Medical Receptionist Job Description

As a medical receptionist, you may have to work in a busy environment in a health care office, in a nursing home or in clinics and hospitals. It is one of the best hospital jobs, among non-medical jobs. A medical receptionist job description mainly involves the duties of the person as a mediator between the doctor and patients and as an office organizer who manages the crucial data regarding the health of thousands of patients in the doctor's office. A medical receptionist may not have a medical background, still he/she may get immense job satisfaction, by being helpful to patients and doctors.

Medical Receptionist: Duties

• Medical receptionists often have to train new employees.
• They are required to participate in staff and educational meetings.
• They have to perform other specified duties whenever assigned.
• He/she has to maintain medical records and report statistics when required.
• He has to register patients according to hospital protocols.
• He is expected to explain clinic policy to patients while receiving and delivering messages.
• Medical receptionists handle and manage the continuous flow of information in doctors' offices in health care establishments.
• He/she has to organize and maintain forms and office stationery required for front desk activities.
• Good communication with vendors and careful inspection of leased supplies, organizing the stockroom are also considered as duties of medical receptionists.
• The receptionists are supposed to respect and maintain the privacy and dignity of clients, and assure client confidentiality at all times.
• Medical receptionists schedule appointments, organize overflowing paper documents and distribute required information. They do this via post, courier, telephone and email.
• The receptionist should be proficient in using desktop publishing programs and digital graphics as they have to make spreadsheets, manage data and create documents on computers. Microsoft Excel and Word experience is a must and 35 WPM typing speed is sufficient.
• Medical receptionists are supposed to schedule patient's hospital admissions, filing and completing medical reports and insurance forms, pulling patient charts, filling discharge forms, etc.
• They have to open the office in the morning, greet patients and agency visitors. They are responsible for directing patients and medical representatives to the appropriate location and services. While doing this, they should be courteous, polite and helpful to the public and clients; and thus they should be able to manage the reception area efficiently.
• At the close of each working day, medical receptionist may have to secure the building, turn off or unplug appliances and machines according to agency protocols and lock all entrances.
• They are responsible for the readiness of the reception area for each working day, open the building at the specified time and have all front desk activities fully operational at the start of business hours.
• They should determine the financial status of patients and their eligibility for health services, assist patients in accurately completing appropriate forms and documents for the required information.
• Medical receptionists collect and deposit fees according to protocols, prepare and balance daily financial registers and submit all forms and fees to the accounts department.
• To perform all the above mentioned duties, medical receptionists should have a warm outgoing personality, excellent telephone etiquette, ability to work well under pressure, ability to work accurately and efficiently, ability to interact effectively and in a supportive manner with persons of all backgrounds, knowledge of more than one language, knowledge of patient billing procedures, etc.

This was the description of the duties and responsibilities of a medical receptionist. Let us now take a look at the career outlook for medical receptionists.

Medical Receptionist: Career Outlook

At least a high school diploma or an equivalent degree is required to work as a medical receptionist. However, those who have taken medical classes are likely to have higher chances for gaining employment. Proper medical experience and willingness is more important for this job.

After looking at the study reports, it is safe to conclude that the outlook for medical receptionists is favorable. According to reviews of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, "employment of receptionists will grow by nine percent between 2006 and 2016, which is roughly as fast as the national average". Advances in technology can not affect the career growth of a medical receptionist. Receptionists are still required to interact with staff, doctors and patients. Receptionists handle so many things which can't be accomplished using technology alone.

Medical Receptionist: Educational Prerequisites

Provided that an applicant has effective and essential workplace communications skills, a high school diploma is generally all that's required to work as a medical receptionist. Most of the high school vocational programs and community colleges offer courses teaching typing and office-management skills. The specialized training to learn the medical language of hospital industry is usually obtained on the job. Medical receptionist job description includes understanding the coding of diagnosis, coding and purpose of medical procedures, knowing the names of the medicines and drugs, coordinating with hospital labs and X-ray or CT scan rooms etc.

Medical Receptionist: Industry Experience

An experienced person is always preferred by an employer. Though relevant experience is what counts, experience as a receptionist in any other field is also considered as an added advantage. There exist several types of jobs in hospitals and some of them do not require medical background at all. But knowledge and experience in the medical field always counts.

While going through the job description, you must have noticed that the duties of a receptionist and the duties of a secretary are almost similar. But a secretary manages the work of only his/her immediate boss, whereas the medical receptionist has to manage the work of the office and deal with every person coming into the office. Working as a medical receptionist is definitely quite challenging. Not only the educational qualification, but also other qualities like self-confidence, calm attitude, organizational skills, an ability to perform multiple tasks at a time, etc., are expected from a medical receptionist. Bigger the organization, more challenging is the work. Now that you know what exactly a medical receptionist does, you may apply for the job, if you think that you meet the expectations.