What is a Medical Administrative Assistant? Duties, Job Outlook, and More

Key Insights:

• Medical administrative assistants, also known as medical secretaries, help healthcare organizations run smoothly by handling many office-related tasks. This includes answering phones, scheduling appointments, and ordering supplies.
• The demand for medical administrative assistant positions is projected to grow, largely due to an aging population. Training can help you prepare to pursue these healthcare roles.
• UMA offers two medical administrative assistant program options, enabling you to choose the one that aligns with your time frames and career goals.

Are you interested in a healthcare career but have no desire to spend years in school? Good news: there are careers in the healthcare field that can satisfy your passion for helping others without having to pursue a bachelor's degree or higher. One option is a medical administrative assistant.

What is a medical administrative assistant? Let's discuss how to enter this healthcare role, including an overview of medical administrative assistant training, to assist with your decision-making process so you can determine whether this career path may be for you.

What is a Medical Administrative Assistant?

Medical administrative assistants, sometimes referred to as medical secretaries, work in an administrative capacity. They perform a combination of direct and indirect patient-related duties and can be the first person that patients interact with upon entering a healthcare office. Professionals in these roles can be found working in hospitals, doctors' offices, long-term care facilities, and outpatient clinics.

A medical administrative assistant's day-to-day experiences can change depending on the organization they're working for or the department they're serving within that facility. Individuals in this role can do a fair amount of filing and paperwork, in addition to interacting with both patients and medical staff.

What Does a Medical Administrative Assistant Do?

Medical administrative assistants help healthcare facilities run smoothly. They do this by performing many office-related tasks, streamlining the healthcare process for both practitioners and patients. They also help patients feel comfortable and satisfied with their experience.

Medical administrative assistant duties can include:

• Checking in patients for scheduled appointments
• Answering phones and maintaining databases
• Keeping track of patients' medical records and health charts
• Transferring lab results to the appropriate technicians
• Ordering supplies
• Maintaining general office standards

Reading job posts for this healthcare role can help you learn more about the responsibilities of this position in your local area. Medical administrative assistant job descriptions can also help you gain some insight into what may be required with specific healthcare employers.

What Skills Does a Medical Administrative Assistant Need?

A medical administrative assistant can benefit from having many different skills. This includes technical or hard skills, such as understanding medical terminology and basic healthcare office processes — which can be built and strengthened with schooling and career training.

Other medical administrative assistant skills have to do with general personality traits. These are referred to as soft skills, and some that are important to have in this type of role include:¹

• Being good at making decisions
• Interpersonal skills, like being courteous and communicating effectively
• Being organized
• Having strong writing skills

To see whether your skills and interests could align with this role, take our short Healthcare Career Quiz. This quiz can also provide other healthcare roles that may be of interest to you based on your answers.

What's the Demand for Medical Administrative Assistants?

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects a 4% increase in medical secretary and administrative assistant positions between 2024 and 2034.² This would lead to the creation of 35,300 new positions during this time.

It goes on to say that the aging population is a key factor behind this expected growth. Older people often require more medical care, which creates a need for more administrative personnel to handle office tasks such as billing and handling Medicare and other insurance claims.

If this field sounds interesting, you may be wondering how to become a medical administrative assistant. Let's dive into that now.

How Do I Become a Medical Administrative Assistant?

While administrative assistants in other fields can enter this role with no specialized training, additional training helps medical administrative assistants learn the terminology needed to work in this role.¹ Additional training can also benefit those who want to become more qualified candidates, potentially providing a competitive advantage over other job applicants without this education or knowledge.

Ultimate Medical Academy (UMA) offers both a diploma and an Associate of Science / Associate of Applied Science degree program in this field of study. In these online Medical Administrative Assistant programs, you learn about medical terminology, medical law, medical ethics, medical administration technologies, and customer service in healthcare. Both of these programs can prepare you for entry-level positions in the medical administrative assistant field.

What Else Should I Know About Becoming a Medical Administrative Assistant?

If you’re going back to school as an adult learner or changing careers later in life, starting to pursue a medical administrative assistant career may feel overwhelming. However, you can also embrace the variety of the role.

As a medical administrative assistant, you essentially serve as the backbone of a healthcare organization’s administrative tasks. You may also be the first friendly face that patients see upon arrival, and the last one they see at the end of their visit.

For those interested in several different aspects of a healthcare office’s operations, the role of medical administrative assistant can be a good fit.

If you’re unsure as to whether this is the career path for you, just remember: there are options. For example, you could look into training for Medical Office and Billing Specialist, Medical Billing and Coding, or Medical Assistant career paths. These are similar healthcare roles that may be of interest.

Am I Ready to Be a Medical Administrative Assistant?

Only you can answer this question, but don't let a lack of knowledge stop you from pursuing this healthcare career. A medical administrative assistant training program can provide the knowledge and skills needed to work in this role.

Medical administrative assistants are an important part of medical practices. By pursuing a career in this field, you can help both healthcare providers and patients — and you don't have to spend years in training to prepare for this position.

Get Started With Medical Administrative Assistant Training

UMA provides two medical administrative assistant program options:

• A Medical Administrative Assistant Degree program that can be completed in 11 months or more³
• A Health Sciences – Medical Administrative Assistant Associate of Science / Associate of Applied Science Degree program that can be completed in 18 months or more³

Both programs cover the technical information and skills needed to work in a medical administrative assistant role. The Associate of Science / Associate of Applied Science Degree program also includes the soft skills potential employers may be looking for, with courses in critical thinking and problem solving, computer fundamentals, patient relations, and more.

Why choose UMA for medical administrative assistant training?

UMA supports the whole student, from before you enroll until well past graduation. We're here to help you with the admissions process, as well as navigate financial aid, if eligible. Once your courses start, our Student Services teams can connect you with academic resources, help you with your assignments, or reach out to instructors with specific questions.

We also have dedicated Career Services team members who can help you create a compelling resume, prepare for a job interview, and provide other job search guidance. They may also be able to connect you with one of our employer partners who prefers to hire UMA grads for their open healthcare positions.

Contact us to learn more about this program or to discuss how you can enroll. We look forward to helping you pursue your healthcare career goals!

FAQs

How much does a medical administrative assistant make? Pay can vary based on a variety of factors, some of which include your level of education, experience, and geographical location.

What is a Certified Medical Administrative Assistant? A Certified Medical Administrative Assistant (CMAA) is someone who has taken and passed a competency exam, showing that they have the knowledge and skills needed to work in a medical administrative assistant position. Both of UMA’s Medical Administrative Assistant training programs prepare you to sit for the CMAA exam.⁴

What’s the difference between a medical administrative assistant and a medical assistant? While both roles help healthcare offices run smoothly, a medical assistant provides more direct patient care, such as by taking vital signs. Read our informative blog about medical administrative assistant vs. medical assistant roles to learn more about how they’re different.