Career

Health Salaries: How Much Does a Medical Assistant Make?

<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">In 2016 the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;stats&period;bls&period;gov&sol;news&period;release&sol;ecopro&period;nr0&period;htm" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener">Bureau of Labor and Statistics <&sol;a>predicted employment to increase by 11&period;5 million over the 2016-26 decade&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">As baby boomers retire&comma; they leave empty chairs at the board room table&comma; ready for filling by the coming generations&period; And as the baby boomers age&comma; they also open the door for a big need in the medical field&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">A growing elderly population will require more health care workers than the greatest generation before them simply because there are more aging people&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">So while the iGeneration receives a push from their parents to consider a four-year degree that leaves them with a piece of paper but few skills&comma; you should consider the medical field that doesn&&num;8217&semi;t require a four-year degree&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Not everyone in the medical field goes to medical school&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Introducing the medical assistant field&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Medical assistants are not nurses or doctors&comma; but they play a key role in the field that leads to a successful healthcare experience for patients&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">So&comma; what is a medical assistant&quest; How does one become one&quest; And most importantly&comma; how much does a medical assistant make&quest; Read on&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>What is a Medical Assistant&quest;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">A medical assistant in short assists nurses and doctors&period; A CMA &lpar;certified medical assistant&rpar; does whatever the clinic or hospital needs&comma; both in the front and back office&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Picture the jack of all trades in the medical field&period; That&&num;8217&semi;s your medical assistant&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">So the duties for a medical assistant include but aren&&num;8217&semi;t limited to removing sutures&comma; drawing blood&comma; caring for paperwork&comma; prepping exam rooms&comma; billing&comma; reading laboratory tests&comma; helping administer EKGs&comma; and taking vital signs&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">If you to really help people and gain a solid understanding of a clinic setting&comma; the CMA role will do this for you&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">The medical assistants do the work that makes the clinic run smoothly&period; They allow the physician to give the best treatment to his patient because of their support&period; The doctor knows medicine&comma; the assistant knows the procedures&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Training takes anywhere from 8 months to two years after high school&period; IT is not a four-year degree where you pay tens of thousands of dollars and then end up with a piece of paper that means you&&num;8217&semi;re smart but not necessary qualified to do any one particular job&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Medical assistants do the work&period; And for so little training&comma; they&&num;8217&semi;re compensated well&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>Where Does a Medical Assistant Work&quest;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Medical assistants can work in just about any healthcare setting&period; And where you work can help answer that all important question&comma; how much does a medical assistant make&quest;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Furthermore&comma; If you&&num;8217&semi;re interested in the healthcare field&comma; you should do some research to <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;ultimatemedical&period;edu&sol;blog&sol;medical-assistant-programs-what-to-expect-in-training" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener">see options<&sol;a> available both for medical assistants&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;"><strong>Front office<&sol;strong><&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">The front office of a small clinic or medical office will usually require a medical assistant to do act a liaison between the patient and the nurses and doctors&period; Communication skills matter most here along with the basic knowledge you&&num;8217&semi;ve learned when in CMA training&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">The typical front office will not require you to do much of the manual labor in the medical assistant field&period; So you while you won&&num;8217&semi;t be removing sutures&comma; you should be able to handle the patient questions about where you need the knowledge but do not necessarily have to do the grunt work required&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">You do not remove the sutures&comma; but you can handle patient questions about when to come back to have them removed&period; Front office medical assistants would help with billing and would communicate between physicians and patients&period; Pay is &dollar;12-15 an hour<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;"><strong>Back Office<&sol;strong><&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Unlike the front office&comma; the back office offers less paper shuffling and more physical labor&period; These people care for patient needs directly&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">The back-office CMAs take the vital signs and basically do the grunt work before the doctor comes into the office&period; If you&&num;8217&semi;re not squeamish&comma; this position is a great one because you&&num;8217&semi;re on ground-zero for the interesting medical procedures&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Typically back-office work pays more than front-office work&comma; coming in around &dollar;14-18 an hour depending on the medical assistant&&num;8217&semi;s experience&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;"><strong>Private Practice<&sol;strong><&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Private practices offer the cushiest setting typically&period; These are the specialty physicians&comma; so as a certified medical assistant you often will specialize in a few specific procedures&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Because of the nature and specialty of private practice&comma; medical assistants earn the most in this setting&comma; receiving compensation between &dollar;17 and &dollar;18&period;50 an hour<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;"><strong>Clinic Setting<&sol;strong><&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">A medical assistant in a clinic needs to genuinely have the jack-of-all-trades mentality simply because of the enormity of a clinic setting&period; You will need to have excellent communication skills as you will be working with a variety of people from the front office clerks to the nurses to the doctors to the patients&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Those medical assistants in a clinic setting typically make between &dollar;10 and &dollar;15 an hour&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;"><strong>Floating Position<&sol;strong><&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Every once in a while as a medical assistant&comma; you may find a floating position&period; This is a great way to get your feet wet and gather experience from a variety of positions&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">A floating position is typically temporary and entry level&period; You will not have the guarantee of a long-term job with benefits&comma; but you will have the chance to snag some great experience and money&period; Typically floaters make between &dollar;16 and &dollar;20 an hour&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>How Much Does a Medical Assistant Make in a Year&quest;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Few medical assistants receive a salary&period; In fact&comma; the 2018 Certified Medical Assistant &lpar;CMA&rpar; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;aama-ntl&period;org&sol;docs&sol;default-source&sol;about-the-profession-and-credential&sol;cb-survey&period;pdf&quest;sfvrsn&equals;26" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener">Compensation and Benefits Report <&sol;a>put out by the American Association of Medical Assistants says that approximately 98 percent of full-time medical assistants are paid hourly&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">As far as hourly wages go&comma; the answer varies based on experience&comma; certification&comma; and location&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">The CMA also states wage ranges from &dollar;13&period;25 an hour for CMAs with 0-2 years living in the East South Central region to &dollar;22&period;65 an hour for CMA with 16-plus years of experience living in the Pacific region&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">So all told&comma; without benefits&comma; salaries range from around &dollar;24&comma;000 to &dollar;43&comma;000&period; A nice benefits package that includes health insurance and retirement bumps the whole package up another &dollar;10&comma;000-&dollar;15&comma;000&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">In short&comma; a Certified Medical Assistant with just two years of training can make some good money and enjoy a rewarding career&period; If you&&num;8217&semi;re enjoying <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;newsforpublic&period;com&sol;long-term-health-happiness&sol;">long-term health and happiness<&sol;a>&comma; then this may be a great career for you&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>A Medical Assistant Career May Be For You<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">While a medical assistant isn&&num;8217&semi;t raking in the huge chunks of change you may see with a doctor or even a nurse&&num;8217&semi;s salary&comma; it also does not come with the massive college loan debt other medical professionals incur&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Furthermore&comma; if you&&num;8217&semi;re interested in medicine&comma; a medical assistant career will give you the taste of the field without the big investment&period; Then once you&&num;8217&semi;ve worked in healthcare for a period of time&comma; you&&num;8217&semi;ll know if you want to go back to school to pursue nursing or even training medical doctor training&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">You&&num;8217&semi;ll have the added benefit of appreciating the medical assistants you work within the future as well&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">As you can see&comma; when you ask the question&comma; &&num;8220&semi;How much does a medical assistant make&quest;&&num;8221&semi; you&&num;8217&semi;re really not just talking about the money&period; You&&num;8217&semi;re making some nice money&comma; but you&&num;8217&semi;re also making a difference both in your life and in the lives of the patients and other staff&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">If you&&num;8217&semi;re looking at a current <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;newsforpublic&period;com&sol;use-web-refresh-dead-end-career&sol;">dead-end career<&sol;a> or just have the itch to move into a different field&comma; seeking training as a medical assistant may just be for you&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

