Importance of medical office assistant program

Being professional in any business is important; especially as a medical office assistant it has more importance. They are the first and last people that come into contact on entering a health care facility. The medical profession is a highly respectable position and has high standards in health care and this include medical office assistants’ professionals. In this profession, it means showing compassion, integrity and respect towards clients. Following the medical office assistant program is a must to know the role and the requirements to be fulfilled before starting a medical office assistant business.

Role of a Medical Assistant program

The program of a medical office assistant is same as any other administrative assistants found in traditional business offices. The role of a medical assistant includes manning the front desk, taking phone calls, answering emails, preparing and responding to various communications. They also manage office supplies and files. They also require specialized knowledge and practice. They need to understand the intricacies of the health system and are responsible for patient processing Medicare claims as well. Precisely, medical assistants are essential to run a profitable and efficient medical practice.  These program procedures include:

     Patient processing and accessing
    General office procedures in medical offices
     Bill collections
     Processing medical insurance claims

Medical office assistant program uses industry-relevant knowledge and technology and a variety of organizational skills to efficiently manage the healthcare service providers front office. They are often employed by medical facilities, nursing homes, hospitals and physicians’ practices.

Professionals in this field perform various tasks supporting the medical team, functions and take care of patients. They update medical histories, arrange patient hospitalization, transcribe treatment notes, and oversee medical supplies and office inventory and process insurance forms.  Professionals in this role are responsible for greeting patients, answering telephones, managing email inquiries and answering questions and scheduling appointments.

Responsibility and Functions

A  Medical Office Assistant is an important office team member. They help managing the office environment by performing several duties. This comprises of everything from booking and confirming appointments, handling office correspondence, tracking patient information, book-keeping, processing insurance forms, managing records in the computer and much more. They also prepare the medical history of the patients, but do not treat or diagnose patients.

Attributes and Talents

Personal attributes and talents expected of the potential employers include:

•     Proficiency with medical software
•     Patience and a pleasant demeanor
•     A firm understanding of medical language
•     A desire to be part of a medical team
•     Proficiency with computer technology
•     Solid organizational and problem-solving skills
•     Respect for all aspects of patient confidentiality

A diploma certificate and practical skill ensure success in this career. Now, medical office assistant programs are in high demand and there are rewarding careers in different healthcare settings such as Hospital admitting departments, outpatient departments, walk-in care centers, physicians offices, clinics, and many more.

A Detailed Overview of Medical certificate programs

The practice of medicine is complex enough.The health care practitioners or doctors may have difficulty in paying full attention. However, people with own offices must also manage clerical and low-level medical tasks to ensure success in practices. Today, medical certificate programs prepare students to update their specialized professional skills. This certificate program teaches a medical assistant to handle various roles to keep the office running smoothly.

Time Requirements
Most medical certificate programs require between three and nine months. The time length it takes to earn your certificate is based on the program you are pursuing and the place you do your program, online school or a campus school.

Generally, programs that take a few weeks to complete allow a person to take into a different position in the current career. For instance, a person working as a medical assistant can enroll in a medical coding and billing certificate program and this may be for few weeks to months.The programs taking few months to a year prepare students for a new career such as HVAC, massage therapy or legal assistance.

Admission Requirements
 Most medical certificate programs require students to have knowledge on the subject before enrolling. This is because these are trade schools preparing students to switch or start careers. There are certificate programs also to advance in the current career. This includes a bachelors and masters degree.

Types of Certificate Programs

People are always in need of health care, and certificate programs allow people even without any background in the health industry to become a health care professional in one year or so. Many programs are adaptive and you can also take classes at night and on weekends.

Medical Office Certificates
This certificate prepares you to learn basic medical office skills, taking care of patients, knowledge in bookkeeping, word processing and medical office practices. However, a medical administrative certificate teaches communication, billing and accounting protocol, updating patient’s records and scheduling appointments. Similar certificates include medical and health administrative services, healthcare management/administration and medical office management.

