Medical Assistant Salary Guide

Medical assistants are key personnel in any health care facility, be it a public or private hospital or clinic. They contribute a lot to the smooth running of a medical office. In America, it is one of the fastest growing careers of modern times. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), medical assisting, as a career, is growing by a projected 35% and will be among the fastest growing careers into 2016. This is probably credited to the fact that this position can be available to one who has just left school or has only a few years of experience. In addition, a medical assistant salary can be relatively high.
 
The position of medical assistant is comprised of a number of duties. They include administrative tasks such as filing of patient records, filling out insurance forms, handling bills, and book keeping, arranging for hospital admissions, signing in new patients, and taking laboratory tests such as x-rays. The salary range for a physician’s assistant will thus partly depend, alongside their experience, on the nature and number of tasks they undertake. It is therefore not uncommon to find that the more tasks the assistant performs, the higher the wages. Some assistants are considered to be the doctor’s right hand and are trusted with a lot of responsibility.
 
Current data indicates that the medical assistant salary ranges between $18,750 and $40,920 annually. Hourly pay is between $9.01 and $19.67 an hour. This is a huge variation, but according to a research done in 2009 by Salary.com, 50% of medical assistants fall into the range of $26,129 and $30,980, while the Bureau of Labour Statistics put the median wage at $28,860 per annum in 2010. The variation of salaries comes from numerous factors such as level of education, where you work (that is, public or private medical facility), the size of the company, what type of area you work in, and your credentials.
 
For instance, a medical assistant working for a large organization, will generally earn higher wages than the one in a small office. Research also shows that the medical assistant salary in a state or local government run facility is higher than that of a counterpart working in a private hospital. Those working in hospitals have an average wage rate of about $14.70 per hour compared to $14.55 an hour wages made by those in private practice.
 
However, one sure way for a medical assistant salary increment is by advancing their education in the profession. According to curated data as of 2010, a medical assistant salary for someone with a basic high school diploma will be set at the low hourly rate of about $9.00 an hour; whilst someone with a certificate from a medical training program earns an average starting wage of $11.00 or more, and will be more eligible for pay increases with time.