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The differences between health care assistants and medical assistants can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a medical assistant has an average salary of $34,900, which is higher than the $34,892 average annual salary of a health care assistant.
The top three skills for a health care assistant include patients, customer service and healthcare. The most important skills for a medical assistant are patients, vital signs, and patient care.
| Health Care Assistant | Medical Assistant | |
| Yearly salary | $34,892 | $34,900 |
| Hourly rate | $16.77 | $16.78 |
| Growth rate | 36% | 16% |
| Number of jobs | 242,669 | 189,915 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 37% | Associate Degree, 24% |
| Average age | 50 | 37 |
| Years of experience | - | 12 |
A health care assistant primarily performs support tasks to help nurses in providing care and assistance to patients. Their duties usually include assisting patients with their daily hygienic tasks such as bathing, going to the toilet, dressing, and brushing their teeth. They may also prepare meals according to protocols and guidelines, feed patients, assist them when walking, and run other errands as necessary. Most importantly, a health care assistant monitors the patients' condition and their treatment progress, coordinating with the nurses and physicians regularly.
Medical assistants provide support to medical practitioners in both administrative and clerical tasks. They keep and update the patient's medical records, administer medicines under the supervision of a physician, assist during medical examinations, prepare medical samples for laboratory testing, manage the schedule of appointments, and assist the patients with their bills and in filling out needed forms, such as insurance-related documents. Medical assistants should have good communication skills and analytical skills, be organized, and be flexible. They should also have knowledge of how to operate some medical equipment such as x-ray machines.
Health care assistants and medical assistants have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Health Care Assistant | Medical Assistant | |
| Average salary | $34,892 | $34,900 |
| Salary range | Between $25,000 And $47,000 | Between $27,000 And $43,000 |
| Highest paying City | Antioch, CA | Vancouver, WA |
| Highest paying state | Alaska | Alaska |
| Best paying company | Medical University of South Carolina | Columbia University in the City of New York |
| Best paying industry | Education | Health Care |
There are a few differences between a health care assistant and a medical assistant in terms of educational background:
| Health Care Assistant | Medical Assistant | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 37% | Associate Degree, 24% |
| Most common major | Nursing | Medical Assisting Services |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between health care assistants' and medical assistants' demographics:
| Health Care Assistant | Medical Assistant | |
| Average age | 50 | 37 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 18.8% Female, 81.2% | Male, 10.4% Female, 89.6% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 24.0% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 23.4% Asian, 10.5% White, 35.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.1% | Black or African American, 10.2% Unknown, 4.9% Hispanic or Latino, 25.7% Asian, 8.8% White, 49.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.0% |
| LGBT Percentage | 5% | 6% |