Hospital Administration Clerk: Salary and Career Facts

<p>Hospital administration clerks are medical secretaries who work in hospitals. They perform basic clerical duties, like answering phones, organizing patient files and scheduling appointments. They also assist with insurance and billing, and they may be involved in taking the patient's medical history. Some also specialize in transcribing audio recordings of medical professionals who work in the hospital into text forms that can be input into electronic health records. </p> <p>The following chart gives you an overview of what you need to know about entering this field. </p> <p /> <table border="1"><tr><td> <b>Degree Required</b> </td><td> High school diploma recommended</td></tr> <tr><td> <b>Key Skills</b> </td><td> Medical terminology knowledge; computer, writing and customer service skills</td></tr> <tr><td> <b>Job Growth (2020-2030)</b> </td><td> 11% for all medical secretaries*</td></tr> <tr><td> <b>Average Salary (2020)</b> </td><td> $39,000 for all medical secretaries*</td></tr> </table><p><i>Source: *U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics</i> </p> <h3 id="section---WhatPositionsAreAvailableForHospitalAdministrationClerks">What Positions Are Available for Hospital Administration Clerks?</h3> <p>Hospital administration clerks are sometimes called medical secretaries and administrative assistants, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) (<i>www.bls.gov</i>). Clerks can work in many different departments within a hospital, including the emergency department or an outpatient care center. </p> <h3 id="section---WhatSkillsDoINeed">What Skills Do I Need?</h3> <p>While your required knowledge and skills depend on your position, you might perform basic clerical duties such as scheduling appointments and staff meetings, maintaining electronic files and databases and handling phone calls and e-mail. You may use various types of office equipment and desktop software to prepare documents for meetings, presentations and other purposes. </p> <p>In addition to possessing a working knowledge of medical terminology, you may also want to have experience with hospital and laboratory policies as well as insurance and billing procedures. Additional skills you may need include professional level writing, editing and research abilities. </p> <p>Due to technological advances in equipment and software, the BLS states that administrative assistants are now handling work that was previously performed by managers. As a result, you may have increased responsibility for the day-to-day functioning of your office. </p> <h3 id="section---WhatSalaryMightIEarn">What Salary Might I Earn?</h3> <p>According to the BLS, the mean annual wage for medical secretaries was $39,000 in 2020. Those who worked in general medical and surgical hospitals earned average of $39,370. Between 2020 and 2030, job opportunities in the field are expected to grow by 11%, which is much faster than the national average for all occupations. </p> <h3 id="section---WhatAreSomeRelatedAlternativeCareers">What Are Some Related Alternative Careers?</h3> <p>A related career that you might be interested in is a job as a health information technician. Their activities mainly involve using specific software applications to ensure that medical records are well-organized, protected and readily available for patient support teams. For this job, you usually need to have completed a postsecondary certificate or associate's degree program. Alternatively, you could consider a job as a secretary in a non-medical setting, such as a law firm. There, you would perform some of the same basic administrative duties, but you would also be involved in law-specific activities, like preparing briefs. No formal education is required, but a certificate or associate's degree can boost job prospects.</p>