Medical Assistants

Medical assistants work in physicians’ offices and clinics. Their training varies from on-the-job training to two-year degrees in medical assisting. In small offices, medical assistants are usually generalists handling both front office (administrative) and back office (clinical) duties. In larger practices, medical assistants may specialize for the front office or the back office.

Administrative medical assistants perform many front office duties including answering telephones, greeting patients, updating and filing patients’ medical records, filling out insurance forms, handling correspondence, scheduling appointments, arranging for hospital admissions and laboratory services, and handling billing and bookkeeping.

In the medical office setting medical coders may be called medical assistants, billers, insurance clerks, or biller/coders. Medical insurance billing requires knowledge of diagnoses, procedures, CPT codes, HCPCS codes, ICD-9-CM codes, insurance companies, and reimbursement methodologies.

Back office medical assistants’ clinical duties vary according to state law and include taking medical histories and recording vital signs, explaining treatment procedures to patients, preparing patients for examination, and assisting the physician during the examination. Clinical medical assistants collect and prepare laboratory specimens or perform basic laboratory tests on the premises, dispose of contaminated supplies, and sterilize medical instruments. They instruct patients about medications and special diets, prepare and administer medications as directed by a physician, authorize drug refills as directed, telephone prescriptions to a pharmacy, draw blood, prepare patients for x rays, take electrocardiograms, remove sutures, and change dressings.

Job outlook for medical assistants is excellent! In the 2006-07 projections, medical assistants hold the #3 spot in the fastest growing occupations in the US. The employment for medical assistants is expected to grow by 52.1%.

In the new 2008-09 Occupational Outlook Handbook medical assistants are are #8 fastest growing occupation. The expected job growth is 35.4%.

Administrative Medical Assisting Books
	Administrative Medical Assisting by Marilyn Takahashi Fordney, Linda French, Joan Johnson Follis Thompson Delmar Learning 5th edition, July 2003
	Delmar's Skills And Procedures for Medical Assistants 1: Administrative Skills Delmar Thompson Learning September 2004 DVD edition
	Kinn's the Administrative Medical Assistant: An Applied Learning Approach by Alexandra Patricia Young W.B. Saunders Company 6h edition, Feb 2007 the 5th edition is still available (2003)
	Medical Office Practice by Phillip Atkinson, Diane Miller Thompson Delmar Learning 7th edition, July 2003 simulation of working in a medical office
	Pearson's Medical Assisting, Volume 1, Administrative by Nina Beaman, Lorraine Fleming-MCPhillips Prentice Hall 1st edition, February 2006 brand new book, includes CD
	Pearson's Medical Assisting Videos: General Administrative Medical Assisting Prentice Hall April 2005 book and DVD edition
	Plunkett's Procedures for the Medical Administrative Assistant by Lorna Plunkett, Elsbeth Mccall Mosby Canada 4th edition, March 2006
	Thomson Delmar Learning's Administrative Medical Assisting by Wilburta Q. Lindh, Marilyn S. Pooler, Carol D. Tamparo, Barbara M. Dahl Thompson Delmar Learning 3rd edition, December 2005
Medical Assisting Exam Review Books
	MA exam review guides review guides for all Medical Assisting certifications exams (CMA, RMA, CCMA etc.) many publishers including Delmar, F.A. Davis, Lippincott Williams, and Saunders

Note: Due to lack of time, this page was archived in 2008. It is not updated anymore.