Explore a Career as an Administrative Medical Assistant

About This Course

Learn what it takes to have a successful career as an administrative medical assistant in the exciting and high-demand world of healthcare.

In this course, you’ll master the basics of scheduling patients’ appointments, surgeries, and hospital admissions. In addition, you’ll discover how to create, maintain, and file medical charts. You’ll also find out how to verify patients’ insurance, create encounter forms (charge tickets), post charges, obtain pre-authorizations from insurers, and schedule return visits.

After that, we’ll go behind the scenes as you learn how to apply diagnostic and procedure codes to patients’ accounts and bill their insurance companies. Next, we’ll explore additional accounts receivable tasks including posting payments and adjustments, billing secondary insurance, and following up on unpaid insurance claims. You’ll also learn what a day sheet is, why it’s important, and how to keep track of all your patient accounts on a daily, monthly, and yearly basis.

Finally, we’ll delve into the basics of keeping a medical office running smoothly—from ordering supplies to scheduling staff meetings and making travel arrangements.

If you’re organized, you’re a “people person,” and you’re interested in a secure job in the healthcare field, a career as an administrative medical assistant may be just what you’re looking for. This course will set you on the path to that career and help you determine which aspect of medical information management—from patient contact to billing and coding—suits you best.

About The Instructor

This course includes a knowledgeable and caring instructor who will guide you through your lessons, facilitate discussions, and answer your questions. The instructor for this course will be Carline Dalgleish.

Carline Dalgleish has been employed in the medical business office management profession since 1970. She began in the medical records department of the Army/Air Force Hospital in Nuremberg, Germany and has performed accounts receivable and business office management services for physicians, clinics, hospitals, and Medicare.

She has real-time experience in administrative and financial departments, as well as management experience in business office administration, regulatory compliance, and information technology. She is also a subject matter expert in administrative medical assisting and medical billing and coding. In addition, she has created the curriculum for and taught many accounts receivable and accounts payable educational programs, with an emphasis in administrative medical assisting and medical billing and coding.

In the early 1990s, Ms. Dalgleish moved full-time into curriculum development, teaching, and management of business and allied health education programs, with special emphasis on medical business office administration and management.

Ms. Dalgleish holds a bachelor's degree in business information systems and a master's degree in leadership. She is an AHIMA approved ICD-10-CM/PCS Trainer and is a member of the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) and the American Association of Healthcare Administrative Management (AAHAM). She owns her own consulting firm, AnnGrant Education Services, Inc., and is currently completing a textbook on the new ICD-10 coding system.

Syllabus

A new section of each course starts monthly. If enrolling in a series of two or more courses, please be sure to space the start date for each course at least two months apart.

Week 1

Wednesday - Lesson 01

Looking for a fun, challenging job that’s always in demand? If so, AMA (administrative medical assisting) may be just the field for you! In this lesson, we’ll look at the exciting job opportunities for AMAs, the variety of careers they can choose from, and the different settings where they can work.

Friday - Lesson 02

The law and medicine go hand-in-hand—so today we’ll look at the laws you’ll want to know if you become an AMA. We’ll cover everything from contracts to malpractice, and delve into HIPAA (a federal act that affects everyone in the health care field). In addition, we’ll take a quick peek at ethics and medical office etiquette.

Week 2

Wednesday - Lesson 03

Today we’ll explore the office equipment and computer hardware you’re likely to use as an AMA. In addition, we’ll delve into software—both standard office programs and the specialized software we use in the field of medical information management.

Friday - Lesson 04

If you think filing is a bore, this lesson will change your mind. You’ll discover what the rainbow of colored stickers on a medical file means, and you’ll even practice creating a patient chart yourself. You’ll also find out why medical offices love lateral files, and you’ll master the tricky rules of alphabetizing. (Yes, it’s more challenging than it looks!)

Week 3

Wednesday - Lesson 05

Now that you’re an expert on the outside of a patient chart, it’s time to look inside. Today you’ll find out which forms go in a medical record, and just where you’ll put each one. In addition, you’ll learn about two styles of note-taking: SOAP and CHEDDAR. And finally, you’ll delve into the topic of medical record audits and find out the legal way to correct a patient’s chart.

Friday - Lesson 06

It’s time to introduce the star of our show: the patient. Today you’ll learn everything about what we call a patient encounter. We’ll start by talking about the phone skills you can use to make appointments, handle questions, and soothe angry callers. Next, we’ll flip open the appointment book and explore the tricks for scheduling patients easily and efficiently. And finally, we’ll follow a patient’s visit from start to finish, and see how many tasks an AMA does during that appointment.

Week 4

Wednesday - Lesson 07

We’ll start this lesson in the waiting room, where you’ll learn more about the tasks a receptionist handles—from opening and closing a medical office to keeping the reception area ship-shape. After that, we’ll talk about some barriers to communicating effectively with patients, and you’ll discover ways to overcome them. We’ll end our lesson by looking at one of the fun and creative jobs that AMAs do: creating informational brochures and teaching aids.

Friday - Lesson 08

Medicare, Medicaid, managed care, commercial insurance—what does it all mean? In today’s lesson, you’ll find out! First, you’ll learn the meaning of terms like managed care, capitation, and fee-for-service. Next, we’ll explore government programs like Medicare, Medicaid, Workers’ Compensation, and TRICARE. By the time you’re done, you’ll have a good feel for the many types of insurance an AMA handles every day.

Week 5

Wednesday - Lesson 09

Did you ever study an insurance claim form? If so, you know it contains dozens of mysterious questions and checkboxes. Well, today you’ll come face-to-face with one of these claim forms—and conquer it. By the end of our lesson, you’ll know how to fill in each field of the CMS-1500 claim form. In fact, you’ll even get to try it yourself!

Friday - Lesson 10

Medical coding is a hot field for AMAs, so it’s a great specialty if you’re looking for job security. In today’s lesson, we’ll take a quick look at diagnostic coding and see why it’s both fun and challenging. We’ll take a tour through the ICD-9-CM, talk about the detective work involved in abstracting a diagnostic statement, and explore the steps of coding a diagnosis.

Week 6

Wednesday - Lesson 11

We’ll finish up our tour of medical coding today with an overview of procedural coding. First, you’ll learn all about a manual called the CPT and discover how to use it to code everything from surgeries to X-rays to acupuncture. After that, we’ll examine a second manual called the HCPCS (“hix-pix”), which contains codes for ambulances, root canals, and much more. We’ll also delve into anesthesia coding, a tricky but rewarding sub-specialty.

Friday - Lesson 12

In our final lesson, we’ll visit the business office and talk about how AMAs keep track of the money coming in and going out. In addition, we’ll look at inventory control and supply ordering—two crucial jobs that help keep a medical office running smoothly. Finally, we’ll talk about managing a payroll and investigate several jobs that fall under the umbrella of human resources.

Requirements

Internet access, e-mail, the Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox Web browser, and the Adobe Flash and PDF plug-ins (two free and simple downloads you obtain at http://www.adobe.com/downloads by clicking Get Adobe Flash Player and Get Adobe Reader).