About the CareerMEDICAL OFFICE ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT CERTIFICATE
About the CareerWith the climb in specialized fields ranging from cardiology to alternative medicine, the increasing role of insurance companies, and the rise in managed care facilities, it’s no wonder there are more opportunities for qualified medical administrative assistants today. The Bureau of Labor and Statistics has projected that the healthcare industry will continue to grow at an ever-increasing rate. In fact, as the industry grows, it will continue to rely more and more on medical office administrative assistants with training and experience in dealing with medical information of a highly confidential nature. The character and personality of a medical office administrative assistant requires everything from kindness, sympathy, accuracy and dependability to punctuality, thoroughness, tact, patience and understanding. As a medical administrative assistant, you will be responsible for the medical office day-to-day operations, including making appointments and greeting patients, as well as basic bookkeeping and records maintenance. By becoming professionally trained as a medical office administrative assistance, you are saying to a potential employer that you can effectively and proficiently handle administrative office procedures.
Midlands Technical College’s Medical Office Administrative Assistant certificate, a 38 credit-hour program, has been designed to provide students with training and on-the-job experience for administrative assistant jobs in larger medical organizations. The program is intended to complement both the Medical Assisting program and the Office System Specialist programs at MTC. Graduates of the program will specialize in medical administrative support activities in hospitals, free standing outpatient clinics, and group practices with large numbers of physicians and medical support personnel. The focus in the program is on clerical/administrative functions with no clinical training or responsibilities. Students in the program, however, will receive coursework in medical terminology and medical office procedures to insure a solid basic understanding of the medical environment in which they will work. In addition, students will receive instruction in techniques and procedures in insuring office security, as well as the requirements to insure patient health information privacy. Additionally, students enrolled in the program will receive hands-on, practical training during a required semester-long internship in a medical office environment. Employment opportunities for successful graduates of this program are exceptional.
