Average Medical Assistant Pay vs. Other Best Jobs

According to a US News and World Salary Report

Medical Assistant Career – Advice and Reviews

This article is shared from a recent US News and World Report on Best Jobs

What is a Medical Assistant?

MEDIAN SALARY

$34,800

UNEMPLOYMENT RATE

1.9%

NUMBER OF JOBS

139,200

A medical assistant’s job is a mix of traditional office work, including manning the front desk, answering phones and filing insurance forms, as well as tasks, such as drawing blood and preparing it for lab tests, administering injections and making sure medical histories are accurately recorded. More specialized roles include assisting ophthalmologists or optometrists with basic vision tests and helping patients learn to insert, remove and care for contact lenses.

A routine visit to the doctor is really a visit with an entire team, including a growing number of medical assistants. Medical assistants are likely the first and last faces you’ll see during any medical appointment, either in your doctor’s office or at a larger medical organization.

The aging baby boomer population will help drive demand for more medical assistants, who will be needed to support doctors and nurses as they diagnose and treat patients. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects 19.2 percent employment growth for medical assistants between 2019 and 2029. In that period, an estimated 139,200 jobs should open up.

Job Satisfaction

Average Americans work well into their 60s, so workers might as well have a job that’s enjoyable and a career that’s fulfilling. A job with a low stress level, good work-life balance and solid prospects to improve, get promoted and earn a higher salary would make many employees happy. Here’s how Medical Assistants job satisfaction is rated in terms of upward mobility, stress level and flexibility.

Medical Assistant Career – Advice and Reviews

This article is shared from a recent US News and World Report on Best Jobs

What is a Medical Assistant?

MEDIAN SALARY

$34,800

UNEMPLOYMENT RATE

1.9%

NUMBER OF JOBS

139,200

A medical assistant’s job is a mix of traditional office work, including manning the front desk, answering phones and filing insurance forms, as well as tasks, such as drawing blood and preparing it for lab tests, administering injections and making sure medical histories are accurately recorded. More specialized roles include assisting ophthalmologists or optometrists with basic vision tests and helping patients learn to insert, remove and care for contact lenses.

A routine visit to the doctor is really a visit with an entire team, including a growing number of medical assistants. Medical assistants are likely the first and last faces you’ll see during any medical appointment, either in your doctor’s office or at a larger medical organization.

The aging baby boomer population will help drive demand for more medical assistants, who will be needed to support doctors and nurses as they diagnose and treat patients. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects 19.2 percent employment growth for medical assistants between 2019 and 2029. In that period, an estimated 139,200 jobs should open up.

Job Satisfaction

Average Americans work well into their 60s, so workers might as well have a job that’s enjoyable and a career that’s fulfilling. A job with a low stress level, good work-life balance and solid prospects to improve, get promoted and earn a higher salary would make many employees happy. Here’s how Medical Assistants job satisfaction is rated in terms of upward mobility, stress level and flexibility.

Average Medical Assistant Pay vs. Other Best Jobs

According to a US News and World Salary Report

Salary Range for Medical Assisting

According to the NHA, Medical Assistants earn a median salary of $32,480 .

Source: Bureau of Labor and Statistics

Professionalism, verbal communication, and critical thinking are the most important soft skills desired by employers of Medical Assistants

New Career In Medical Assisting

Enroll today

Free up to 3 hours of doctors’ time daily with smart use of MAs

What would you do with three more hours each day? Trained medical assistants (MAs) integrated into your medical practice can free up to three hours of physicians’ time daily—if they take on the right tasks.

Medical assistants are under-utilized in most medical practices, according to Marie Brown, MD, director of practice redesign at the AMA. Dr. Brown is a professor emeritus at Rush University and a practicing physician in internal medicine. She presented tips on recruitment and retention of medical assistants during a recent session that is part of the AMA STEPS Forward™ webinar series that focuses on physician well-being, practice redesign, and implementing telehealth during COVID-19.

The series also provides various toolkits that off real-world solutions, success stories and downloadable resources that address common practice challenges.

Dr. Brown said many of the daily practice tasks that physicians perform do not require a physician’s level of expertise, such as record keeping, medication review, pending routine orders and identifying care gaps. These can be performed by another member of the medical team, such as a medical assistant.

Properly assigned medical assistants can free up to three hours a day from a physician’s schedule by taking some of the administrative and clinical tasks and allow a physician to focus more time on direct interaction with patients, she said.

However, making best use of medical assistants can pose some challenges. Staffing can be difficult, she noted. “There’s just not enough of them. The ideal staffing ratio may be two MAs to every one physician or clinician. But what I hear from around the country is there are not enough assistants to hire.”

Dr. Brown said in order to recruit and retain MAs, practice managers need to understand the various ways employees can become MAs, determine the best role for MAs in a certain practice, make a good business case for MAs in a practice, and then develop a plan to onboard and retain trained MAs.

While MAs generally do not need to be licensed or certified by law, their scope of work and state regulatory requirements vary from state to state and practice to practice. Types of certification include the certified medical assistant (CMA), registered medical assistant (RMA), and certified clinical medical assistant (CCMA).

Medical assistants can qualify in several ways to sit for a certifying exam.

• Apprenticeship, usually lasting five years (High school graduate with on-the-job training, with the physician attesting to their role).
• Formal MA training programs that take nine months to two years.
• Military training.
• Experience as an MA instructor.

MAs can be involved in pre-appointment agenda setting, documenting the chief complaint and history of present illness, reviewing medications and helping physicians in the exam room. Many MAs around the country—following protocols—help identify care gaps such as a need for a screening mammogram, routine blood tests such as hemoglobin A1c, and pend these orders.