Health Care Assistant Certificates

In a clinical or medical assistant certificate program, you assist the doctor in the doctor’s office. This includes learning patients vital signs, how to take medication, drawing blood and sterilizing equipments.

Nursing Certificates

The nursing certificates are in several levels. This is a course certificate that is mostly preferred. If you wish you can do a post graduate work and earn the nursing science certificate and this makes you a professional nurse and you can pursue it as your career.

Other Health Care Certificates

There are other certificates such as radiation therapy certificate that deals with assisting in administering radiation in low doses to cancer patients by an oncologist and emergency medical technician certificate that includes performing non-invasive treatments.

Synopsis of Medical Assistant Training

Medical assistants work with doctors, health care team and nurses. They work side by side in treating patients, from newborns to senior citizens. In fact, they exhibit a blend of skills and this includes technical, administrative, communication and interpersonal abilities. Medical assistant training includes hands-on experience so that they are professionally and academically qualified.

Learning medical assisting is a must to gain real world experience. Adding to this, you can also earn a certificate in medical assisting training. During the training the program includes clinical coding and billing, medical laboratory procedures and surgical procedures process. This training teaches you to perform routine office tasks and also to assist physicians in the treatment and examination of patients such as:

• Take Medical Histories
• Explain Treatment Procedures to Patients
• Record Vital Signs
• Prepare Patients for Examination

Medical Assistant Requirements and Training

A high school diploma is the minimum required and it also includes advanced skills and knowledge such as familiarity with computer software applications and understanding medical terminology.  With the healthcare industry complexities, the medical assistant duties require a certain level of proficiency. Hence, employers also prefer candidates who have completed such Medical assistant training.

Apart from enrolling in such medical assistant education, the candidates can pursue industry certification programs to demonstrate their expertise to healthcare employers. Such programs are helpful as they prepare students for certification, besides awarding academic credentials.The medical assistant requirements include proficiency in verbal and written communication, solid interpersonal skills and good grammar and spelling. Strong organizational skills and the ability to work independently are essential attributes for aspiring medical assistants.

The training provides programs industry-relevant to meet today's healthcare employers needs and features courses such as  Introduction to medical assisting, Medical Terminology, Healthcare Coding, Office Accounting, Interpersonal Professional Communications, Medical law & Ethics, Medical office procedures including software applications and also essentials of Physiology & Anatomy for Medical office.

Job Outlook
The health care industry is continuously expanding and owing to this the technological advances in medicine is apparent. With this there is a need for health care workers. With medical assistant training, you can get to work as clinical medical assistant that demands you to assist in basic assessments and treatment and also in patient relations. This includes right from checking patients, recording signs, getting the patient ready for procedures to be performed, assisting nurse or doctor with their treatments, offering comfort to the patients and escorting them out of the clinic.

Administrative medical assistant is also another role that you can choose as your career. This deals with assisting office staff with billing, record keeping, appointment scheduling and maintaining changing policies and procedures. Excellent communication and organizational skills, with time management is a must to ensure office runs smoothly and patients are satisfied.

Get Your Medical Office Assistant Certification here

The medical office assistant career is becoming among the most upcoming competitive careers. This is because the career almost guarantees you a job as long as you are qualified through certification and licensing. If at all you are looking for how you can become a competitive MOA, pursuing a certificate program in Medical Office Assistant course is the best way to begin. Academy of Learning College Bay/Boor Campus happens to be one of the most competitive colleges offering this course. You therefore need to look no further but to start preparation to join this institution.

If you didn’t know, the Canadian healthcare industry has been constantly expanding hence the constant increase in the need of healthcare. Among the most sought for professionals in this field are the Medical Office Assistants (MOAs). These are the professionals who are attributed to the smooth, crucial and very efficient medical offices operations. It is an occupation that has got many variable responsibilities starting from bookkeeping, update and maintenance of medical files and scheduling for laboratory tests. The Medical Office Assistants program has a lot and becoming a MOA can be someone’s perfect career.

