Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants

What Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants do

You are the person who keeps a doctor's office running: booking patients, handling insurance forms, and knowing where every record lives.

Medical secretaries and administrative assistants do office work in places like clinics, hospitals, and labs. You answer phones, greet patients at the desk, schedule appointments and surgeries, fill out insurance claim forms, and keep records organized. Some of the job is money work too, like sending bills and tracking payments.

What makes it different from other office jobs is the language. You learn medical terminology, the words doctors and nurses use for body parts, tests, and treatments, so you can read a patient's chart, the file that holds their medical history and test results, and route a lab result to the right person. People come to you stressed, confused, or in pain, so patience and clear speaking matter as much as typing speed.

A day in the life

You start by checking voicemail and email, then unlock the front desk. Phones ring most of the morning. You book a patient for a scan, confirm two surgeries, and explain to someone why their insurance form needs a second signature. Patients walk up and you greet them, find out why they came, and point them to the right staff member. Between people, you type letters, update records, and fax paperwork to another office. In the afternoon you prepare bills and follow up on unpaid ones. You are part of a team with nurses, doctors, and other office staff all day, though some stretches of typing and filing are quiet, solo work. You sit a lot, indoors, in air conditioning.

How people get in

1. 1Finish high school or an equivalent, which is the typical entry-level education for this work. Take classes in writing, computers, and biology if you can.
2. 2Get comfortable with everyday office software for documents, spreadsheets, and email, plus phone and customer service basics.
3. 3Consider a short college or certificate program if you want more training before you start. Common ones include medical office assistant, medical secretary, medical reception, and medical insurance specialist.
4. 4Apply for front desk or clerk openings in clinics, hospitals, labs, and dental offices. Titles you may see include medical receptionist, medical secretary, and unit clerk, which is the office worker who handles records and phones for one hospital ward.
5. 5Plan on a few months to about a year of learning on the job. Most employers teach you their records system, their billing steps, and the medical terms you need while you work.
6. 6Once you know the office, you can look toward related roles such as medical records specialist or patient representative.

Who tends to enjoy it

Official task list

Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants perform secretarial duties using specific knowledge of medical terminology and hospital, clinic, or laboratory procedures. Duties may include scheduling appointments, billing patients, and compiling and recording medical charts, reports, and correspondence. (O*NET)

• Answer telephones and direct calls to appropriate staff.
• Schedule and confirm patient diagnostic appointments, surgeries, or medical consultations.
• Complete insurance or other claim forms.
• Greet visitors, ascertain purpose of visit, and direct them to appropriate staff.
• Transmit correspondence or medical records by mail, e-mail, or fax.
• Maintain medical records, technical library, or correspondence files.
• Receive and route messages or documents, such as laboratory results, to appropriate staff.
• Interview patients to complete documents, case histories, or forms, such as intake or insurance forms.

A typical day involves

How much Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants make

The median pay for Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants in the U.S. is $45,930 a year ($22.08 an hour). Most earn between $35,930 and $60,530. (Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025)

Pay depends a lot on where you live: the median is highest in Washington ($58,100) and lowest in Puerto Rico ($29,620).

Where to study for this

College programs that commonly lead to this career, and how many US colleges offer each.

• Medical Insurance Specialist 213 colleges
• Medical Administrative / Executive Assistant and Medical Secretary 338 colleges
• Medical Office Assistant / Specialist 256 colleges
• Medical / Health Management and Clinical Assistant / Specialist 31 colleges
• Medical Reception / Receptionist 53 colleges
• Veterinary Administrative / Executive Assistant and Veterinary Secretary 1 colleges
• Veterinary Administrative Services 1 colleges

Related careers