Office and administrative support
Medical secretaries and administrative assistants
Perform secretarial duties using specific knowledge of medical terminology and hospital, clinic, or laboratory procedures. Duties may include scheduling appointments, billing patients, and compiling and recording medical charts, reports, and correspondence.
Median pay
$45,930
Growth to 2035
+5%
about as fast as average
Openings a year
89,200
Time to qualify*
6 months
* From a bachelor's degree in an unrelated field.
Pay
Medical secretaries and administrative assistants
Getting in
- Typical entry education
- High school diploma or equivalent
- On-the-job training
- Moderate-term on-the-job training
- Prior experience
- None
Calculate your switch to medical secretaries and administrative assistants
What the work is like
Dealing with the public
Unpleasant or angry people
Time pressure
Cost of a mistake
Freedom to make decisions
Repeating the same tasks
Time sitting
Time standing
Exposure to disease
Medical secretaries and administrative assistants: 6% usually work over 40 hours a week
Core tasks
- Answer telephones and direct calls to appropriate staff.
- Schedule and confirm patient diagnostic appointments, surgeries, or medical consultations.
- Complete insurance or other claim forms.
- Greet visitors, ascertain purpose of visit, and direct them to appropriate staff.
- Transmit correspondence or medical records by mail, e-mail, or fax.
- Maintain medical records, technical library, or correspondence files.
- Receive and route messages or documents, such as laboratory results, to appropriate staff.
- Interview patients to complete documents, case histories, or forms, such as intake or insurance forms.
Also called: Clinic Office Assistant · Front Desk Receptionist · Medical Office Specialist · Medical Receptionist · Medical Secretary · Physician Office Specialist · Secretary · Unit Clerk
Outlook and AI
Medical secretaries and administrative assistants held 979,000 jobs in 2025. BLS projects 1,026,100 by 2035 (+5%, about as fast as average; all jobs: +3.5%).
Productivity change - share decreases as the increasing use of technology, including artificial intelligence (AI) tools, allows medical secretaries and administrative assistants to perform tasks more efficiently.
Compare with
- Medical secretaries and administrative assistants vs. Receptionists and information clerks
- Medical secretaries and administrative assistants vs. Medical records specialist
- Medical secretaries and administrative assistants vs. Administrative assistant
- Medical secretaries and administrative assistants vs. Office clerks, general
- Medical secretaries and administrative assistants vs. Medical assistant
- Medical secretaries and administrative assistants vs. Health technologists and technicians, all other
- Medical secretaries and administrative assistants vs. Executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants
- Medical secretaries and administrative assistants vs. Medical transcriptionist
- Medical secretaries and administrative assistants vs. Customer service representative
- Medical secretaries and administrative assistants vs. Insurance claims and policy processing clerks