Within duration of only forty weeks, it is possible for you to model or remodel your career and end up in the most appropriate path for yourself. The Medical Office Assistants program is offered at the Academy of Learning College Bay/Boor Campus to prepare those interested in this career.

Duties & Responsibilities
Just like any other facet of the medical industry, the Medical Office Assistants program brings in a very important profession in any medical team. The MOAs will be among the most essential office environment managers since there are a number of duties that are delegated to them. In addition to the bookkeeping services, booking lab appointments and other service provision, they will also be able to handle office correspondence, processing of insurance forms, track patients information, confirmation of appointments, and management of computer records among other related responsibilities. All these cannot be effectively done by the doctor or the nurse hence MOAs program is regarded as a very pivotal responsibility in any given health facility.

Career opportunities
Within just forty weeks of Medical Office Assistants program training at Academy of Learning College Bay/Boor Campus, you will b e able to acquire skills that will guarantee you a job in many different organizations. The theory and a one month long practicum done under the supervision of a trained personnel and also carried out in a certified training facility enhances you quick eligibility for the Certified Medical Assisting Professional (CMAP). This opens your doors for careers in;

•    Ambulatory and Outpatient departments
•    Diagnostic Lab and X-Ray departments
•    Medical finance & administrative departments
•    Hospital Admitting and ER departments, like the  switchboard, information services and cashier
•    Physicians' offices, mental healthcare, clinics and allied healthcare centers
•    Walk in care centers
•    Research facilities
•    Alternative medicine such as acupuncture and chiropractic practices

Medical Certificate Programs have Bright Future

Medical advancements today have progressed to very great extent; at the same time so has the incidences of new and strong virus and bacteria caused diseases. On one end of the globe, the life expectancy of the people have reached an average of seventy plus whereas at some other end hordes of people are being killed due to unheard of infections.

This has led to a rapid emergence of the class of medical office assistants who are a go-between the patients and the doctors. They are the ones who keep the offices of physicians, nursing homes etc. ticking smoothly. They maintain precise and updated medical forms of all patients, help out filling insurance forms for the patient, fix the appointment schedules and generally make them comfortable when they visit their medical practitioner. In fact, a medical office assistant provides the human touch to a physician’s setting. One can pursue the career of medical office assistant by undergoing medical certificate programs.

Increase in demand for medical office assistant is increasing day by day largely due to:
•    Rise in number of healthcare institutions
•    Rise in patient population
•    Rise in employee turnover
•    Rise in medical awareness of the population

A series of factors occurring at the same time have all contributed towards the increased demand.

There is no curb on the increasing population figures in today’s times. In the less developing countries, insufficient resources as compared to the population have contributed towards many problems which spur the outbreak of known and unknown diseases. This has led to an increase in the patient population. On the other hand, in the developed countries, many breakthroughs in the field of medicine are taking place. New healthcare institutions providing state-of-the-art facilities have sprung up. Educated citizens are becoming more aware of the need for following preventive healthcare which is provided by the physicians.

The increasing number of clinics, medical institutions require support workers in the form of medical office assistants to ensure their smooth running. Moreover, if any of government legislations increase the purview of health insurance policies then more patients will get access to healthcare facilities.

More demand will be created for the medical assistants as more physicians go electronic. The medical assistants will have to become computer literate so as to be able to handle the changed working environment at their place of work. Medical assistants who obtain certification will be more preferred.

The U.S. Bureau of Labour Statistics have stated that the occupation of a medical office assistant is expected to see a fast growth over the ensuing years; about 34% growth is estimated by them to occur through 2018. The increase in the field of healthcare services and a large aging population will ensure that the demand for the same will never wane. Among the vocational careers, this field is expected to have maximum job openings in the years to come. Moreover, with prospects of attaining specialization in this field like becoming an optometric assistant or outpatient surgery assistant, there is plenty of scope for future advancement in career too.

Which is the best Medical Office Assistant Training Institute?

