Diploma Program
Medical Office Specialist
Medical office specialists are very important to a medical office or hospital. The medical office specialist is often the first person a patient may interact with over the phone or upon arriving at a medical office. Therefore, the medical office specialist is integral to shaping the patient's first impression of the medical practice, which could shape the patient-provider relationship for the long-term.
Job Responsibilities of Medical Office Specialist
Depending on the size of the practice and staff, the medical office specialist's duties could vary slightly. Answering the phones is always the primary function. This includes fielding calls and transferring them to the appropriate person or taking a message from the caller.
Many medical office specialists also are responsible for scheduling patients' appointments, which is very important to the success of the practice. Medical office specialists are often busy setting, changing, or canceling appointments in addition to answering the phones.
Other tasks include light office work such as filing, copying, or scanning documents.
Skills and Qualifications for Medical Office Specialist
Hiring managers often seek, and sometimes test for, the following skills:
- Pleasant, professional, and articulate phone voice
- Ability to multi-task and handle many incoming calls or patients at once
- Efficient and accurate data-entry skills
- Computer literacy and multi-line phone or switchboard experience. If no experience, the prospective receptionist must be able to learn it quickly
- Clean background - candidate should have positive professional references and be able to pass a criminal background check
- Basic knowledge such as basic math, alphabetical or numerical filing may also be required
- Punctual and reliable
What's to Like about Working as a Medical Office Specialist
Medical office specialist is a great way to break into the medical field. It's an excellent entry level job that could allow you to work your way up into other roles if you're interested in doing so. Careers in medical reception offer set hours, typically with little overtime required, depending on the hours of the office. It's a relatively low stress job if you're in a positive work environment with clear-cut responsibilities.