Physicians are busier than ever. With packed schedules, more patients than ever before, and increasingly stringent requirements for reporting, documentation, and billing, they are left with little to no time for anything other than work. However, having trained medical assistants (MAs) in your practice save physicians a lot of time, up to three hours a day.

MAs are criminally underutilized in the modern medical world. Most of the tasks that physicians perform on a day-to-day basis do not require a physician’s expertise, such as recordkeeping, documentation, medication review, and pending routine orders. These tasks can be easily taken off physicians’ plates by hiring an MA and assigning these tasks to them. Not only will this free up the physician for more important tasks, but it will also serve as valuable experience for the medical experience of all the tasks one needs to be proficient in to run a successful medical practice.

As stated above, assigning the administrative, and even some of the clinical, responsibilities of a physician to an MA will free up to three hours a day for physicians. Here are a few tips on working with MAs:

Making the most of MAs

With MAs already so underutilized in the healthcare industry, not many physicians will be familiar with how to best make use of them. The first challenge is actually finding good people. Ideally, any practice should have two MAs for every physician, however, there just aren’t enough of them available to meet that ratio. In order to make the most of the limited number of MAs available, practices first need to understand how best to make use of them, and what roles they should be fulfilled within the practice. Through this understanding, they can begin to make plans for how to recruit and retain the best MAs.

While an MA typically does not need to be licensed or certified, the scope of activities they are allowed to legally perform varies from state to state. Certain states do require certifications, which include Certified Medical Assistant (CMA), Registered Medical Assistant (RMA), and Certified Clinical Medical Assistant (CCMA).

There are a few different ways that MA’s can qualify to sit for a licensing exam:

• Apprenticeship, usually lasting five years
• Formal MA training programs, typically take between nine months and two years
• Military training.
• Experience as an MA instructor.
• MA training as early as high school

Certain programs have begun providing medical training to students as early as high school, providing valuable knowledge and experience that will serve the students well in the future, and may help to shorten the two years it typically takes to receive certification.

Enrolling in medical assistant programs can be crucial for those looking to bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical skills. These programs emphasize medical administrative assisting, preparing graduates to perform vital organizational tasks effectively within medical practices.

Once an MA has been hired and integrated into the practice, the roles they can fulfill include a wide range of tasks. From simple tasks like shepherding patients to exam rooms and taking vitals, to more complex roles within the medical team that include administrative functions, documentation support, and patient portal management. They can be involved in pre-appointment tasks, such as documenting patient complaints and taking medical histories. Many also help practices identify care gaps, and ways to improve patient care.

Training and background vary widely among individuals, so it’s important to identify where an individual MA’s strengths lie and assign them tasks that suit their unique skillset. Once onboarded, MAs will need a dedicated plan for career development and progression, allowing for them to acquire more advanced titles, pay, and skills, a crucial component to maintaining job satisfaction and ensuring they continue to perform to the best of their abilities.