Medical Receptionist: Everything You Need To Know

clendar April 08, 2021

clendar 11 minutes

2792 Viewers

In a doctor’s or other health professional’s office, a medical receptionist performs clerical duties. Their work, like that of those in health care support professions, is critical to the smooth operation of any facility that provides patient care. They compose letters and notes, keep databases, pay suppliers, fill out insurance paperwork, and bill clients. Throughout the day, medical secretaries engage with the community by answering phones, making appointments, and welcoming patients.

To do their work, they use a range of office devices, such as computers, fax machines, scanners, and multi-line telephone systems. Medical secretaries also use their understanding of medical terminology, health insurance laws, and medical billing procedures in their work.

Importance of Medical Receptionist as a Front Desk Employee

Front Desk is a term used in the medical facility for describing an unsung person among the other employees doing multi-tasking and keeping a balance all over the medical staffing.

This a job where clients or the patients meet the office personnel at the first time they enter and at the last time they leave. Furthermore, we can call them a deal-breaker in a hospital. It’s not just about making some people and patients feel comfortable. They are involved in –

Many complain at the receiving end.
Ensure payment practice to ensure a profit so that everybody can be paid.
Planning appointments with the right doctor at the right time.
Responding well to customers and communicate with the whole of the reception area confidently and positively
Improve the quality and customer invoices management errors
Checking the doctors’ medical records.
E-mailing and duplicating medical records between clinics, healthcare facilities and clients.
Regularly keeping the reception area clean.

The Role of a Medical Receptionist

A clinician is an integral component of a health team. Doctors, nurses, and other medical and administrative personnel depend on the medical receptionist to establish a welcoming, well-organized front office for patients. As a medical receptionist, you must make sure that patient satisfaction is optimised, that reception and waiting areas function smoothly and that patient registries are administrative. Healthcare tasks may vary from one workplace to the next, but medical staff generally take care of –

Welcome and care of patients personally and on the phone
Keeping all physician, staff and patient information confidential.
Plan of appointments with patients
Responding courteously and professionally to all incoming phone calls

Job Description of A Medical Receptionist

When someone reaches the hospital or a medical facility Medical Receptionist is the first person he or she is going to face, although they are primarily responsible for the everyday operational and financial activities that occur at their workplace. This job has to perform some of the additional functions:

Providing the service to the patients and the staff of the medical facility.
Working as an information desk.
Creating a connection between the different departments of the hospital.
Helping the medical professionals with administrative service.
Maintaining answering incoming and outgoing calls.
Scheduling important appointments and meeting with clients and professionals
Maintaining medical facility inventory such as checking supplies and scheduling equipment and maintaining repairs.

Education & Certification

Medical secretaries do not need advanced degrees, but executive medical secretaries must have a bachelor’s degree. Additional coursework and certifications are also advantageous in this position:

High school or equivalency diploma: Required.
Bachelor’s degree: Required for executive medical secretaries.
Certification: The Certified Administrative Professional (CAP) and Organizational Management (OM) speciality certifications are entirely optional. These certifications are available from the International Association of Administrative Professionals (IAAP) to those with experience and who pass a written examination. Many colleges and vocational schools provide educational programs that will prepare you for testing. Word processing, keyboarding, office management, and computer systems are some of the topics covered in classes.

Basic office skills, as well as knowledge of medical terminology and hospital, clinic, or laboratory procedures, are required for this position. This can be obtained through either classroom or on-the-job training. Formal training programs are available at community colleges, vocational-technical schools, and even some high schools.

Medical Receptionist Skills & Competencies

For becoming a medical receptionist physical skills and capabilities are the main priority. Because they work as a front desk employee. He/She has t face a lot of people and patients physically. By not only meeting them but also managing them is a basic responsibility for him/her.

You’ll also need some personal attributes, known as soft skills, to excel in this field:

1. Verbal communication

You must be able to communicate information to all members of the office team, medical practitioners, and patients.

2. Active listening

The ability to listen well would help you to hear your patients’ wishes as well as the guidance given by your physician or another medical professional.

3. Writing

Formal writing for communicating with the other medical offices as well as other companies like Insurance company, medical product provider etc is necessary to become a medical receptionist.

There are also other skills that are very necessary to become a successful on this job. If you want to learn more about the skills of a medical receptionist, Please visit 10 Medical receptionist skills.

Besides these skills, a front desk medical receptionist needs to have some of the most important technical skills to complete his daily scheduled work. These skills include-

Word processing programs such as Microsoft word
Adjusting appointments by work scheduling software

They also needs to be acquainted with daily office accessories like printers, photocopier and communication devices used for medical purposes.

