Certified Medical Assistant Salaries

If you have been thinking about becoming a medical assistant, you will certainly want to know what the current medical assistant salary is. But do you understand just what a medical assistant is, and why you should consider becoming one?

What is a Medical Assistant?

A medical assistant is a member of the medical profession whose job does not require a great deal of training, and can, therefore, be fairly easy career to gat a start in a well paying, and secure job from which you can advance into any number of more skilled careers in the medical profession.

A medical assistant can be thought of as the heart and soul of the medical environment in which they work, whether that be a hospital, private clinic or the many other medical facilities in which they are employed. Besides performing a wide variety of office duties such as filing, billing and scheduling appointments, they will also greet patients, take vitals, prepare exam rooms, often take blood and administer medications, collect blood and tissue cultures and help transport patients. Many times, especially in the smaller private medical offices, the medical assistant serves as a sort of jill-of-all-trades and keeps extremely busy maintaining the office as well as assisting the doctor with much more than the average person may realize.

Medical assistants often enjoy the work they do. While hectic and fast paced, medical assistance provide a valuable service to those around them and are a valuable asset to their communities. Because a great deal of training is not required to become a medical assistant, those who chose this career field are able to start working almost immediately. Some even find work as a medical assistant while still in school. And the demand is high for medical assistants which means the pay is good, and so is the job security and stability. But what do medical assistants make for the work they do?

Certified Medical Assistant Salaries

Typical certified medical assistant salaries are fairly decent, especially in this time of economic trouble when so many are lucky to even have a job. The job may not pay quite as much as you think it should considering the amount of work you do, still it doesn't take a lot of training to become a certified medical assistant. Still, it's a good job for anyone interested in breaking into the medical field and it's a great job if it's your first.

If you are considering becoming a certified medical assistant, you should know that certified medical assistant salaries begin at about $22,500. After you've gotten a few years experience behind you as a certified medical assistant, you will begin to make more—sometimes substantially more. By the time you have been working for several years, or have acquired your associate’s degree in medical assisting, you may expect to be making much more—probably in the range of $40,000 per year.

Right now there is a growing demand for certified medical assistants. The demand has been growing for a number of years and is expected to continue at a rate of nearly 20% over the next decade.

The demand for certified medical assistants will depend on the region of the country you hope to be working although the demand is pretty much on the upswing everywhere as the population ages and the need for medical care continues to grow. Those working in or near the larger cities will usually expect higher salaries and find a greater demand than those in more rural areas.

But regardless, with a little determination and hard work you should be able to reach your goal of becoming a certified medical assistant rather quickly and even begin your career before completing your education. It is a worthy goal and a profession you'll be proud to be a art of.