Hardik Patel

Hardik Patel is a Digital Marketing Consultant and professional Blogger. He has 16+ years experience in SEO, SMO, SEM, Online reputation management, Affiliated Marketing and Content Marketing.

Share
Published by
Hardik Patel

Recent Posts

Thejavasea.me Leaks Aio-tlp370: What Happened and Why It Matters

Thejavasea.me Leaks Aio-tlp370 became one of the most talked-about digital leak incidents in recent months,…

2 days ago

Mariah Bird: Larry Bird and Dinah Mattingly’s Daughter

Mariah Bird is the adopted daughter of NBA legend Larry Bird and his wife, Dinah…

3 days ago

Australian Men’s Cricket Team vs India National Cricket Team Guide

Australian Men’s Cricket Team vs India National Cricket Team rivalry stands among the most intense,…

3 days ago

Diadem – Ashirah Sil Saree Collection: Timeless Grace & Luxury Style

Diadem – Ashirah Sil is more than just a brand name — it evokes an…

3 days ago

Invisible Insulation: Secondary Glazing with Perspex Sheets around Me in Older Homes

Having a heritage house in Australia presents a set of its own challenges, especially in…

5 days ago

Challenges Men Face in Midlife

Midlife is a complex and often misunderstood stage of life, typically occurring between the ages…

3 weeks ago