How to hire a medical office assistant

Medical office assistant hiring summary. Here are some key points about hiring medical office assistants in the United States:

HR departments typically spend 15% of their expenses on recruitment.
It usually takes about 12 weeks for a new employee to reach full productivity levels.
It typically takes 36-42 days to fill a job opening.
The median cost to hire a medical office assistant is $1,633.
Small businesses spend an average of $1,105 per medical office assistant on training each year, while large companies spend $658.
There are currently 884,913 medical office assistants in the US and 199,611 job openings.
New York, NY, has the highest demand for medical office assistants, with 40 job openings.
New York, NY has the highest concentration of medical office assistants.

How to hire a medical office assistant, step by step

To hire a medical office assistant, you should create an ideal candidate profile, determine a budget, and post and promote your job. Here's a step-by-step guide on how to hire a medical office assistant:

Here's a step-by-step medical office assistant hiring guide:

Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
Step 3: Make a budget
Step 4: Write a medical office assistant job description
Step 5: Post your job
Step 6: Interview candidates
Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new medical office assistant
Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a medical office assistant do?

A medical office assistant, or sometimes known as a medical administrative assistant, is an individual who performs administrative functions for a hospital or clinic. Medical office assistants are responsible for all office duties such as accounting, medical transcription, and filing insurance claims. They interview their patients about medical case history and critical information and must also compile their medical records. They must also possess knowledge in topics such as medical terminology and medical law and ethics.

Learn more about the specifics of what a medical office assistant does

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Identify your hiring needs

Before you start hiring a medical office assistant, identify what type of worker you actually need. Certain positions might call for a full-time employee, while others can be done by a part-time worker or contractor.

Determine employee vs contractor status

Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

You should also consider the ideal background you'd like them a medical office assistant to have before you start to hire. For example, what industry or field would you like them to have experience in, what level of seniority or education does the job require, and how much it'll cost to hire a medical office assistant that fits the bill.

This list shows salaries for various types of medical office assistants.

Type of Medical Office Assistant	Description	Hourly rate
Medical Office Assistant	Medical assistants complete administrative and clinical tasks in the offices of physicians, hospitals, and other healthcare facilities. Their duties vary with the location, specialty, and size of the practice.	$13-18
Medical Clerk	A medical clerk works in the administrative area of a medical facility or hospital. The medical clerk collects all patient information and medical records... Show more	$12-19
Medical Scribe	As a medical scribe, their main responsibility is to follow a physician's daily work and do charting of patient encounters in real-time by accessing their medical electronic health record (EHR). It is their duty to make sure the patient schedules are followed, generate referral letters for physicians and manage and sort medical documents within the EHR... Show more	$11-18

Create an ideal candidate profile
Common skills:
- Patients
- Patient Care
- Vital Signs
- Customer Service
- Medical Terminology
- Phlebotomy
- Exam Rooms
- Patient Flow
- EKG
- Blood Pressure
- Phone Calls
- Data Entry
- Excellent Interpersonal
- Front Desk
Check all skills
Responsibilities:
- Experience with manage care, Medicare, Medicaid, and commercial carriers.
- Communicate closely with patients to ensure they are managing their current medications properly, and maintain accurate, up-to-date medical records.
- Conduct preliminary patient screenings by assessing vital signs, recording patient information, preparing patient rooms, and performing EKG tests.
- Protect patients' rights by maintaining confidentiality of personal information follows policies and procedures including HIPAA regulations.
- Perform medical office duties including checking vital signs, history gathering, phlebotomy, and assisting physician with medical/neurological procedures.
- Implement a new EHR system; provide leadership and mentoring to staff and physician during transition.
More medical office assistant duties

Make a budget

Including a salary range in your medical office assistant job description helps attract top candidates to the position. A medical office assistant salary can be affected by several factors, such as geography, experience, seniority, certifications, and the prestige of the hiring company.

For example, the average salary for a medical office assistant in Pennsylvania may be lower than in Alaska, and an entry-level medical office assistant usually earns less than a senior-level medical office assistant. Additionally, a medical office assistant with certifications may command a higher salary, and working for a well-known company or start-up may also impact an employee's pay.

Average medical office assistant salary

$15.88hourly

$33,025 yearly

Entry-level medical office assistant salary

$28,000 yearly salary

Updated December 5, 2025

Average medical office assistant salary by state

Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
1	District of Columbia	$37,602	$18
2	Washington	$37,317	$18
3	California	$35,876	$17
4	Oregon	$35,696	$17
5	Massachusetts	$35,587	$17
6	Connecticut	$35,326	$17
7	Rhode Island	$34,807	$17
8	Illinois	$34,520	$17
9	Florida	$34,381	$17
10	Arizona	$33,860	$16
11	Wisconsin	$33,757	$16
12	New York	$33,085	$16
13	Texas	$32,953	$16
14	Maryland	$32,681	$16
15	New Jersey	$32,484	$16
16	Michigan	$32,476	$16
17	Tennessee	$32,347	$16
18	Indiana	$32,298	$16
19	Virginia	$31,473	$15
20	Missouri	$31,246	$15

