What is the Typical Clerical Medical Assistant Salary?
Contents
- What is the typical clerical medical assistant salary?
- The average salary for a medical assistant
- How much do medical assistants make?
- The median salary for a medical assistant
- Top paying industries for medical assistants
- States with the highest paying medical assistant jobs
- Cities with the highest paying medical assistant jobs
- How to become a medical assistant
- What education is needed to become a medical assistant?
- What are the duties of a medical assistant?
According to the latest salary data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median salary for a medical assistant is $33,610 per year.
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What is the typical clerical medical assistant salary?
The average salary for a Clerical Medical Assistant is $14.26 per hour in the United States This is 4% lower than the national average salary for a Clerical Medical Assistant.
The average salary for a medical assistant
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that the median salary for Medical assistants in 2018 was $33,610 per year, with the top 10% earning more than $47,080. Salaries vary by geographic location, with medical assistants in urban areas typically earning more than those in rural areas. They also vary by employer, with larger employers typically paying more than smaller ones.
How much do medical assistants make?
Medical assistants play a vital role in the healthcare industry. They are responsible for performing a variety of tasks to support doctors and other medical professionals. While the duties of a medical assistant can vary depending on their employer, they typically include administrative tasks, such as scheduling appointments and maintaining medical records as well as clinical tasks, such as taking patient vital signs and assisting with medical procedures.
So, what is the typical clerical medical assistant salary? According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the median annual salary for medical assistants was $33,610 in 2019.1 This means that half of all medical assistants earned less than this amount, and half earned more. The lowest 10 percent of earners made less than $24,280, while the highest 10 percent made more than $46,830.1
Medical assistants who have completed formal education programs and are certified by an accredited organization may be eligible for higher salaries and more advanced positions. For example, those who have completed a one-year program and earn certification from the American Association of Medical Assistants (AAMA) may be able to command a starting salary that is 10-15 percent higher than the average for all medical assistants.2 In addition, certified medical assistants may have better job prospects and be able to advance to positions with supervisory or administrative responsibilities.
The median salary for a medical assistant
The median salary for a medical assistant is $15.02 per hour, or $31,540 annually, as of May 2019, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The median wage is the wage at which half the workers in an occupation earned more than that amount and half earned less. The lowest 10% of medical assistants made less than $10.56 per hour, or $21,880 annually, while the highest 10% made more than $20.92 per hour, or $43,550 annually.
Top paying industries for medical assistants
There is a wide range of salaries for medical assistants, depending on their experience, geographical location, and the industry they work in. Some industries that medical assistants typically find employment in are listed below, along with the average salary for each industry.
-Hospitals: $33,750
-Doctors’ Offices: $32,360
-Outpatient Care Centers: $30,610
–nursing homes $29,460
-Federal Executive Branch: $28,860
States with the highest paying medical assistant jobs
The medical assistant profession is growing rapidly across the United States, with an expected 19% growth rate between 2016 and 2026.* This guide will explore which states offer the highest paying medical assistant jobs.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the five states with the highest annual mean wage for medical assistants as of May 2017 were:
-California: $39,780
-Alaska: $38,430
-Connecticut: $37,710
-Oregon: $36,610
-Washington: $35,820
These figures are all well above the national average annual mean wage for medical assistants of $33,610.**
California is also the state with the highest employment level for medical assistants, with over 86,000 currently employed in the state.*** This is followed by Texas (64,770), Florida (52,290), New York (47,470), and Illinois (44,380).
Cities with the highest paying medical assistant jobs
The average salary for a medical assistant is $15.02 per hour. The typical salary range for medical assistants is between $10.16 and $20.80 per hour. Salaries typically start from $9.62 per hour and go up to $22.50 per hour.
How to become a medical assistant
Medical assistants perform a variety of administrative and clinical tasks to support the work of physicians and other health professionals. They typically work in outpatient care centers, physician’s offices, and hospitals. Clerical medical assistants do mostly administrative work, such as answering phones, scheduling appointments, and billing patients. Clinical medical assistants perform more direct patient care tasks, such as taking medical histories and recording vital signs. Some medical assistants take on both roles.
No formal educational requirements exist for entry-level positions as a medical assistant, although many candidates have completed postsecondary education programs. These programs typically last from 1 to 2 years and lead to a certificate or diploma. Some community colleges offer 4-year degree programs in medical assisting.
Clerical medical assistants typically need no more than a high school diploma, although some employers prefer candidates who have taken courses in computer science or office technology. Clinical medical assistants usually need to complete an accredited postsecondary education program that focuses on clinical skills and knowledge.
What education is needed to become a medical assistant?
In order to become a medical assistant, one must first earn their high school diploma or equivalent. After that, they must then complete an accredited medical assistant program, which typically takes about a year. Once the program is completed, the medical assistant will then need to pass the Certification Examination for Medical Assistants (CMA) before they can begin working.
What are the duties of a medical assistant?
Medical assistants are unlicensed multi-skilled health care professionals who perform many routine administrative and clinical tasks to keep the offices of physicians, podiatrists, chiropractors, and other health practitioners running smoothly. Many medical assistants have received formal training from accredited medical assisting programs and have been certified by professional organizations such as the American Association of Medical Assistants or the American Medical Technologists. Others may have learned their skills through on-the-job training.
Most medical assistants work in physicians’ offices, but they also may be found in clinics, hospitals, and other healthcare settings. Their duties vary with the size, location, and type of practice, but most medical assistants perform a combination of administrative and clinical tasks.
Administrative duties include answering telephones; scheduling appointments; greeting patients; updating and filing patients’ Medical records filling out insurance forms; coding patients’ diagnoses for insurance reimbursement purposes; handling correspondence; handling billing and bookkeeping; ordering supplies; scheduling laboratory tests and X-rays; preparing patients for examination; taking patients’ vital signs (height, weight, blood pressure, temperature); giving injections when necessary.
Clinical duties vary according to state law but may include taking patient histories and recording vital statistics; preparing patients for examination by removing clothing (if necessary), draping them with modesty cloths, and positioning them on examining tables; collecting urine or blood samples for laboratory analysis (this task is usually performed under the direct supervision of a physician or nurse); performing basic laboratory tests on these samples (these tasks are usually performed under the direct supervision of a physician or nurse); explaining treatment procedures to patients and assisting physicians during treatment procedures such as applying dressings or removing sutures (these tasks are usually performed under the direct supervision of a physician or nurse).