If you are looking forward to get into the medical field and make a career into it, you need to shortlist the program which you wish to undertake. If you have a friendly nature and good communication skills, you can consider taking up a medical office assistant certification course. As a medical office assistant, you role would be to greet the patients, schedule meetings, maintain documents, manage projects, provide information to the patients and medical staff by providing them the reports etc.

There are several online institutions that provide you a certification course for medical assistant training. However, it is necessary to select the best one. Getting certified from the best college insures that you get thebest training and will be able to deliver the best in your actual working environment.
Among the several online institutes that offer this certification program, the one that you can take into consideration is the Anderson College of Health, business and Technology. This college has a good raking for offering accredited certification courses to the individuals. You can get enrolled in this school by just filling up an application form. The school invites for local as well as international students to take up several courses.

Why Anderson?
Most of the students prefer enrolling in this college because of some reasons which are listed as follows.
•    The college offers a highly qualified staff that offers high quality education to the students.
•    The class sizes are small and hence the interaction is more.
•    Wide range of funding options for the students so that they can easily complete their studies
•    Interactive practical sessions to allow the students to learn more.

Financial aid offered to the students
If you are not able to go on with your studies because of financial problem, there is no need to worry as the Anderson College helps students in getting financial aid for their studies in an easy manner. the college can either provide free funding else it can suggest you the best solutions like student loans offered by the government, bank solutions, career funding, RESP, HRSDC etc.

Online application
In order to apply online, the students are first required to get registered with the school. One can either contact the school authority to get more info about the registration process for medical assistant Trainingor can call the authorities for more information. However, the process is easy and one can apply for any course online.

The college accepts several mode of payments of which credit card is the standard option that you can use to submit your fee when applying online.

The other important aspect about this college is that it also offers job placement to the students. This prevents the hassle that students generally face for getting a job.

So, go online and explore theofficial website of the college to know more about the courses offered, application procedure, payment terms etc. This will help you in getting a certification from the top notch reputed college which will help you in making a successful career ahead as a medical office assistant.

Importance of Medical Office Assistant certification for career development

Medical Office Assistants are very important in any given medical set up. How many of you even know about these professionals? And for those who know them, how many of you give them the credit for a well operational health facility? Many do not do this at all. This is because the role they play is neither known nor appreciated by those not in the medical field. Only those who directly interact with them on a day to day basis know their pivotal importance. 

One of the key roles that the Medical Office Assistants do play is the administrative role. There is a lot of paper work that needs to be done in a hospital or any health set up. Some of these include registration of new patients and compiling them. Sourcing for the medical records of patients is yet another role that the Medical Office Assistants will help in together with preparation of medical bills. It is the Medical Office Assistant that will receive phone calls at the reception as well as giving direction to patients. In case there are any refunds to be done, or an insurance issue to be followed up, this is the role of a medical office assistant. A Medical Office Assistant is the one responsible for replying general hospital emails, faxes and other forms of mails. Let all the other technical members of staff concentrate on medical service delivery as the Medical Office Assistants do the administrative work. 

The doctor, nurse, laboratory assistant, pharmacists… need someone to link them. The doctor will waste a lot of valuable time if he is the one to prepare the medical records of a patient. The nurse needs to concentrate on nursing patients rather than spending some minutes to forward the documents for medical examination from the doctor to the lab and the vice versa. In likewise manner, the laboratory technician will lose concentration if he is made to do this work. For everybody to concentrate in their work, medical office assistants play the link’s role. 

Physicians, medical facilities, nursing homes and hospitals among other like manner institutions are the ones that employ these professionals. They come in to help in the transcription of treatment notes, updating of the medical histories, overseeing office inventories together with medical supplies, arrange for the hospitalization and transfer of patients among others. When there is need for some appointments to be scheduled, this is the responsibility of the Medical Office Assistants because they understand the program of the physician. 

During their training, some of the things Medical Office Assistants are taught include, office accounting, medical transcription, healthcare coding, application software of medical office procedures, medical law & ethics, medical terminology, interpersonal & communication skills, basic anatomy and physiology… Medical Office Assistants can therefore fit in almost all the roles in a health facility.