Medical Assistant Field Becoming Increasingly Crowded

by Alex A. Kecskes

If you’re thinking of switching careers to what many regard as an up-and-coming field--healthcare administration--be prepared for a lot of hard studying and lots of competition. For example, if you’re planning on becoming a medical assistant, you’ll need to finish at least two years of schooling. Then the real work begins.

Yes, the healthcare field is growing, but as you may find when you start taking classes in medical insurance, billing and transcription, the field is fast becoming very crowded with former engineers, airline employees, even job recruiters and other out-of-work professionals.

Of late, many of these people have decided they want to get into the administrative side of healthcare. In particular, medical coding, which is a system used to bill insurance companies. The reason so many are going into coding is higher salaries—something they’re used to. Using the right codes means the doctor or hospital will get paid enough to cover their services. Doctors, clinics, hospitals all know that a proficient medical coder can boost revenue for their office.

Another thing that may surprise you is that in today’s youth-obsessed job market, the medical profession is one of the few fields that actually prefer older people. Even so, the competition is fierce. One former professional who recently applied for a job as an admin assistant in a small medical office got a rejection letter and later discovered that more than 75 people had responded to the doctor's ad--in the first 48 hours. The bottom line: after spending two years retraining for a new career in healthcare, you’ll have to pull out all the stops to set yourself apart from the pack.