How Save a Life Helps Medical Assistants Maximize Salaries
National Medical Assistant Week is celebrated in the third week of every October. Each year, we have more to celebrate as new medical assistants join this career path and advance their careers. I wanted to acknowledge the tremendous contribution of medical assistants to patient care by sharing how these essential healthcare workers can make more money. In this article, I look at:
- Career paths, pay, and job outlook
- What’s driving medical assistant demand…and will it continue?
- What it takes to be a medical assistant
- The many ways Save a Life’s online medical certification courses help you maximize your salary
Career Outlook for a Medical Assistant
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS.GOV), the need for medical assistants is growing much faster than other professions and slightly faster than healthcare workers (11%) in general. They estimate growth of 14% between 2022 and 2032, with over 105,900 new medical assistants entering the field in the U.S.
What’s Driving Medical Assistant Demand… and Will It Continue?
Aging Population
People are living longer thanks to better health and wellness innovations and awareness. Today, there are over 62M people over 65, a historically high number. By 2054, analysts anticipate 84 million people over 65 in the U.S. That’s roughly one-quarter of the total U.S. population.
That means that if you become a medical assistant now and work a 20-30-year career, the aging population trend will still be on the upswing. That’s good news for people considering entering this field and those who are already in this role.
Shortage of Doctors and Nurses
Medical professionals are retiring faster than they can be replaced. For example, 23% of registered nurses have either recently retired or will within the next five years. Similarly, the Association of American Medical Colleges projects an 86K-doctor shortage within 12 years (AAMC.org).
What’s worse, it takes many years (11-15+) to train a doctor, and four to six years to train an R.N. Alternatively, you can become a certified medical assistant in under two years. But there’s more.
According to the American Medical Association, healthcare spending in the U.S. is around $4.4T. That’s the equivalent of $13,493 per year for every person in the U.S.—even though most of us aren’t using any healthcare.
Medical assistants are part of the solution. The career path is appealing because of how quickly you can start your career and grow your income through upskilling with Save a Life online medical certification courses.
Technological Advancements
Improved technology is making it easier for someone who didn’t have to go to school for eight or more years, as a doctor does, to help with patient care in a meaningful way. You get to feel good about going to work each day, knowing you’re helping real patients get healthier and stay healthy.
Shift to Outpatient Procedures
Finally, thanks to technology and the innovative minds who continue to improve it, many procedures that once required days of hospital observation are now less invasive and risky. Outpatient is generally cheaper and more convenient for patients.
They no longer need as many highly trained nurses to assist. Medical assistants have all the skills needed for the job.
All of this has also improved the educational and certification opportunities for medical assistants over the last 10-20 years, and we may continue to see medical assistant salaries rise because of it.
What is a Medical Assistant?
A medical assistant is skilled in a combination of administrative and clinical jobs within a medical facility. According to the American Association of Medical Assistants (AAMA.org), the vast majority of you work outpatient in clinics and ambulatory (day procedure) centers.
You help your doctor and nurse co-workers care for patients by performing tasks like these:
- HIPAA-compliantly takes a medical history and personal information
- Take vital signs like blood pressure, pulse, and blood oxygen saturation
- Aid a doctor and nurse during a minor procedure like stitches and perform minor procedures like removing staples as your training allows
- Inject a patient’s prescribed medication that a doctor prescribed if allowed in your state.
- Schedule appointments, manage reminders, and share test results
- Prepare patients for a procedure
- Safely prepare lab samples of bodily fluids like blood or urine after you get bloodborne pathogen-certified with Save a Life
- Update medical records
- Set up a room for the next patient and get supplies
- Billing and coding
- Explaining treatments to patients
If this seems like a lot, know you aren’t doing it all at once. The most important role of a medical assistant is being flexible. You pivot to where you’re needed. As a result, doing your job never gets boring.
How Much Can a Medical Assistant Make?
The median salary for a medical assistant in the U.S. is $43,350 per year or roughly $20/hr. But this can vary widely by state. Starting pay can be as low as $16/hr in some areas (BLS.gov). Several factors can influence your money-making potential.
Location
Geographic location impacts how much you make. But it’s also important to recognize that the cost of living may also be lower in lower-paid areas. It can balance out to some extent, so it’s important to look at the big picture if considering a move for higher pay.
Educational Background
Some small offices, especially in rural communities, will hire medical assistants with no formal training and teach them on the job. That sounds great if your current family obligations or finances make it hard to go back to school. But these are also the lowest paid medical assistants, as low as $15 to $16 per hour.
If you’re considering this quick-entry method, it’s a good idea to find a part-time medical assistant program you can complete while working. And get certified in advanced medical skills with Save a Life to qualify to expand opportunities to boost your pay.
Experience and Work Setting
Where you choose to work can influence both job satisfaction and your potential salary. The lowest-paid medical assistants work for what are referred to as “other healthcare providers“. These include offices that provide non-medical doctor healthcare services, such as those for physical therapy, chiropractic, dentistry, psychology, optometry, etc. The mean wage in these settings is $37,460.
