MightyRecruiterWriting an effective medical office receptionist job description is critical from a human resources and management perspective. In this economy, more and more individuals are on the hunt for a new job or second job. As such, posting a vague job listing for a position that many job seekers feel they could do—whether or not they have the skill sets or experience to actually back that feeling up with tangible evidence—can lead to your healthcare organization being completely inundated with unsuitable applications. This can lead to days or weeks of sifting through unqualified resumes, only to find a handful of qualified individuals to call for interviews. To help you avoid this, MightyRecruiter has provided a sample medical office receptionist job description sample below. Feel free to modify it as needed for your purposes.
Medical Office Receptionist Job Summary
The medical office receptionist provides assistance to patients, doctors, office employees, and other individuals. This employee helps the clinic run smoothly by scheduling appointments, greeting and checking in patients, answering phones, maintaining accounts and records, and other tasks as needed. From the moment the patient walks through our door or calls, they should feel like part of the family. Whether in person or over the phone, you are typically the first face or voice our patients will see or hear. Your role in this process cannot be overstated!
Medical Office Receptionist Job Responsibilities and Duties
- Creates a welcoming atmosphere by greeting visitors and patients to the clinic
- Checks in and checks out patients in a timely, friendly manner
- Outstanding professional phone management skills: manages a multiline telephone system efficiently and politely, minimizing hold time
- Comforts patients by answering any questions they may have
- Expedites patient processing by having them fill out forms
- Obtains patient identification and insurance information
- Maintains patient accounts by verifying insurance information and coordinating with relevant organizations for payment and referral requirements
- Keeps doctor, nurses, medical assistants, and any other related staff abreast of scheduling, patient details, and potential service delays
- Helps maintain office inventory; may place orders for office supplies and schedule service for office equipment repairs
- Protects patients’ right of confidentiality; mandatory familiarity with HIPAA
- Coordinates transportation for patients as needed
- Schedules testing and procedures for patients as necessary
- Helps respond to medical emergencies, if necessary
Medical Office Receptionist Skills and Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree preferred; Associate’s degree considered. Substantial (7+ years) medical office receptionist experience may be considered in lieu of any professional degree.
- At least 3 full years of direct experience as a medical office receptionist in a fast-paced clinic, hospital, or similar healthcare setting.
- Must be able to multitask effectively; critical time management skills necessary
- Understanding of basic healthcare terminology
- Demonstrated ability to interact with healthcare professionals, patients, and insurance companies alike
- Excellent customer service skills
- Pleasant phone demeanor; bilingual speaker preferred
- Computer skills required; working knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite mandatory, and must type 30+wpm
- CPR certified
Organization Profile
ABC Orthopedic Medical has been providing quality medical care to patients in the region since 2010, and has rapidly expanded in both scope and scale since this time. Our purpose is to provide our patients and their families with the utmost in high-quality, compassionate orthopedic healthcare.
Writing an Effective Job Description: Best Practices
- Hopefully, the Medical Office Receptionist job description sample outlined above will give you a great starting point. However, you may not always be able to find a template that exactly meets your needs. When this happens, here are a few basic guidelines—broken down into do’s and don’ts—that may help.
- DO be as specific as possible without overloading the job posting with content. The clearer you are upfront, the less time you will spend drowning in unqualified applications later.
- DON’T forget to show off your company culture and personality in the listing. Employee retention is critical for any organization; the better a fit you find for the job upfront, the less money you will spend in the long run.
- DO break down the information into manageable chunks for your job seeker. Bullet points are one excellent way to accomplish this.
- DON’T post salary and benefits information before checking with HR or your company policy first.
The Medical Office Receptionist job description sample above is a great example of how to attract the most qualified individuals to your team, while politely discouraging those who don’t have the proper background or skills.
Medical Office Receptionist Job Responsibilities
When writing the job responsibilities section of your medical office receptionist job description, always follow the best practices discussed here. Specifically, you want to utilize bullet points to make it easy for jobseekers to quickly skim through and get an idea of what the position entails. Limit your list to just the 6-8 most important elements of the job rather than including an extensive list of every single possible duty or task. To really make each task attractive to potential candidates, start with a strong action verb.
Although you should not overload this list, you should still write the medical office receptionist job responsibilities section to be the most substantial of the job description. Most jobseekers focus their attention on this section to determine whether to apply. Therefore, a well-written one attracts better candidates, which in turn leads to a better hire. You also would not have to waste time filtering through poor candidates.
The following examples should help you devise your own responsibilities for your medical office receptionist job description:
- Greet patients as they arrive in the office for appointments and provide them with paperwork to complete
- Answer incoming phone calls and transfer them to appropriate staff members
- Notify staff members when patients arrive for scheduled appointments
- Schedule appointments with an optimal patient flow for all doctors
Medical Office Receptionist Job Specifications
After spending copious amounts of time on the job summary, job responsibilities and other meatier sections of your medical office receptionist job description, it may be tempting to dismiss the job qualifications and skills section. However, that is a big mistake. If you do not put the right information in this section, you might end up with more unqualified candidates to go through.
Instead of falling into the common trap of dismissing this section, take a moment to figure out the right criteria for the job. You most likely will have some items that a candidate must have and a few that you prefer. Rather than putting them into one large list, divide it into two. Place the criteria that candidates must have for you to consider them into a required list. Then, include a few more criteria that you prefer candidates to have in another list. Jobseekers can read through the medical office receptionist job specifications and determine whether they should apply based on how well they meet the criteria.
Below are some examples in case you need help writing your own medical office receptionist job description:
- High school diploma or equivalent; associate degree preferred
- 2–5 years of applicable experience
- Certification in medical billing and coding
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills
