Medical office secretary vs receptionist secretary

The differences between medical office secretaries and receptionist secretaries can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both a medical office secretary and a receptionist secretary. Additionally, a medical office secretary has an average salary of $32,609, which is higher than the $29,343 average annual salary of a receptionist secretary.

The top three skills for a medical office secretary include patients, patient appointments and front desk. The most important skills for a receptionist secretary are patients, data entry, and phone calls.

Medical office secretary vs receptionist secretary overview

	Medical Office Secretary	Receptionist Secretary
Yearly salary	$32,609	$29,343
Hourly rate	$15.68	$14.11
Growth rate	-8%	-
Number of jobs	115,116	61,892
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 29%	High School Diploma, 37%
Average age	49	42
Years of experience	2	2

What does a medical office secretary do?

A medical office secretary carries out clerical duties in a health professional's office. They are responsible for typing correspondence and reports, maintaining files, paying vendors, handling insurance forms, billing patients, dealing with clients, scheduling appointments, taking phone calls, and greeting patients when they get to the office. The qualifications for this position include knowledge of computer software, medical terminology, health insurance rules, and medical building procedures.

What does a receptionist secretary do?

A receptionist secretary is responsible for providing the best customer service, as well as attending to the needs of existing and potential clients. Duties of a receptionist secretary include managing customer's inquiries and forwarding important calls to the appropriate department, performing administrative and clerical tasks, escalating high-level of client's concerns to the management, keeping the reception area clean, monitoring office supplies and request stocks as needed, and maintaining an organized record of meetings and events. A receptionist secretary must have strong communication and multi-tasking skills to handle workloads of daily operations.

Medical office secretary vs receptionist secretary salary

Medical office secretaries and receptionist secretaries have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Medical Office Secretary	Receptionist Secretary
Average salary	$32,609	$29,343
Salary range	Between $27,000 And $39,000	Between $24,000 And $35,000
Highest paying City	-	Lake Oswego, OR
Highest paying state	-	Washington
Best paying company	-	Illinois Institute of Technology
Best paying industry	-	Government

Differences between medical office secretary and receptionist secretary education

There are a few differences between a medical office secretary and a receptionist secretary in terms of educational background:

	Medical Office Secretary	Receptionist Secretary
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 29%	High School Diploma, 37%
Most common major	Health Care Administration	Business
Most common college	-	-

Medical office secretary vs receptionist secretary demographics

Here are the differences between medical office secretaries' and receptionist secretaries' demographics:

	Medical Office Secretary	Receptionist Secretary
Average age	49	42
Gender ratio	Male, 9.8% Female, 90.2%	Male, 5.6% Female, 94.4%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 9.6% Unknown, 3.8% Hispanic or Latino, 12.0% Asian, 3.8% White, 70.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%	Black or African American, 11.4% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 21.1% Asian, 6.3% White, 56.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8%
LGBT Percentage	9%	6%

Differences between medical office secretary and receptionist secretary duties and responsibilities

Medical office secretary example responsibilities.

Evaluate all EOB's to insure accurate payment is received and when necessary will file appeals to achieve optimal payments.
Enter new patients confidential information into computer database also discharge patients and enter chart information containing ICD-9 and CPT codes.
Attend various billing, Medicare, Medicaid and HIPPA workshops to stay abreast of changing policies.
Greet patients -schedule appointments -Answered telephones and direct calls -obtain demographic and insurance information -collect co-payments -verify insurance coverage
Obtain patient demographics and record patient information including health history, insurance responsibility forms, and appropriate HIPAA documentation.
Comply with all HIPAA laws and patient privacy policies.

Receptionist secretary example responsibilities.

Assist office management and staff with administrative projects/responsibilities such as managing time-sensitive projects, filing, copying, and collating materials.
Maintain confidential information/ HIPPA compliant.
Prepare PowerPoint presentations and distribute meeting materials.
Maintain confidentiality and release health records information following HIPPA guidelines.
Develop and present PowerPoint presentations to visiting dignitaries from higher headquarters.
Assist office management and staff with administrative projects/responsibilities such as managing time-sensitive projects, filing, copying, and collating materials.

Medical office secretary vs receptionist secretary skills

Common medical office secretary skills

Patients, 35%
Patient Appointments, 13%
Front Desk, 5%
Medical Terminology, 5%
Check-In, 4%
Data Entry, 3%

Common receptionist secretary skills

Patients, 15%
Data Entry, 12%
Phone Calls, 11%
Customer Service, 9%
Telephone Calls, 8%
Appointment Scheduling, 7%

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Office and Administrative Industry
Medical Office Secretary
Medical Office Secretary vs Receptionist Secretary

Updated January 8, 2025

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