Office specialist vs medical assistant

The differences between office specialists and medical assistants can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 1-2 years to become an office specialist, becoming a medical assistant takes usually requires 6-12 months. Additionally, a medical assistant has an average salary of $34,900, which is higher than the $33,477 average annual salary of an office specialist.

The top three skills for an office specialist include customer service, data entry and patients. The most important skills for a medical assistant are patients, vital signs, and patient care.

Office specialist vs medical assistant overview

	Office Specialist	Medical Assistant
Yearly salary	$33,477	$34,900
Hourly rate	$16.09	$16.78
Growth rate	-5%	16%
Number of jobs	98,760	189,915
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 44%	Associate Degree, 24%
Average age	47	37
Years of experience	2	12

What does an office specialist do?

An office specialist is responsible for performing administrative and clerical duties to support the organization's daily operations. Office specialists must be highly organizational, as well as having excellent time-management skills to handle work units. They have duties including data entry procedures, greeting visitors, responding to customers' inquiries through phone calls and e-mails, and filing and sorting documents. Office specialists are responsible for creating meeting reports, scheduling appointments, evaluating financial statements, coordinating with other staff for event planning, and assisting the senior management with complex functions.

What does a medical assistant do?

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.

Office specialist vs medical assistant salary

Office specialists and medical assistants have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Office Specialist	Medical Assistant
Average salary	$33,477	$34,900
Salary range	Between $25,000 And $43,000	Between $27,000 And $43,000
Highest paying City	Washington, DC	Vancouver, WA
Highest paying state	Massachusetts	Alaska
Best paying company	Brookhaven National Laboratory	Columbia University in the City of New York
Best paying industry	Finance	Health Care

Differences between office specialist and medical assistant education

There are a few differences between an office specialist and a medical assistant in terms of educational background:

	Office Specialist	Medical Assistant
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 44%	Associate Degree, 24%
Most common major	Business	Medical Assisting Services
Most common college	Western Carolina University	-

Office specialist vs medical assistant demographics

Here are the differences between office specialists' and medical assistants' demographics:

	Office Specialist	Medical Assistant
Average age	47	37
Gender ratio	Male, 18.3% Female, 81.7%	Male, 10.4% Female, 89.6%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 8.1% Unknown, 4.9% Hispanic or Latino, 19.8% Asian, 8.4% White, 57.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.2%	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	6%	6%

Differences between office specialist and medical assistant duties and responsibilities

Office specialist example responsibilities.

Provide support for enrolling patients into health coverage programs and manage sensitive patient information to ensure accuracy and confidentiality.
Manage and maintain patients' medical records by utilizing computer applications management database processing system to ensure county compliance.
Manage operational FedEx relationship through order fulfillment, shipment tracking, and communication with parties involve in shipment transaction.
Provide assistance to office staff including preparing and proofreading memos and grants, transcribing meeting minutes for staff and answering phones.
Perform multiple bookkeeping duties including departmental payroll, print financial reports and other financial material as needed.
Communicate HIPAA compliance to staff, field and outside agencies.

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Medical assistant example responsibilities.

Create and maintain confidential patient files; implement EHR systems to automate patient records management for the purposes of meaningful use.
Adhere to OSHA guidelines while performing instrument sterilization in addition to managing medical inventory.
Participate in emergency surgical intervention in obstetrics and gynecology patients.
Demonstrate proficiency in taking patient history and vitals, venipuncture, injections, urinalysis and preparing examination trays.
Attend to new out patients in gynecology clinic, make clinical diagnosis and follow up.
Provide RMA support to physician, and patients, including but not limit to vitals and patient history.

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Office specialist vs medical assistant skills

Common office specialist skills

Customer Service, 18%
Data Entry, 10%
Patients, 9%
Office Equipment, 6%
Phone Calls, 6%
Word Processing, 4%

Common medical assistant skills

Patients, 20%
Vital Signs, 10%
Patient Care, 9%
Phlebotomy, 4%
CPR, 4%
EKG, 4%

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Updated January 8, 2025

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