How to hire a medical receptionist

How to hire a medical receptionist, step by step

Here's a step-by-step medical receptionist 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 receptionist job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new medical receptionist
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a medical receptionist do?

Post a medical receptionist job for free, promote it for a fee

Post free

1. Identify your hiring needs

   The medical receptionist hiring process starts by determining what type of worker you actually need. Certain roles might require a full-time employee, whereas part-time workers or contractors can do others.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

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

   Yes

   No

   You should also consider the ideal background you'd like them a medical receptionist 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 receptionist that fits the bill.

   This list presents medical receptionist salaries for various positions.

   Type of Medical Receptionist	Description	Hourly rate
   Medical Receptionist	Secretaries and administrative assistants perform clerical and administrative duties. They organize files, prepare documents, schedule appointments, and support other staff.	$12-18
   Patient Service Coordinator	Patient services coordinators act as a liaison between a healthcare organization and patients. Their primary job is to provide quality service to patients... Show more	$12-20
   Front Office Coordinator	A front office coordinator is responsible for assisting clients with their inquiries and concerns and directing them to the appropriate department and personnel to immediately address their needs. Front office coordinators schedule appointments, verify visitors' identities by checking their credentials for security purposes, processing service payments, updating customers' data and visitation log on the database, and escalating high-level complaints... Show more	$12-20

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Patients
   • Customer Service
   • Check-In
   • Medical Terminology
   • Patient Care
   • Front Desk
   • Phone Calls
   • Data Entry
   • HIPAA
   • Patient Referrals
   • Insurance Verification
   • Insurance Eligibility
   • Patient Demographics
   • Telephone Calls

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Conduct analysis to address long wait times which lead to faster triage, shorter wait times.
   • Evaluate all EOB's to insure accurate payment is received and when necessary will file appeals to achieve optimal payments.
   • Greet and check-in patients, including obtaining accurate patient demographic information, patient registration, and checking insurance eligibility.
   • Learned and operate chiropractic equipment (decompression; Leander) & x-rays; enabling Dr to have more time for patients.
   • Resolve concerns of terminally ill patients with compassion and professionalism.
   • Identify patients' specific scheduling requirements while demonstrating care and compassion via telephone.

   More medical receptionist duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your medical receptionist job description is a great way to entice the best and brightest candidates. A medical receptionist salary can vary based on several factors:

   • Location. For example, medical receptionists' average salary in mississippi is 45% less than in maine.
   • Seniority. Entry-level medical receptionists earn 32% less than senior-level medical receptionists.
   • Certifications. A medical receptionist with a few certifications under their belt will likely demand a higher salary.
   • Company. Working for a prestigious company or an exciting start-up can make a huge difference in a medical receptionist's salary.

   Average medical receptionist salary

   $15.37hourly

   $31,960 yearly

   ---

   Entry-level medical receptionist salary

   $26,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 26, 2025

   Average medical receptionist salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	Maine	$41,345	$20
   2	Washington	$40,816	$20
   3	California	$38,039	$18
   4	Massachusetts	$36,887	$18
   5	Oregon	$36,605	$18
   6	District of Columbia	$36,481	$18
   7	Minnesota	$36,127	$17
   8	New York	$34,479	$17
   9	Connecticut	$34,014	$16
   10	Rhode Island	$33,715	$16
   11	New Jersey	$33,101	$16
   12	Colorado	$32,950	$16
   13	Maryland	$32,415	$16
   14	Illinois	$32,128	$15
   15	Arizona	$31,851	$15
   16	North Carolina	$31,786	$15
   17	Missouri	$31,689	$15
   18	Virginia	$31,627	$15
   19	Pennsylvania	$31,399	$15
   20	Michigan	$30,707	$15

