Automatically apply for jobs with Zippia

Upload your resume to get started.

Medical office administrator skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025

5 min read

Quoted experts

Greg Kessler Ph.D.,

Dr. Jacqueline Abernathy

Medical office administrator example skills

Below we've compiled a list of the most critical medical office administrator skills. We ranked the top skills for medical office administrators based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 20.8% of medical office administrator resumes contained patients as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a medical office administrator needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 medical office administrator skills for your resume and career

1. Patients

Here's how medical office administrators use patients:

Used knowledge of medical procedures and customer service, recorded medical histories and scheduled patients for hospitalization and other procedures.
Implemented, created and distributed informational and educational postings/ pamphlets throughout the facility and for patients upon discharge.

2. Patient Care

Patient care entails the diagnosis, recovery, and control of sickness as well as the maintenance of physical and emotional well-being through the use of healthcare providers' services. Patient care is described as services provided to patients by health practitioners or non-professionals under guidance.

Here's how medical office administrators use patient care:

Facilitated flow of patient care activities and resolution of office issues with appropriate confidentiality to meet HIPAA imperatives.
Managed patient care for approximately 300 patients per month and successfully secured approximately 600 appointments per month.

3. Customer Service

Customer service is the process of offering assistance to all the current and potential customers -- answering questions, fixing problems, and providing excellent service. The main goal of customer service is to build a strong relationship with the customers so that they keep coming back for more business.

Here's how medical office administrators use customer service:

Provided quality customer service in a friendly environment that establishes efficient collection practices resulting in a loyal customer base.
Provided exceptional customer service etiquette tailored to the corporation expectations, provided teamwork initiatives consistently with each staff member.

4. Insurance Verification

Here's how medical office administrators use insurance verification:

Manage a front desk in areas of computerized scheduling, referrals, insurance verification, authorization and medical record management.
Completed patient registration - inputting all data into billing system to create a medical record number for electronic insurance verification.

5. Phone Calls

Phone calls are a wireless or wired connection made over a telephone or a mobile phone between two people. Two parties are involved in a phone call, the caller and the receiver. A caller dials the number of the one he wants to call, and the recipient hears a bell or a tune to which he picks up the call. The call establishes a connection between them through which they can communicate. The voice is converted into signals and is transmitted through wired or wireless technology.

Here's how medical office administrators use phone calls:

Fielded phone calls to necessary personnel or provided information and greeted / directed visitors to proper destinations.
Responded to clinical telephone calls, prepared patient charts and provided information to referring physicians.

6. Appointment Scheduling

Here's how medical office administrators use appointment scheduling:

Assisted patients with appointment scheduling including surgeries.
Acted as liaison between the division and the appointment scheduling service, assuring that patient appointments were scheduled correctly.

Choose from 10+ customizable medical office administrator resume templates

Build a professional medical office administrator resume in minutes. Our AI resume writing assistant will guide you through every step of the process, and you can choose from 10+ resume templates to create your medical office administrator resume.

7. HIPAA

Here's how medical office administrators use hipaa:

Experience working with confidential information regarding medical records, maintained compliant with HIPAA regulations.
Maintained accurate information of patients according to HIPAA regulations.

8. Patient Charts

Here's how medical office administrators use patient charts:

Filed original medical documentation in the patients record and maintained proper documentation in patient charts.
Scheduled appointments, processed payments, verified insurance and prepared/maintained patient charts.

9. Office Equipment

Here's how medical office administrators use office equipment:

Handle arrangements for office equipment maintenance with facilities.
Operate office equipment such as: computer, printer, scanner, fax machine, photocopier, and postage machine.

10. Insurance Benefits

Here's how medical office administrators use insurance benefits:

Process new patient intakes, verify patient insurance benefits and eligibility, explain applicable co-pays and deductibles.
Maintain scheduling for patient services and ensure insurance benefits and verification.

11. Data Entry

Data entry means entering data into a company's system with the help of a keyboard. A person responsible for entering data may also be asked to verify the authenticity of the data being entered. A person doing data entry must pay great attention to tiny details.

Here's how medical office administrators use data entry:

Excelled in scheduling appointments, answering/routing incoming calls, data entry, verifying insurance eligibility and general clerical duties as needed.
Reviewed over 2700 employee medical files for accuracy of medical data entry and medical surveillance requirements.

12. Medical Insurance

Here's how medical office administrators use medical insurance:

Verified patient medical insurance eligibility and benefits often contacting insurance companies.
Communicated with medical insurance carriers in order to verify patient coverage.

13. Medical Terminology

Here's how medical office administrators use medical terminology:

Required basic knowledge of medical terminology, software systems and filling procedures.
Utilized extensive knowledge of Medical terminology, insurance carriers, ICD-9 and CPT coding.

14. Front Desk

Here's how medical office administrators use front desk:

Provided front desk assistance to Magnetic Resonance facility and MRI technologists.
Provide coordination of front desk operations including answering phones.

15. Telephone Calls

Telephone calls are a communication means through which a caller is connected to the called party. The call is done through a telecommunications device called a telephone. The caller can use a landline, mobile phone, or satellite phone to make the call.

Here's how medical office administrators use telephone calls:

Receive and direct telephone calls and relay conversation and pertinent messages to others while maintaining accuracy, clarity and confidentiality.
Maintained professional communication frequently via e-mail or telephone calls with corporate office, regional practice manager, and office manager.

