providers can also use more non-clinical support staff — such as medical administrative assistants — to help handle the co-occurring increase in administrative tasks.

Becoming a Medical Administrative Assistant: Education and Training

While administrative assistants in other fields typically learn their roles with on-the-job training, those in the medical field may need additional education.⁴ For example, understanding basic medical terminology is important, whether interacting with providers or patients.

Medical administrative assistant training can provide this knowledge, in addition to teaching you the skills needed to perform typical job tasks. If you wish to pursue a management-level position at a later date, having a formal education may also help you meet the educational qualifications that might be required for this type of advanced role.

Medical administrative assistant certification

Some employers require or prefer their medical administrative assistants to be certified. Certification means that you’ve passed a competency exam in areas of knowledge that are important for this healthcare role. Training may be required to meet eligibility criteria for certain certification exams.

The NHA’s Certified Medical Administrative Assistant (CMAA) exam is an example of this. To be eligible to apply, you must have completed a training or education program within the last five years or have previous supervised work experience in the medical administrative assistant field (one year of experience in the last three years or two years of experience within the last five years).⁵ Enrolling in medical administrative assistant training can help you meet training-related exam eligibility requirements.

What You Learn in a Medical Administrative Assistant Program

A medical administrative program can provide the knowledge and skills needed to perform typical office duties within a healthcare organization. For example, at Ultimate Medical Academy (UMA), our courses cover important topics such as:

• Healthcare communication
• Medical terminology
• Medical records management
• Medical transcription
• Medical coding
• Healthcare claims reimbursement

We also help our learners prepare to sit for the CMAA exam,⁶ should they choose to pursue this healthcare credential.

Are You Ready to Pursue Medical Administrative Assistant Training?

If this career path sounds like it may be a fit for you, UMA offers a Health Sciences – Medical Administrative Assistant Associate of Science / Associate of Applied Science Degree program. This program includes CMAA exam prep,⁶ in addition to providing the instruction needed for this healthcare role. It also includes both general education and elective courses. This can give you a well-rounded education, while also providing the foundation for future career advancement.

Why choose UMA for medical administrative assistant training?

At UMA, we believe that education is only part of the healthcare career journey. That’s why we provide a variety of student services designed to support your success at different stages of your career path.

If you need help with your coursework while working toward your degree, we have learner services advisors you can call on for assistance. Once you're ready to start your job search, team members at Career Services can help you craft your medical administrative assistant resume.

When you choose UMA, you choose a team of caring, compassionate professionals who are here to support your career journey. Contact us to learn more or to discuss how we can help you reach your healthcare career goals.

FAQs

• What is an administrative assistant in healthcare? An administrative assistant working in the healthcare field helps organizations in this field with their office-related needs. This may include answering phones, scheduling appointments, and managing patient records.
• How much does a medical administrative assistant make? Medical administrative assistant pay can vary based on a variety of factors, ranging from your level of education, experience, geographic location, and more. Local job posts can provide more information about wages in your area, as well as looking at data from national occupational wage providers like the BLS.
• How can UMA help me prepare for a medical administrative assistant role? UMA’s medical administrative assistant programs provide instruction in medical administrative assisting, medical terminology, medical coding, and the healthcare claims cycle. We also prepare learners to sit for the NHA’s CMAA exam,⁶ should you decide to pursue this credential.