Scope of Medical Office Assistant

Medical office assistants help to establish and maintain a smooth relation between the doctors and the patients. They perform a variety of roles that include communication with the patients to understand their requirements, preparing medical reports, assisting the doctor with reports, deal with the insurance claims and help the front office with billing. Although a graduate degree is sufficient to become a medical office assistant, it is recommended to have a certificate or diploma in the field of medical assistance. Clinics and hospitals prefer certified medical office assistants over other candidates. These certificate courses include basic biology, medicine specific operations and other management techniques. Some of them also include insurance and billing techniques. They also provide hands on training which is very much required to perform the job efficiently.

Apart from hospitals, the medical assistants also work in insurance industry, clinical labs and health departments. Hence it is necessary that they understand medical terminology and health care procedures. This also makes the scope of their work wide. They are required to attend emergency calls, maintain records and schedule appointments. They have to assist doctors during medical examination and simple procedures. They present the lab reports and results of various tests conducted, to the physician. Maintaining the medical history of the patients, they assist the patients during hospitalization. 

Some of the states have well defined the scope of work for medical office assistants, while some of them have not. The medical assistants are required to maintain the workflow in clinics and hospitals under the guidance of the physician. They are to decide on the emergency protocol and schedule appointments accordingly. They record the patient’s details and maintain it. They assist the physician to set up the medical examination room and prepare the patients for the required tests. They also convey medical information to the patients in the absence of the physician. In some situations they are also required to change wound dressings, remove sutures and staples. They are trained to provide proper first aid and to operate various diagnostic devices. At times they also administer oral medications as advised by the doctor. Applying topical creams needs to be done in few cases. They collect blood samples and send it to clinical laboratories for examination. They explain the treatment procedure and medicines, prescribed by the doctor, to the patients. Medical assistants are mainly responsible in guiding the patients throughout. 

The scope of work for medical assistants also includes maintaining records, proper billing, handling invoices and other financial reports. So the knowledge of computer applications becomes essential. They need to have good knowledge in billing and accounting software. Apart from this, they need to operate various office equipments like fax and credit card machines.

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