Clerical Health Care Workers are dedicated to provide general administrative and support services in a healthcare setting. They ensure to keep the patient’s medical records, laboratory reports and other necessary documents with accuracy and confidentiality and make them available to service providers and patients when required.
Their other duties include guiding patients for adequate treatment program, acting as a communicating link between patients and doctors, helping patients for insurance reimbursement , counseling people on preventive care and rehabilitation process, answering patients’ queries through email or phone calls, scheduling appointments, maintaining supplies and inventories, and performing other duties as assigned.
Clerical Health Care Workers work at variety of settings such as public or private hospitals, doctor’s offices, group medical practices at clinics, nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, etc. these professionals are posted in different positions such as administrative support worker, medical records clerk, medical coder etc. They often work full time. In some cases, they may be required to work in the night shifts and weekend as well.
Educational Requirements
To become a Clerical Health Care Worker, the aspiring candidates have to earn at least a high school diploma or GED equivalent. The students can also complete a two-year associate degree program in health, office administration or related area for better job prospects in this field. The common syllabus includes human anatomy, medical coding and billing, patient care, physiology, medical terminology, etc.
Clerical Health Care Workers can also attain job-on- training from different institutions or through various vocational programs.
Certification
In USA, the Clerical Health Care Workers are required to obtain exam-based certification from different organizations according to their official positions. The Board of Medical Specialty Coding (BMSC), the Professional Association of Health Care Coding Specialists (PAHCS) and the American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC) offer various types of certification for these professionals.
Skill Set
In addition to the academic knowledge, Clerical Health Care Workers possess various traits such as attention to detail, empathy towards patient, ability to maintain cordial relation with patients and medical staff, decision making and crisis management abilities, competence in accurate data recording, ability to keep privacy of patients, strong communication and interpersonal skills, typing and computer application skills etc.
Job Outlook and Salary
The job outlook for a Clerical Health Care Worker remains outstanding across the USA. According to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the growth rate for job opportunities in this profession may rise 22 per cent from 2012 to 2022. The average annual salary of a Clerical Health Care Worker was $34,970 in May 2013.