Medical assisting is a promising healthcare career for people living in Indiana. These specialists gain valuable experience through tasks such as scheduling appointments, collecting lab specimens and giving injections. This experience often helps medical assistants move on to other health careers such as nursing or medical administration.[Leer en español]
Medical assistants are unique healthcare workers, because they handle both clerical and clinical tasks in healthcare settings such as physicians’ offices or outpatient clinics. For those in Indiana with strong people skills, an interest in healthcare and a detail-oriented personality, medical assisting may be an ideal career path.
Indiana residents who wish to become medical assistants should first complete their high school degree or GED, and most certification programs require students to be at least 18 years of age. While formal medical assistant certification is recommended, it is not required by the state. Medical assistants must be able to spend time on their feet, be flexible in day-to-day tasks and be willing to risk exposure to pathogens.
In order to be eligible for certification, applicants must take a medical assistant training program accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP) or the Accrediting Bureau of Health Education Schools (ABHES). While Indiana is home to numerous medical assistant training programs, online medical assistant certification is not common because of the hands-on nature of training.
The medical assistant certification process in Indiana is overseen by the Indiana Society of Medical Assistants (ISMA), a state chapter of the American Association of Medical Assistants (AAMA). Certified Medical Assistants (CMAs) and Registered Medical Assistants (RMAs) are the most common and easily transferrable medical assistant certifications. Prerequisites for taking these certification exams include successful completion of a CAAHEP or ABHES accredited training program.
The U.S. Department of Labor Statistics (BLS) predicts a favorable future career outlook for medical assistants in Indiana. In 2016, there were 12,650 medical assistant jobs in Indiana, and that number is expected to increase by 20 percent in the next 10 years.
Indiana medical assistants made an hourly mean income of $15.10 and a mean annual salary of $31,410 in 2017.
While medical assistants are needed everywhere, the best cities to find work as a medical assistant in Indiana are Indianapolis, Gary and Evansville. In 2017, the BLS reported that Indianapolis employed 4,310 medical assistants, Gary employed 1,720 and Evansville employed 1,000 in the field. The highest paid Indiana medical assistants in 2017 worked in Muncie, with a mean hourly income of $16.18 and mean annual income of $33,650. Muncie pay rates are above the national average for medical assistants.
With so many employment opportunities available in Indiana, medical assisting is an excellent entry-level healthcare field. Those who are interested in medical assisting should consider completing certification, as it takes two years or less and greatly improves employment options.