How Can I Become a Certified Medical Administrative Assistant?
Are you impeccably organized? Do you want to ensure that a doctor's office or hospital is running smoothly? Read on to see if a career as a medical administrative assistant is right for you. Schools offering Administrative Assistant degrees can also be found in these popular choices.
What Would I Do as a Certified Medical Administrative Assistant?
As a medical administrative assistant, you would work to ensure that a doctor's office or hospital department runs smoothly by updating medical records, filing the appropriate insurance forms, and arranging patient admissions and laboratory analysis. You would also perform general administrative tasks such as answering phones, sorting mail, scheduling appointments, and organizing the billing and payments. You would deal with patients quite often, so you need to have a courteous and genial manner. Because the healthcare industry increasingly uses electronic files, you need to have some computer skills, and you may need to know some medical coding for insurance purposes.
What Education Do I Need?
Some medical assistants begin work after earning their high school diploma, but there are associate's degree programs that train you as a medical administrative assistant. An Associate in Applied Science in Medical Administrative Assistant degree program may offer courses in bookkeeping, medical coding, scheduling and computer systems, as well as train you in effective communication skills and medical office procedures. There are also many medical assistant programs available, but they include classes on medical tasks that you wouldn't perform as an administrative assistant.
How Do I Become Certified?
The National Healthcare Association (NHA) offers the Certified Medical Administrative Assistant (CMAA) credential (www.nhanow.com). To be eligible to take the certification exam, you must have a high school diploma or equivalent, and have completed a training program or have one year of medical administrative assistant experience. Some medical administrative assistant programs are affiliated with the NHA, and these programs may offer the exam at the end of your program, but you don't need to attend an affiliated program to become certified. The American Association of Medical Assistants offers the Certified Medical Assistant designation; this credential covers not only administrative duties but also clinical ones (www.aama-ntl.org).
To continue researching, browse degree options below for course curriculum, prerequisites and financial aid information. Or, learn more about the subject by reading the related articles below:
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