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Boston Career Explorer

Office and Administrative Support

Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants

Perform secretarial duties using specific knowledge of medical terminology and hospital, clinic, or laboratory procedures. Duties may include scheduling appointments, billing patients, and compiling and recording medical charts, reports, and correspondence.

Also called: Clinic Office Assistant, Front Desk Receptionist, Medical Office Specialist, Medical Receptionist, Medical Secretary, Physician Office Specialist

Compare with my current job (Information and Record Clerks, All Other)
Median pay in Greater Boston
$51,600
$24.81/hr
Jobs in Greater Boston
16,330
Massachusetts 2024–2034
+0.2%
2,130 openings a year
Typical U.S. entry requirement
High school diploma or equivalent
plus Moderate-term on-the-job training

Greater Boston: Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metro area, May 2025. Growth and openings: Massachusetts statewide projection.

Pay range in Greater Boston

Yearly pay in Greater Boston by percentile
10th25thMedian75th90th
$43,810$48,360$51,600$59,530$64,060

10% of workers earn less than the first figure and 10% earn more than the last.

What you’d do

  • Answer telephones and direct calls to appropriate staff.
  • Schedule and confirm patient diagnostic appointments, surgeries, or medical consultations.
  • Complete insurance or other claim forms.
  • Greet visitors, ascertain purpose of visit, and direct them to appropriate staff.
  • Transmit correspondence or medical records by mail, e-mail, or fax.
  • Maintain medical records, technical library, or correspondence files.

AI and this job

AI exposure: how much of this job’s work AI tools can do or help with, based on national research. It is not a forecast of job loss.

Higher exposure87 of 100

The index averages three national research measures, each shown as a percentile of all jobs:

  • AIOE 81
  • Language-model AIOE 87
  • GPTs-are-GPTs 93

Observed AI use today: Substantial (Anthropic Economic Index)

This job has higher AI exposure, and AI tools are already in substantial use for it. Tools can help with insurance claim forms, scheduling, and routing records and phone calls. Federal projections say technology will let workers do these tasks faster, so there may be fewer of these jobs, and Massachusetts is projected to grow only 0.2% from 2024 to 2034. Greeting and calming patients and handling their questions in person still rely on people.

Likely to change

  • Completing insurance and claim forms
  • Scheduling and confirming patient appointments

Still relies on people

  • Greeting and reassuring patients in person
  • Directing visitors and solving patient problems

What federal projections say

“Productivity change - share decreases as the increasing use of technology, including artificial intelligence (AI) tools, allows medical secretaries and administrative assistants to perform tasks more efficiently.”
BLS Employment Projections 2025–35, factors affecting this job (U.S.)

Written with AI from the data on this page. Check with a career coach before making a decision.

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Training near Boston

College and school programs in the Boston metro area that lead to this job, with 2023-24 completions (IPEDS).

9 programs near Boston

Related occupations

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