What Administrative Tasks Do Medical Assistants Perform?

You probably understand that Medical Assistants work directly with patients, taking vital signs, helping with procedures, and administering vaccines. But there’s a whole other side to the job in addition to clinical responsibilities. Medical Assistants may also perform a range of administrative tasks like booking appointments, managing inventory, and keeping exam and waiting rooms clean and prepped for new patients. Depending on where you work as a Medical Assistant, you might take on clinical or administrative duties—or both. Consider the administrative responsibilities you might have as a Medical Assistant.

Medical Assistants Manage Appointments

As a Medical Assistant, you keep track of upcoming patient visits. Each day, you schedule appointments with the doctors, nurses, and staff in your practice. You send reminders via email, text, or through the patient portal. And you cancel and reschedule appointments if the patient or doctor can’t make them. At the beginning of the day, you check the appointments to see which patients are expected, and you relay that information to the medical team during your morning huddle.

MAs Greet and Check in Patients

When a patient enters a doctor’s office or a hospital, you are often the first person they see at the front desk. As a Medical Assistant, you represent the whole facility and all the people who work there. You greet the patient, conduct intake, and make sure their information is up to date. You answer questions and make note of important information patients might share. This is where good soft skills come into play, like communication, empathy and customer service. Once it’s time, you walk the patient to the exam room and prepare them to see the doctor.

Medical Assistants Communicate with Patients

Patients may call, email, or message your office with questions and concerns about visits, medication, billing, and follow-ups. Your job is to answer the calls, check the messages, respond to the emails, and stay on top of what’s happening in the patient portals. You help communicate important information between patients and care providers, from simple rescheduling to warnings of medication interactions.

Medical Assistants Update Patient Electronic Health Records

After each visit, you need to update the patient’s medical records. You log into the Electronic Health Record (EHR) software and add any information from the visit, including symptoms, diagnoses, procedures, doctor’s notes, and medications prescribed. While this task will become routine to you, it’s critical that the EHRs are accurate. Each entry should be digitally signed and timestamped by you as another layer of patient protection.

Medical Assistants File Insurance Claims

Another important administrative task you have as a Medical Assistant is billing and coding. This is where you translate information about conditions, diagnoses, and treatments into medical codes that are universally understood by healthcare providers and insurance companies. You add the medical codes to the insurance forms to tell the company what procedures and services were performed and to apply for reimbursement. Your job is to ensure these files are error-free and submitted in a timely manner. When a problem comes up, you may need to contact the insurance company. If a patient doesn’t carry insurance, you bill them and track the payments as they’re made.

MAs Keep Track of Inventory

One of your responsibilities is to keep track of the medical and office inventory and to order more supplies when something runs low. You always need stock of basic medical items such as gloves, tissues, bandages, antiseptic wipes, and cotton balls. When medical equipment or tools run out, you make sure they’re replaced. And you keep track of office supplies, like printing paper and toner, and order them when necessary.

MAs Help Maintain Waiting Rooms

Your practice may have a cleaning service for its waiting room, but it still needs to be regularly decluttered and sanitized. Before the office opens for the day, you clean and sterilize the tables and chairs. You organize the reading materials and have some educational brochures on hand and you take note of anything that could be improved.

Which role of a Medical Assistant suits you? Clinical or administrative? At Charter College, we cover both. We offer a Certificate in Medical Assistant and an Associate of Applied Science in Medical Assistant that can prepare you for an entry-level job in the field. Call 888-200-9942 or fill out the form for more information.