5 Medical Office Administrator resume examples

Build a professional medical office administrator resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 5+ resume templates to create your medical office administrator resume.

Create my resume

Build a professional resume in minutes using this template.

What skills help Medical Office Administrators find jobs?

Tell us what job you are looking for, we’ll show you what skills employers want.

What skills stand out on medical office administrator resumes?

Greg Kessler Ph.D.

Professor, Ohio University

I am not sure that there are any particular skills that stand out on resumes, but familiarity with instructional design principles should be considered to be very valuable. I also think that knowledge of multimedia principles, social media, and various forms of virtual and immersive experiences. Also, knowledge of AI and the other things I referred to in the trends above.

What medical office administrator skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?

Dr. Jacqueline Abernathy

Assistant Professor, Tarleton State University

I think this piggybacks a little bit on what I said above on finding a way to distinguish oneself from the competition. Anything done during a gap year would hopefully yield some knowledge, skill, or ability that can be listed as a bullet point on their resume that others may not have. Suppose a student just wants to travel to China for a while and see the Great Wall. "Back-packed in the Orient" would not be a resume bullet but "conversational in Mandarin" would be. To a lesser extent, "Cultural competency with Chinese colleagues and associates" would be, and if asked, the student could explain their familiarity with Chinese customs and etiquette came from extensive time abroad. That might give the students an advantage in certain jobs, but just being able to speak another language could be a job in itself, like as a translator. Whatever a student does during a gap year, ideally, they should walk away with a skill that someone will pay for.

Unfortunately, because of economic realities, a lot of students just take the year off to work and they work in a job where a year of experience won't necessarily count for much (if anything) when they graduate with their expected degree. This goes for both high school graduates and college graduates taking a break before their next degree. I've read the arguments about the benefits of taking a gap year, but aside from students that are on a waiting list for a prestigious program who just have time to kill, I personally find the concept of a gap year to be ill-advised as a general rule, more so between an undergraduate degree and masters or masters and doctorate. Often times the pitfalls outweigh the benefits at any stage. It just presents an opportunity for life to get in the way of something a student knows they want to do, or it delays it. Someone fresh out of high school taking a gap year to get a skill that they think will benefit them in their career after graduation might find themselves in a completely different career by the time they graduate. And university graduates who plan to further their education- taking a break or just working for a while before graduate school can put them at a disadvantage. Taking a break makes graduate school potentially harder once they have gotten used to living without that stress, the transition back to a student can be unnecessarily difficult than if they went straight through.

Those who start their career with a bachelor's degree when they know they need more than can make life choices and financial commitments that are very difficult to keep in grad school. Perhaps they financed a car or became invested in a project they don't want to abandon but would have easier with a master's degree. Or they start a family and now have to juggle caring for and providing for their family with getting the next degree they need when caring for family would have likely been easier if they had an advanced degree. My bachelor's degree was in social work and many of my classmates decided that they just wanted to work for a while before attending grad school, only to find their return to school delayed and all of the experience they gain with that license not translating into an advantage after they graduated and were looking for a job with the higher license. Essentially many of them just had to play catch-up to those that went straight through and started their career at a higher level. Starting at one level when you know that you need the next level can just be lost time, especially since starting with a bang would only put off working for two years to get the next degree.

I had classmates that intended to go back after a year or two, but by the time they intended to return, they fell in love, got married, had beautiful babies, and all of these blessings meant that they couldn't walk away from a job and health insurance to study full-time. This meant it was harder and took far longer and increased their time working for lower pay, whereas if they hadn't taken a break, they would be working full-time at a higher pay with no classes to juggle. I'm not suggesting that people put off life until school is done or delay marriage, children, or buying a home in favor of going back to school if that is their next step in life, only that they can't assume that it'll be easy to just pick up where they left off if they choose to wait.

Less fortunate things can happen as well, like health crises and caregiving, developing an illness, or having to care for aging parents. These things would have been easier if they have chosen to go straight through. These are some reasons why I think taking a gap year is risky. But if anybody wants to take a gap year, I would be conscientious not to commit to anything that would delay returning to school or not make up for that time by giving them a competitive edge. Otherwise, a year off can easily turn into a decade and it can just add up to lost time.

Do you want to know more?

List of medical office administrator skills to add to your resume

The most important skills for a medical office administrator resume and required skills for a medical office administrator to have include:

Patients
Patient Care
Customer Service
Insurance Verification
Phone Calls
Appointment Scheduling
HIPAA
Patient Charts
Office Equipment
Insurance Benefits
Data Entry
Medical Insurance
Medical Terminology
Front Desk
Telephone Calls
Test Results

EHR
Provide Clerical Support
Patient Appointments
Patient Referrals
Insurance Coverage
Patient Flow
Computer System
Triage
Insurance Forms
Laboratory Tests
Immunization
Medical Practice
Medical Billing
CPT
Patient Demographics
Medical Examinations

Party Carriers
Vital Signs
Insurance Authorizations
Patient Eligibility
Insurance Eligibility
Hippa
Office Procedures
Exam Rooms
Medicaid
Medical History
Patient Registration
Patient Insurance
Patient Accounts
Medical Appointments
Word Processing
Insurance Claims

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

Updated January 8, 2025

Browse office and administrative jobs