To become a clinical office manager, you typically need a high school diploma and an associate’s degree in medical administration or health services. Leadership, organizational, and computer skills are also required. A degree in health services or business administration may also be appropriate.
A clinical office manager oversees the operations of a physician’s office and performs a variety of management, billing, administration, and planning tasks. To become a clinical practice manager, you’ll typically need a high school diploma or equivalent, as well as an associate’s degree in a field such as medical administration or health services. In most cases, you will also need related skills, such as those involving leadership, organization, use of computers and software, and delegation.
In most cases, at least some higher education is required to become a clinical practice manager. While you might be able to find a job as an office manager in another field with a high school diploma, many employers expect you to have a college education when you want to manage a clinical office. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll need a bachelor’s degree – many employers hire people who hold associate degrees for this position. If you choose to pursue a bachelor’s degree, however, you may be a more competitive candidate when compared to less educated individuals.
Often, an associate’s degree in a medically related discipline provides good preparation for a career in that field. For example, you can enroll in a degree program in medical administration. As part of this type of program, you will likely learn about common doctor’s office procedures, coding, medical terminology, and medical ethics. You can also take courses in pharmacology, transcription, and billing. Often this type of program also provides an introduction to medical writing and the structures of the human body, and sometimes includes a career development component as well.
While earning a degree in medical administration can be helpful when you want to become a clinical office manager, there are also other degree programs that are appropriate for this job. For example, you might consider majoring in health services or health services administration. You may even qualify for this job after earning a degree in business administration.
You will also need a range of skills to become a clinical office manager. For example, leadership and organizational skills, as well as analytical skills and an affinity for multitasking are often required for this job. You will likely need planning, training and assessment skills as well. Good communication and delegation skills are also important when you want to pursue this job. In addition, most employers will expect you to have experience with computers, various types of office equipment, and software commonly used in medical offices.
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