Obama Care Means a Boom for Medical Assistants

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, more commonly known as Obama Care, was passed into law in 2010, and is designed to significantly increase the number of Americans who have health insurance. The main goals of the program are to improve health care access and to streamline and make the U.S. health care system more efficient. Slowing down the out of control increases in the cost of health care is also a primary goal of the PPACA.

One major consequence of the passage and implementation of Obama Care is the fact that millions of people who formerly received little or no health care, or only received care at an emergency room, will now have access to regular preventive health care through a primary physician. This means that doctor's offices all across the country are going to be expanding and new offices opening in order handle the influx of new patients.

According to a 2011 California HealthCare Foundation report titled Primary Care, Everywhere, Obama Care will result in "a surge in demand for primary care." Some studies have suggested we could see as much as a 15 to 20 percent increase in the number of patients receiving primary care by 2016.

A number of health care industry analysts have also pointed out that one significant trickle-down effect of the changes resulting from the PPACA will be a boom in hiring of medical support personnel who work in doctor's offices, in particular for generalists such as clinical and medical assistants. In fact, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics is projecting a very strong job growth rate of 31 percent for medical assistants and related positions through 2020.

Medical and clinical assistants perform a wide range of duties at doctor's offices, nursing homes, clinics and other health care facilities. Responsibilities vary by employer, but medical assistant responsibilities typically include taking patient histories and vital signs, prepping lab tests, administering prescribed medications and providing patients with dosage and side-effect information, as well as assisting the doctor with exams and other procedures as required.

Medical school training programs are offered at many community colleges and trade and technical schools all across the country offer highly regarded medical assistant programs. Most medical assistant training programs last one to two years, and typically lead to a certificate or an associate's degree. Medical assistant training program curricula include courses in biology, chemistry, anatomy, medical terminology, as well as sections on medical ethics and electronic health records. Having a thorough understanding of the different electronic heath record (EHR) systems has become a prerequisite to employment anywhere in the health care industry today.