About medical receptionist:

The medical receptionist acts as primary contact between the patients and doctors or medical personnel. The must involve in all works that include marinating the patients check in list, scheduling the appointments and other administrative tasks. They even answer the phone calls to clear the doubt of the patient and make appointments for the patients. They are usually employed by hospitals, medical offices, health care centers and outpatient clinics. They need to greet the patients coming up to the hospital for check up. The need to keep track of the numbers of patients visiting the hospital daily by entering their details in log along with their contact details and reason from their admission in to the hospital.

The medical receptionist even prepares bills for the patient and accept the payment of bill form the patients and keep track of the payment receipts  and submit them to the  accounts department by the end o f the day. They interact with physician and doctor in hospitals and even work closely with the administrative staff of the hospital for the effective functioning of the hospital. They need to enter the patient details in to the computer and give the monthly report to the hospital head. They must fill in the admission form and insurance form in case of the patients admissions in the hospital.  They need to open and close the clinic on time and it is possible only in case of small clinics because major hospitals provide 24 hours service. They need check and maintain the necessary supplies required for front desk activates. They must secure the financial details and personal details furnished by the patients before his admission in to the hospital.

Salary and remuneration for a medical receptionist

The salary of the medical receptionist is purely dependent on the work setting and location of the hospital. The other factors that alter the salary of the medical receptionist are experience, employer type, industry type and specialization that they possess. As per the statistics defined by the American labor association, the mean salary of the medical receptionist is $ 24,800 per annum.

• Years of Experience

• For the medical receptionist with experience of less than one year, the salary range is between $ 20,000 and $ 40,500 and the hourly salary range is between $ 7.99 and $ 14.98.
• For the medical receptionist with experience between one to four years, the salary range is between $ 20,203 and $ 36,129 and the hourly wage range is between $ 9.28 and $ 15.10.
• For the medical receptionist with experience between five to nine years, the salary range is between $ 23,052 and $ 41,235 and the hourly wage range is between $ 10.52 and $ 16.00.
• For the medical reception with experience between ten to nineteen years, the salary range is between $ 24,101 and $ 42,742 and the hourly wage range is between $ 11.90 and $ 17.10.
• For the medical receptionist with experience of twenty years or more, the salary range is between $ 27,701 and $ 44,452 and the hourly wage range is between $14.51 and $ 20.50.

• Industry
• The Medical receptionist working in medical office earns a salary range between $ 14,973 and $ 37,160 per annum.
• The Medical receptionist working for an industry that offers medical services earns an annual salary range in between $ 22,656 and $ 38,417.
• The Medical receptionist working in health care centres earns an annual salary range between $ 16,351 and $ 35,717.
• The Medical receptionist working in a hospital earns an annual salary range between $ 24,697 and $ 38,317.
• The Medical receptionist working for a hospital that offers plastic surgeries earns an annual salary range between $ 21,394 and $ 34,359.
• The Medical receptionist working in hospital that offers physiotherapy services earns an annual salary range in between $ 19,045 and $ 35,920.
• Medical receptionist working in a hospital that provides veterinary services earns an annual salary range between $ 23,331 and $ 41,546.

• Employer Type
• A Medical receptionist when he is employed by a hospital, he earns an annual salary in the range between $ 25,686 and $ 32,997.
• A Medical receptionist when he is employed by a medical centre, he earns an annual salary in the range between $ 17,382 and $ 40,825.
• A Medical receptionist when he is employed by a non-profit organization can earn an annual salary in the range between $ 22,573 and $ 38,479.
• A Medical receptionist when is on a contract earns an annual salary in the range between $ 18,400 and $ 30,000.
• A Medical receptionist when he is employed by a medical school or school district earns an annual salary in the range between $ 23,221 and $ 34,296.
• A Medical receptionist when employed by hospital that is managed by either state government or local government earns an annual salary in the range between $ 45,000 and $ 74,866.
• A Medical receptionist when employed by a foundation or trust that offers medical services to the patients earns an annual salary in the range between $ 21,271 and $ 31,216.