It is important to match individual MA skills to tasks, because training and background varies so widely. Case studies indicate that practices using MAs saw time to provide care go down and patient and physician satisfaction go up—along with revenue, Dr. Brown said.

When you have recruited, trained and integrated an MA into your practice, it is important to develop a plan for continuous professional development and a career progression ladder with different titles, levels and skill sets, she added.

Return on investment increases as MAs progress along a defined career development and job title path, she said. Titles can be simple stages such as MA I, II and III or more descriptive, such as team care coordinator and lead MA.

Pursue your next career as a MA by enrolling today at Sumner College’s Medical Assisting program. Classes start soon.

Medical Assistant Salary & Employment

Medical assisting is one of the national careers growing much faster than average for all occupations, according to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, attributing job growth to the following:

• Advances in technology
• Growing number of elderly Americans (i.e. “baby boomers”) who will require medical treatment
• Predicted surge in the number of outpatient care clinics and doctors’ offices

Because medical assistants can work in a variety of health centers, salary is likely to differ from industry to industry. According the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual wage for medical assistants in 2018 was $33,610. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $24,790, while the highest 10 percent earned more than $47,250.

From 2016 to 2026, medical assisting employment is projected to grow 29 percent, which is much higher than the national average. As the baby boomer population ages, there will be an increased demand for preventive medical care. As a result, doctors will expand their practices to hire more medical assistants to handle administrative and clinical duties, which will allow care centers to see more patients.

Shared from Registered Nursing . org

Learn more: 

• Medical Assistant Jobs
  • What is a Medical Assistant
  • Medical Assistant Jobs
  • Medical Assisting School Is Worth It!
  • Nursing Assistant Occupational Overview
  • TOP MEDICAL ASSISTANT SKILLS

What Are the Roles & Duties of a Medical Assistant?

Medical Assisting is a vital position in the healthcare industry. They assist the provider with a number of task and to name a few, here are the specific clinical duties that they may perform:

• Taking patient medical histories
• Explaining treatment procedures to patients
• Preparing patients for examination
• Assisting the physician during exams
• Collecting and preparing laboratory specimens
• Performing basic laboratory tests
• Instructing patients about medication and special diets
• Preparing and administering medications as directed by a physician
• Transmitting prescription refills as directed
• Drawing blood
• Taking electrocardiograms
• Removing sutures and changing dressings

Additionally, Medical Assistants perform a number of administrative duties within the healthcare industry. Here is a list of administrative duties they may perform:

• Using computer applications
• Answering telephones
• Greeting patients
• Updating and filing patient medical records
• Coding and filling out insurance forms
• Scheduling appointments
• Arranging for hospital admissions and laboratory services
• Handling correspondence, billing, and bookkeeping

If you are interested in learning more about about a rewarding career as a medical assistant, visit our Medical Assisting Program page on the website.

Learn more: 

• What is a Medical Assistant
  • What is a Medical Assistant
  • Medical Assistant Jobs
  • Medical Assisting School Is Worth It!
  • Nursing Assistant Occupational Overview
  • TOP MEDICAL ASSISTANT SKILLS

Where Do Medical Assistants Work?

Medical Assistants work in a variety of healthcare settings including but not limited to the following:

• Hospitals
• Outpatient care centers
• Colleges and universities
• Medical research centers
• Diagnostic laboratories
• Insurance carriers
• Nursing care facilities

You can complete the Sumner College Medical Assisting program in 7.5 months and be on your way to a new career in healthcare in early 2021. Enroll today by completing an application.

Learn more:

• Medical Assistant Jobs
  • What is a Medical Assistant
  • Medical Assistant Jobs
  • Medical Assisting School Is Worth It!
  • Nursing Assistant Occupational Overview
  • TOP MEDICAL ASSISTANT SKILLS

Medical Assistant Transition to a Nursing Career

Medical assistants are fortunate in that they learn a number of different clinical skills. Their role is to assist providers with requested and necessary tasks, and they are trained to perform basic clinical tasks such as:

• Taking vital signs
• Performing ear lavage
• Simple wound care
• Suture or staple removal
• Performing EKGs
• Collecting medical histories
• Administering medications/ giving injections

Because medical assistants have a background in supporting medical providers in clinic, they may find transitioning to nursing goes smoother compared to those with little to no background in healthcare.

Your first step in becoming a career nurse is to enroll in nursing school. Sumner College can get you starter with their Medical Assisting program which can be completed in a 7.5 months giving you an advantage. Some nursing programs receive more student applicants than their nursing programs can allow in. Some schools grant admission based on prior healthcare experience, so the MA’s background may give you a leg-up when it comes to applying for a nursing program.

Check out Sumner College’s Medical Assistant Program HERE.

Learn more:

• What is a Medical Assistant
  • What is a Medical Assistant
  • Medical Assistant Jobs
  • Medical Assisting School Is Worth It!
  • Nursing Assistant Occupational Overview
  • TOP MEDICAL ASSISTANT SKILLS

Medical Assistant Salary & Employment

Medical assisting is one of the national careers growing much faster than average for all occupations, according to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, attributing job growth to the following:

• Advances in technology
• Growing number of elderly Americans (i.e. “baby boomers”) who will require medical treatment
• Predicted surge in the number of outpatient care clinics and doctors’ offices

Because medical assistants can work in a variety of health centers, salary is likely to differ from industry to industry. According the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual wage for medical assistants in 2018 was $33,610. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $24,790, while the highest 10 percent earned more than $47,250.

From 2016 to 2026, medical assisting employment is projected to grow 29 percent, which is much higher than the national average. As the baby boomer population ages, there will be an increased demand for preventive medical care. As a result, doctors will expand their practices to hire more medical assistants to handle administrative and clinical duties, which will allow care centers to see more patients.

Shared from Registered Nursing . org