How much does a medical administrative assistant make an hour?, let us discuss this here. You may wonder what a medical administrative assistant is? Well, in the simplest terms, they are people who implement regular administrative and clerical aids in a medical facility. One can also visit our page online medical school for more ideas on the medical schools.

If you are still not clear on how much does a medical administrative assistant make an hour? and who these assistants are, then think about the time you visited a physician’s office. The person you first interacted with who enquired about your appointment and then checked you in the system, they are a medical administrative assistant. 

However, their job is not only to greet the patients and check their appointments with the system. It is only one of the many responsibilities that they handle. If you are a person who is looking into a career in the ever-developing medical industry, but without having to deal with blood or dealing with patients hands-on. Then the medical administrative assistant is the ideal job for you.

There must be a lot of questions regarding this job in your mind, including how much does a medical administrative assistant make an hour? but not limited to the salary. So here is a guide filled with information to help you find the answers to all your questions regarding the job of a medical administrative assistant.


How much does a medical administrative assistant make an hour?

How much does a medical administrative assistant make an hour?

How Much Does A Medical Administrative Assistant Make An Hour? – An Overview

The first and the most obvious question you must have in your mind has to be the average medical administrative assistant salary. The simple answer is, on average, a medical administrative assistant makes around 18.39 USD per hour, which can promise around a 33,000 USD per annum according to hours worked. 

That was the average salary now if you are wondering about the range of pay, then it starts from 11 USD per hour to 30 USD per hour. That means you can earn around 23,000 USD to 50,000 USD per annum as a medical administrative assistant. 

Now you must be thinking that this is not “doctor money,” and you are right. However, this job provides a sound and steady income with many benefits, and it does not require the years of college and training like a medical practitioner. You can also anticipate a secure and stable job with expected growth. 

So if you are looking to make a career in the medical industry but not as a medical practitioner or without the years of training and education, this job can promise stability and growth, along with many other perks. 

Highest paying cities and states for medical administrative assistants

Now the job pays differently in different cities and states throughout the United States. The reason behind the variation of pay in these cities and states are both economical as well as due to the difference in job demands. 

Some for the highest paying cities and states for medical administrative assistants in the United States are:

  1. Boston, MA: 20.4 USD
  2. New Your, NY: 19.57 USD
  3. Washington, DC: 18.42 USD
  4. Dallas, TX: 16.30 USD
  5. Philadelphia, PA: 16..24 USD

Moreover, the highest paying states including medical administrative assistant salary California in the United States are:

  1. Utah: 20% more than the national average
  2. Washinton: 19% more than the national average
  3. Massachusetts: 16% more than the national average
  4. California: 13% more than the national average
  5. Connecticut: 12% more than the national average  

Now that you know that the pay you may get is also dependent on the state at which you are working as well. You should know there are some states with pay offer less than the national average. Some of these states are:

  • Alabama: 19% less 
  • Idaho: 14% less
  • Indiana: 12% less
  • North Carolina: 11% less
  • Oklahoma: 10% less

In short, your pay is heavily influenced by the state you are working at. To make sure you get decent revenue and salary growth, you must see in which state you are working at.

Certified medical administrative assistant jobs
Certified medical administrative assistant jobs

Certified medical administrative assistant jobs

As mentioned before, medical administrative assistants are the first face you see at a physician’s place. However, they are not limited to work only at a physician’s place. Around 7% of the assistants work at a physician’s office. 

You can also expect to work at a hospital like 2.5% of all the assistants. There are many other places like dental offices, health practitioner offices, outpatient care centers. At all of these places, the administrative assistants will greet you and provide you with all and any necessary help. Let us discuss here in this article about certified medical administrative assistant jobs.

These places are broadly classified into three categories:

  • Hospitals: In hospitals, their duties are mostly specialized, according to different departments. Due to hospitals working 24/7 many times, the employees have 12-hour shits, night shits, etc.
  • Clinics: Unlike hospitals, more predictable workflow and fixed working hours. The most significant part of the job is scheduling appointments. 
  • Private practices: Smaller facility with ill-defined roles. The job often asks to work beyond the textbook definition of a medical administrative assistant. 

The primary role and demands remain the same no matter which place you work in. These duties mostly differ due to facility size, the type of healthcare setting, and even the geographic location.  

Medical Administrative Assistant Program

A medical administrative assistant needs to be a multitasker, with admirable communication and a friendly, easy to talk personality. As a medical administrative assistant, you will need to: 

  • Manage the general office tasks
  • Scheduling and managing appointments via phone, email, and in-person
  • Greet patients with a proficient, helpful, and positive presence
  • Decent problem-solving skills 
  • Make reservations for your doctors, and office members

A successful medical assistant needs to be professional, polite, friendly, and conscientious. Facing office problems and fixing it with efficiency and ease is also part of the job description. A big part of the job depends on computers. Hence, proficiency in computer and knowledge of office applications is fundamental.

Medical administrative assistant program is also commonly referred to as medical secretaries, and their primary goal is to perform administrative work at a facility. The candidate must not have an in-depth knowledge of medical terms, but he/she should also be fluent in computer applications. 