• Skills and Speciality
• A Medical receptionist when gets specialised in the maintaining and managing the medical records amongst other qualifications, the annual salary range is between $ 25,349 and $ 42,262.
• A Medical receptionist when knows about electronic medical records (EMR) amongst his other qualifications, the annual salary range is between $ 25,483 and $ 34,504.
• A Medical receptionist when knows about design amongst his other qualifications the annual salary range is between $ 35,581 and $ 83,451.
• A Medical receptionist when knows about job scheduling amongst his other qualifications, the salary range is between $ 14,328 and $ 30,879 per annum.
• A Medical receptionist when gets specialized in medical coding along with his other academic qualifications, the annual salary range is between $ 14,212 and $ 33,205.
• An Medical receptionist  when knows about several Microsoft applications like MS word, MS excel etc along with  his other educational qualifications, the annual salary range is between $ 18,660 and $ 32,272.
• A Medical receptionist when knows about customer relationship management (CRM) amongst his other qualifications, the annual salary range is between $ 11,531 and $ 30,868.
• A Medical receptionist on becoming expert in attending call can make an annual salary range in between $ 22,313 and $ 37,456.

Skills required for the medical receptionist:

• The medical receptionist needs to possess excellent skill set to work efficiently.
• They must possess high level people skills to confer with the patients and offer them effective services by scheduling their appointments and giving details regarding the availability of the doctor.
• Possess good memory to answer the doctors or patients without looking into the reports and remember several surgical procedures offered by the hospital along with their costs.
• The medical receptionist must be computer literate and have minimum knowledge of various Microsoft applications.
• Possess good call etiquette skills to answer the phone calls and give proper response the queries placed by the patients.
• They must be able to work under stress and give good results by completing the assigned tasks efficiently.
• They must have good idea about various medical terminologies.
• Possess good managerial skills and inter personal skills.
• They must be able to work independently or work within a team to get good results.
• Possess good typing skills with speed of at least 35 WPM to enter the details of the customer visiting the hospital.
• Possess good customer service skills to attract the customer by offering efficient services to them.

How is a medical receptionist certified?

• There is no license required to get recruited as medical receptionist in any hospital.
• There are numerous certification courses available in the cyber world that offers excellent training to the medical receptionist at early stages and help them in building strong career.
• ASCP Certified Phlebotomy Technician (PBT): The certification course helps the medical receptionist to learn the basic way of performing the phlebotomy.
• Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR): This certification course teaches the pulmonary resuscitation process. This course helps in giving life support during the stroke or heart attack.
• They can even take some computer certification courses that teach all the basic computer operation to get habituated with medical coding.
• The medical receptionist can take a medical billing certificate course offered at medical schools to learn the way of making the medical bills before entering in to the hospital.

Duties and responsibilities of medical receptionist:

• The medical receptionist has set of role and responsibilities that are to be execute when works for hospital, medical clinic or health care center.
• They need to record the details of the patient.
• They are responsible to train the new employee and let them know about the hospital policies and rules.
• A ser the hospital protocols, they need to record the details of the patients.
• They need to open and close the hospital at the end of the day.
• They need to schedule the patient appointment by checking the availability of the doctor.
• They need to update the notice board with in and out timings of doctor.
• They forward emails to the clients and direct official mails received to the respective doctor
• The medical receptionist is responsible to maintain the receptions area clean and tidy.
• They must offer warm welcome to the patients or customers visiting the hospital.
  • They prepare month salary slips of the employees in the hospital and assist the accounts department in doing that.
  • They need to maintain the attendance report and submit the monthly attendance set to the accounts department by listing the number of leaves that each employee has taken and deduct the salary.
  • Keep updated with the various equipments used in the hospitals and their working conditions. In case of any repair, report immediately to the higher authorities or supervisor and get it solved immediately.
  • The medical receptionist needs to scan, file and fax the various important documents related to the hospital.
  • They need to help the patient in filing the insurance form or medical claim form.
  • They need to explain the hospital policies and rules to the patients.

Educational requirements for a medical receptionist

• The medical receptionist must have some good educational background and have experience of working in an administrative department.
• They must know the basic names of all the medicines and several tests that are provided by the hospital.
• It is not mandatory for a candidate to complete the degree course. Only few hospitals or health care centers hire the medical receptionist who have completed degree course.
• The basic educational qualification required for the medical receptionist is high school diploma or its equivalent.
• They must have prior real time working experience in a medical office.
• On completing master’s degree in business administration, the medical receptionist has higher chance to become medical office manager.
• They must have knowledge about various clinical procedures and have details regarding the cost of the surgery.
• They can even complete associate degree programs offered by any recognized institution with main subject as anatomy, physiology, first aid and medical terminology.