Average medical office assistant salary by company

Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
1	Erickson Senior Living	$37,790	$18.17	28
2	Beacon Hill Staffing Group	$37,418	$17.99
3	Care New England Health System	$37,409	$17.99	38
4	Medical University of South Carolina	$37,128	$17.85	27
5	UMass Memorial Health	$36,995	$17.79	72
6	The University of Texas at San Antonio	$36,464	$17.53	4
7	St Luke's Hospital & Health Network Inc	$36,344	$17.47
8	Moffitt Cancer Center	$36,278	$17.44	5
9	Mount Sinai Health System	$36,231	$17.42	86
10	Community Medical Center	$36,166	$17.39	31
11	Hillside Family of Agencies	$36,147	$17.38
12	Trillium Health Resources	$35,944	$17.28
13	University of Mississippi Medical Center	$35,922	$17.27	13
14	Pediatric Associates, Inc.	$35,504	$17.07	1
15	Blessing Hospital Emergency Room	$35,256	$16.95	11
16	Children's of Alabama	$35,157	$16.90	13
17	Insperity	$35,028	$16.84
18	University Hospitals	$35,028	$16.84	13
19	Conemaugh Health System	$34,799	$16.73
20	Cleveland Clinic	$34,698	$16.68	177

Writing a medical office assistant job description
A good medical office assistant job description should include a few things:
- Summary of the role
- List of responsibilities
- Required skills and experience
Including a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager is also appreciated by candidates. Here's an example of a medical office assistant job description:
Medical office assistant job description example
Toledo Clinic is offering a $2,000 SIGN ON BONUS at hire and a $3,000 RETENTION BONUS after one year of employment to Medical Assistants and Certified Patient Care Techs hired for this position. Toledo Clinic's Primary Care Department is seeking a full-time MA (RMA/CMA), LPN, or Certified Patient Care Tech (CPCT/A) to perform phone triage in a busy Primary Care office. We will also consider candidates with the ABR-OE certification. Mon-Fri (8-5), no weekends or holidays. Qualified candidates will have previous medical office experience and knowledge of medical terminology. Benefits are offered!
General Summary:

Answers phone calls related to patients' medical problems, addresses questions with physicians. Follow Physician/Manager verbal orders related to patient care. Put in telephone encounters in detail with patient medical issues/questions.

Works under the supervision of the Office Manager.

Principal Duties & Responsibilities:
1. Answer patient telephone calls related to medical questions.
2. Interact with physicians to get answers to patient questions and relay the information to patients.
3. Refill medications
4. Prior authorizations
5. At the request of the physician, call in prescriptions
6. Various clerical duties (i.e.: answering phones, scheduling appointments, etc.).
7. Follow up with lab work and/or xrays.
8. Other duties as assigned.
Knowledge, Skills & Abilities Required:

Required:

- Excellent telephone skills required. 90% of this position requires talking on the telephone.

- Medical background to be able to triage patient questions appropriately

- Medical Terminology

- Attention to detail and being conscientious to follow up with patients

- Must be able to work quickly and accurately

- Consistently arrives at work, in professional attire, on time and completes all tasks within established time frame.

- Seeks appropriate tasks when primary tasks are completed and assists co-workers as needed.

- Demonstrates adaptability to expanded roles.

- RMA/CMA, ABR-OE, nursing licensure or CPCT/A required.

Education:

High School Diploma

Medical Assistant degree or nursing licensure

PCT degree

Preferred:

- Previous medical office experience helpful.
Post your job
There are a few common ways to find medical office assistants for your business:
- Promoting internally or recruiting from your existing workforce.
- Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
- Attend job fairs at local colleges to meet candidates with the right educational background.
- Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to recruit passive job-seekers.
Post your job online:
- Post your medical office assistant job on Zippia to find and recruit medical office assistant candidates who meet your exact specifications.
- Use field-specific websites such as healthcarejobsite, health jobs nationwide, hospitalcareers, medreps.com.
- Post a job on free websites.
Interview candidates
Recruiting medical office assistants requires you to bring your A-game to the interview process. The first interview should introduce the company and the role to the candidate as much as they present their background experience and reasons for applying for the job. During later interviews, you can go into more detail about the technical details of the job and ask behavioral questions to gauge how they'd fit into your current company culture.
It's also good to ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match your ideal candidate profile. If you think a candidate is good enough for the next step, you can move on to the technical interview.
The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.
Send a job offer and onboard your new medical office assistant
Once you've found the medical office assistant candidate you'd like to hire, it's time to write an offer letter. This should include an explicit job offer that includes the salary and the details of any other perks. Qualified candidates might be looking at multiple positions, so your offer must be competitive if you like the candidate. Also, be prepared for a negotiation stage, as candidates may way want to tweak the details of your initial offer. Once you've settled on these details, you can draft a contract to formalize your agreement.
It's also important to follow up with applicants who do not get the job with an email letting them know that the position is filled.
To prepare for the new employee's start date, you can create an onboarding schedule and complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9 forms, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Human Resources should also ensure that a new employee file is created.
Go through the hiring process checklist
- Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
- Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
- Define job responsibilities and requirements
- Establish budget and timeline
- Determine hiring decision makers for the role
- Write job description
- Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
- Promote the job internally
- Process applications through applicant tracking system
- Review resumes and cover letters
- Shortlist candidates for screening
- Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
- Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
- Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
- Conduct background checks on top candidates
- Check references of top candidates
- Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
- Extend offer to top candidate(s)
- Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
- Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
- Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
- Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)
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How much does it cost to hire a medical office assistant?

Hiring a medical office assistant comes with both the one-time cost per hire and ongoing costs. The cost of recruiting medical office assistants involves promoting the job and spending time conducting interviews. Ongoing costs include employee salary, training, benefits, insurance, and equipment. It is essential to consider the cost of medical office assistant recruiting as well the ongoing costs of maintaining the new employee.

The median annual salary for medical office assistants is $33,025 in the US. However, the cost of medical office assistant hiring can vary a lot depending on location. Additionally, hiring a medical office assistant for contract work or on a per-project basis typically costs between $13 and $18 an hour.

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Updated December 5, 2025

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How to hire a medical office assistant