Medical administrative assistant certification – Career

Once you’ve acquired your required qualifications and certification as a medical secretary, you have opened up a versatile career option. Healthcare facilities usually hire medical administrators under job titles like 

  1. Unit secretary
  2. Medical office assistant
  3. Patient coordinator
  4. Admissions coordinator
  5. Documentation, and other such activities to run with ease

Medical administrative assistant certification is depending on where the professional is working, their daily schedule might vary. For instance, a medical secretary working in a hospital might have to work 12-hour shifts for 3 days a week. This is to ensure that the hospital can provide services 24/7 to the incoming emergencies. The secretary in this scenario will have to maintain calm at all times to ensure that the rest of the system runs smoothly.

Medical administrative assistants working in a clinic will have a more predictable schedule. Clinics generally cover only a few specialties and primary care. However, these facilities also deal with a lot of appointments, and the secretary will have to coordinate all the appointments throughout the day. 

The job of a medical administrative assistant is less defined and mostly depends on their ability to multitask, coordinate, and mediate. 

Medical Administrative Assistant Salary With Associate Degree

If you think how much does a medical administrative assistant make an hour? Then consider some more points into account. One of the most significant advantages of choosing medical administrative assistance as a career is that it does not have a lot of educational needs. Truth to be told, most of these jobs do not require any sort of degree at all.  In a recent job analysis, it was found that out of 72,000 listed jobs for medical secretary, only 11% had an Associate’s degree or higher as a requirement. 

People aspiring in this job should do a certification course. On the plus side to earn this Medical Administrative Assistant Certificate, it only takes nine months. 

The course includes necessary skills such as:

  • Fundamentals of medical administration
  • Medical billing and insurance
  • Customer service and healthcare
  • Healthcare administration office procedures
  • Technology for medical administration

Although there are no requirements for this job, it is advised to the candidates to have:

  • High school education
  • Experience- As administrative assistants, candidates have a vital role to play in a facility that combines direct and indirect care duties. This calls for people with a balanced personality of administrative skills and interpersonal abilities. Moreover, the person should also have a will to learn and adapt to the evolution of the healthcare sector. 
what does a medical administrative assistant do

what does a medical administrative assistant do

What does a medical administrative assistant do

On the other hand of this question how much does a medical administrative assistant make an hour? we must know the responsibilities of a medical administrative assistant. Once you get the basic idea of what a medical assistant’s job description, you will now know their day to day duties and responsibilities. As you know, every assistant’s job is different from one another. For example, working under a dentist is different from working under a pediatrician. Here is your detailed answer on what does a medical administrative assistant do?

After getting that off the way, there are a lot of primary duties that every assistant need to perform regardless of where they are working; these include:

  • Handling the telephone to schedule appointments, connecting patients to the right staff, etc
  • Greeting arriving patients in a friendly and positive manner
  • Looking at insurance payments, billing, etc
  • Helping patients with taking case notes, maintaining electronic medical records, etc
  • Making sure the patients feel the process from the appointment, retrieving a
  • Typing and basic computing 
  • Knowledge of Office(docs, sheets, presentations, etc.)
  • Basic knowledge of accounts
  • Operation of essential office equipment
  • Attention to detail
  • Good grammar and spelling
  • Decent problem-solving skills

Knowledge of the above mentioned is not in any way mandatory for you to know. However, necessary know-how of all these will help you to land a well paying administrative assistant job in the medical industry. The better your skills, the more are your chances to earn more than the average medical administrative assistant salary.

What skills are needed to become a medical administrative assistant

Apart from the requirements and the certification, you need to have a specific set of skills to ensure success as a medical administrative assistant:

  • Communication
  • Computer
  • Telephone 
  • Organizational
  • Typing
  • Writing 
  • Multi-tasking 
  • Detail-oriented
  • Problem-solving
  • Language efficient 

Other than these, there are some hard skills that employers are looking for in the recruits:

  • Administrative support
  • Scheduling
  • Appointment setting
  • Customer service
  • Patient care
  • Medical terminology
  • Front office experience
  • Data entry
  • Customer billing
  • Electronic medical records
  • Office skills

Most of these skills are experience-based and require time and effort to learn. The knowledge of these skills will help you to get a better comprehension of your job and the responsibilities that come along with it. Moreover, these will make ensure you are prepared to face almost every medical secretary’s job available. 

However, it is not necessary that just because you know all these skills, you are ready for any offered job. Some particular cases need unique skills that may not be what you demand from a medical assistant. 

The job outlook for medical assistance 

It is not a secret that the medical industry is flourishing in the current market. Moreover, this massive growth is bringing in more technological advancement and the increased need for office administrators. So it is the perfect time for you to look for a job as a medical administrative assistant.

According to BLS (The Bureau of Labor Statistics), the employment of medical administration and assistance is said to increase by 22% in upcoming years. This growth is way more than all the national average for all the other occupations. The only industry with higher employment growth is the IT industry. Here we are discussing on the job outlook for medical assistance.

However, one thing that medical industries have over IT industries is job security. The jobs in the medical administration and assistance, offer high security as well as stability, along with growth and numerous other perks. 

Hence, if you are looking for a job that promises a steady pay, stable income, security, and career growth in the medical industry, then the medical administrative assistant is the perfect career option for you. 

The job of a medical office assistant is to supervise the workflow of a healthcare facility. It also involves a lot of managerial skills. Unlike most other jobs in the medical sector, an administrative assistant does not require years of qualification and degree. 

When the question of  how much does a medical administrative assistant make an hour? a diploma certificate and an approximate experience of 2 years is not a big deal. For more information on how much does a medical administrative assistant make an hour? You may visit our website https://onlineschoolsnearme.com