On the other end of the spectrum, those who work in outpatient centers such as ambulatory surgery and substance abuse have the highest median pay at $50,250.
But note that added pay comes with additional responsibility. In these locations, you’re more likely to work with patients at risk of experiencing a cardiac event or other emergency. If you are interested in finding yourself in a coveted higher-paying role like this, it’s vital to learn advanced medical skills such as Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS). Obtaining additional certificates like this online can give you the confidence to stay level-headed and supportive during an emergency.
Here’s How to Maximize Your Salary
Besides location, education, and setting, other factors may influence your starting pay and the job opportunities available. It’s important to consider these factors early so you can start working toward improving your salary quickly. These factors can include:
- Length of the program. They can range from 12 weeks to two years, costing between $1,200 and $10,800, according to Cost Helper. Obviously, a longer program can go more in-depth and tends to cost more. These costs have actually come down since we last reported program costs in 2022, likely due to increased competition from online medical school programs and technology advancements. Now is a great time to become a medical assistant!
- Years of experience
- Being a Certified or Registered Medical Assistant (CMA or RMA, respectively). Getting certified alone can raise your pay, on average, by 10%
- Obtaining medical certifications like Basic Life Support (BLS), CPR, those that teach you how to handle potentially infectious materials
Taking advantage of these ways to maximize your salary can make a big difference. According to Glassdoor, the top salary for a medical assistant is around $81K.
How to Become a Medical Assistant?
1. Research the Role
You’re off to a great start with this article. You could additionally reach out to current experienced medical assistants to ask them what they love or don’t like about their job and if they have any recommendations for someone considering entering the field.
2. Get Your GED or High School Diploma
Be ready to show proof of one of these accomplishments.
3. Enroll in a Medical Assistant Program (Option 1)
You’ll get to those higher-paid jobs faster if you attend at least a 6-month program with an accredited school. In some two-year programs, you can choose to get your associate’s degree simultaneously if that interests you.
Typical Coursework Includes:
- Anatomy and physiology
- Medical terminology
- Pharmacology
- Medical law and ethics
- Clinical procedures
- Administrative procedures
Most programs will have a clinical component to gain hands-on experience in a real medical setting. This experience is invaluable. It ensures you can apply what you learned in books and online.
5. Get an MA Job (Option 2)
You can work as a non-certified MA without formal training, although these jobs may be few and far between in your area. This allows you to start making some money faster while you work on requirements to become certified or registered. While working, why not enroll in and complete a flexible medical assistant program?
6. Take the CMA or RMA Exam
If you complete a medical assistant program, you can take the test as early as 30 days before graduating. If you choose Option 2, check the job requirements, typically around three years, unless you completed a program simultaneously.
Maintaining Your Certification
Becoming a healthcare professional takes commitment and hard work. Being a great medical assistant takes just as much dedication.
As a CMA or RMA, you must get recertified every two years. This is standard for medical professionals. It’s important that you don’t let this lapse, or you may have to take the exam again and suffer other penalties.
To qualify for recertification, you must complete a specified number of hours of continuing education credits. These courses help you stay current with the best medical practices. In fact, medical assistants are among the top professions that need to learn CPR.
The Easy & Convenient Way to Maintain Your Clinical Medical Assistant Certification
The most convenient and cost-effective way to earn credits you need to update your certification as a Clinical Medical Assistant is through online medical certifications with Save a Life.
Save a Life offers certification in practical skills medical assistants need, like CPR, First Aid, and handling bloodborne pathogens. We also offer more 100% online advanced courses to stretch your abilities, such as Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS).
Upskill to Elevate Your Pay
Your starting salary is just that. You can maximize it. Save a Life can help.
Your first job gets you in the door so that you can demonstrate the value you bring to the clinic. Once you demonstrate that you can take on a larger role within a clinic and alleviate the responsibilities of higher-paid professionals—while staying within your scope of practice, you can ask for more money or seek jobs that pay more.
One of the best ways to quickly develop these skills and grow your salary is by adding to your primary CMA or RMA certification. For example, you could complete a CPT (Phlebotomy / Blood draws) course, or better yet, you can get certified in CPR, First Aid, and AED right now through Save a Life’s convenient online program.
Frequently Asked Questions about Becoming an MA
What’s the fastest way to become certified?
Completing a medical assistant training program is the fastest way to become certified and qualify for higher pay. You’ll generally complete a program within around one year and then qualify to take the certification exam.
Alternatively, those who choose not to complete a program can work as a non-certified medical assistant for a period of three years in the last seven years before registering for the certification exam.
Can you become a medical assistant online?
You can complete most coursework to become a medical assistant online—depending on the program. However, as NurseJournal.org points out, the hands-on nature of medical assistance does mean that some of your training will have to be in person.