How to Become A Medical Receptionist

1. Earn required education

First and foremost, get your diploma qualification. Consider obtaining a degree of hospital reception or medical administrative assisting, among other possibilities. These certificates will make you stand out as a candidate.

2. Gather experiences

Also, entry-level medical office manager positions often necessitate previous experience in accounting, reception, or another public-facing role. Internships and volunteer experiences will help you gain experience. As a helping hand career paths requiring information keeping and administrative tasks would be useful skills to have when looking for a position as a medical receptionist.

3. Create an effective resume

Please make sure that the covering letter refers to your particular work situation such as a small clinic or a big hospital. Have any college degrees, certifications, and expertise you may have on your resume.

4. Search for a matched job

Your career quest can be started online. You will also be able to browse individually. Consider all the various medical settings in your region, including those of which you may not be aware, such as specific exercise offices or other offices of experts.

Future Stand of Medical Receptionist Job

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that the workforce of medical receptionist will rise by 22% by 2026, far faster than the average of all occupations. Health receptionists are employed depending on the development of the healthcare sector. An older baby boomer, for example, requires more emergency care to support those cases, which means more administrative assistance to cover up all of these.

Work Setting

Medical secretaries serve in departments, for example in medical offices and other clinics. The work settings are laboratories, surgery and ambulatory clinics.

Medical receptionists can work in a sterile and healthy atmosphere, and although they can deal with patients suffering from different diseases, the odds of contracting these diseases are slim; there are more ways to keep a clean workplace in a medical setting.

The job, on the other hand, can be challenging. Aside from welcoming patients, collecting necessary information from them (name, address, insurance information, etc.), and answering calls, they must also fulfil the myriad logistical duties needed for the office to operate smoothly.

Work Plan

Health receptionists’ daily schedules are often full-time, with a forty-hour workweek. Private offices and laboratories may have daily business hours, while hospitals may have regular business hours as well as evening and weekend hours so the hospital may be available at all times.

Having said that, almost one-third of all receptionists work part-time.

How to get this job?

1. Managing an Internship

Often, investigate the population into wellness institutions such as hospitals, community clinics, dental clinics, ambulatory surgical centres, health schools, nursing homes, private physician clinics and mental health clinics. Call or visit the premises to inquire for assistance.

2. Volunteering

Network to learn if they could use an intern or volunteer alongside someone in the profession. Besides, visit community-college professional centres for job openings.

Medical Receptionist salary Overview

The estimated annual salary for a medical receptionist is $27,450. The average pay is determined by combining all of the salaries in the occupation and dividing the total number of jobs in this occupation. The lowest 10% salaries was less than $18,330 a year. The upper ten percent salaries exceed $38,170.

Why Should Anyone Choose To Be A Medical Receptionist?

It is advantageous for a Medical Receptionist to be able to multitask well, provide good time management skills, and have a high degree of patient support. The beneficial side of a it includes-

1. Exceptional salary deals

When your weekly pay is allocated as a paycheck rather than a per-hour reward, you know you’ve already advanced your skill level. This positions vary from entry-level to highly experienced; to advance your career and gain more money, consider pursuing a health management degree through Foundation Education.

2. Thrilling Work Experience

The reception area controls the medical clinic, controls it and monitors it. You will not only affect traffic flows, but you and some other tasks will also guarantee the happiness of your colleagues and patients. The thought of working too much at once would just make you a little anxious and excited.

3. Challenging Ways of Handling Work

We’re not going to lie; a doctor is engulfed in a lively and busy environment. You’ll be tested regularly, with problems to fix and unpleasant people to deal with – you’ll witness the best and worst of human weakness and rise to the challenge. It’s a huge job, but it’s well worth it!

4. Access to Communicate with Dozen Types of people

If you take on the job of a receptionist, you’ll talk to several people of all walks of life – some will be polite, some will be less friendly. Some will be too sick to talk. You will soon deal with most kinds of personalities, colleagues or patients and improve certain social abilities that have already been established.

5. New Skills Development

You will be liable to various clerical and administrative duties as you join the administration sector, which all of your organizations will be of crucial importance. Besides this, you can organize and manage documents and arrange meetings and even hold them. You will become a powerful organization, you will unconsciously sense the interests of the people around you and stand out as a rising star.

Ending Note

The job of a receptionist is very complicated in the sense that they has to maintain both the patient and the physician. This can never be learned by just reading a blog or a book. You must need to have professional training or a course that can help you with learning how to be a medical receptionist.