   Average medical receptionist salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	CENTER FOR SIGHT	$42,610	$20.49
   2	Retina Group Of Washington	$42,578	$20.47	9
   3	Eye Health Services	$42,535	$20.45	2
   4	Discover Vision	$41,502	$19.95	93
   5	Virginia Eye Institute	$41,300	$19.86	10
   6	University of California-Berkeley	$40,811	$19.62
   7	General Dynamics Mission Systems	$40,403	$19.42
   8	Conviva	$39,865	$19.17
   9	University of California	$39,732	$19.10	138
   10	Mount Auburn Hospital	$39,511	$19.00
   11	Pfizer	$38,938	$18.72	6
   12	UMass Memorial Health	$38,127	$18.33	36
   13	Beacon Hill Staffing Group	$37,978	$18.26
   14	Lifespan	$37,930	$18.24
   15	Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center	$37,693	$18.12
   16	Agilent Technologies	$37,551	$18.05
   17	Long Island Plastic Surgical Group	$37,371	$17.97
   18	Mayo Clinic	$37,068	$17.82	45
   19	University of Southern California	$37,036	$17.81	28
   20	Southcoast Health	$36,958	$17.77	27

4. Writing a medical receptionist job description

   A medical receptionist job description should include a summary of the role, required skills, and a list of responsibilities. It's also good to include a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager. Below, you can find an example of a medical receptionist job description:

   Medical receptionist job description example

   The Medical Receptionist Supervisor (MRS) will report to the Practice Physician and/or the Practice Administrator. Under the direction of the Practice Physician, the Medical Receptionist Supervisor (MRS) will provide superior level of secretarial duties and reception services to the doctor, patients, and staff. Additionally, one of their functions will be to supervisor and manage to secretarial staff.
   Responsibilities
   
   Supervise Medical Receptionists (MR) within the Physician Practices. Prepare the weekly office schedule, and when necessary, schedule the full-time/part-time/floater staff to rotate between different practices to cover. Will manage all of the Medical Receptionist's (MR) performance reviews and provide feedback to staff and administration using performance management. Will coach, mention, and influence technical leadership, as well as, foster teamwork within the Physician Practices to coach and counsel behaviors. Point person for Practice Administrator for conveying needs of the practice and diffusing or assist in diffusing issues within the Practice. Enters, maintains, and reports all medical history, medical coding, and filing claims using Electronic Medical Record (EMR). Updates all patient files and make sure documents are accurate, confidential, and compliant. Greets, check in and checkout patients, and advises other medical staff of arrival of patient's. Maintain inventory of necessary supplies and maintains inventory on all necessary instruments. Address and request referrals and other insurance authorizations. As well as, passing along patient information for prescription, x-ray or lab requisitions to necessary parties. This includes, calling pharmacies, hospitals, and labs. Schedule appointments, reschedule, follow up with no calls, no shows, the discharge of patients, and follow up appointments. Answer inbound calls to the practice, as well as, greet vendors and set vendor appointments. Will convey messages in writing, electronically, and verbally. Will maintain Physicians calendars, prepares doctors notes, return to work, school, or leave notices and all other correspondence as directed. Scanning, filing, and faxing documents, as well as, prepare and sort mail. Ensure the waiting and reception areas are kept orderly and clean, and will report on any damages of furniture, supplies, or equipment. Act as a liaison with patients, referrals, general practitioners, health care professionals, and patient's family member in a compassionate and kind manner. Other office responsibilities, assigned by supervisor or Physician, as deemed necessary.
   Qualifications
   
   Minimum Education
   •Associates, High School Diploma, or GED equivalent preferred
   •Higher education may be substituted for experience
   
   Minimum Work Experience
   •3 - 5 years experience in a hospital or physician practice setting
   •1 - 3 years experience in a supervisor capacity
   
   Required Licenses/Certifications
   •N/A
   
   Required Skills, Knowledge, and Abilities
   •Intermediate to advanced EMR knowledge
   •Intermediate to advanced Microsoft Office knowledge
   •Ability to multitask, can work in a fast paced clinical environment, can engage patients, peers, and supervisors in a dedicated, comforting, respectful and effective way and has the ability to adapt to change.

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are various strategies that you can use to find the right medical receptionist for your business:

   • Consider promoting from within or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to find candidates who meet your education requirements.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to reach potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your medical receptionist job on Zippia to find and recruit medical receptionist candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   During your first interview to recruit medical receptionists, engage with candidates to learn about their interest in the role and experience in the field. During the following interview, you'll be able to go into more detail about the company, the position, and the responsibilities.

   You should also ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match the ideal candidate profile you developed earlier. Candidates good enough for the next step can complete the technical interview.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new medical receptionist

   Once you've found the medical receptionist 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.

8. 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.)

   Sign up to download full list

   Sign up

How much does it cost to hire a medical receptionist?