By: Cat Pastoor
In response to a growing industry trend of medical assistant jobs taking on increasing front-end work, College of DuPage will launch its new Health Care Office Assistant Certificate program this fall.
Designed to prepare students for front desk jobs at medical offices and various other health care settings, the 13-credit hour program includes instruction in appointment scheduling, basic accounting, basic insurance coding, and the legal and ethical responsibilities of health care.
An offshoot of the College’s Medical Assistant program, the curriculum was developed as faculty noticed an increasing trend of medical assistant jobs being divided between front end and clinical procedures.
Required courses include Biomedical Terminology, Administrative Procedures for the Health Care Office, and Practice Finance for Medical Assistants.
“We developed the certificate to address the need for trained administrative assistants in physician offices and other ambulatory care settings,” said Diane Gryglak, Chair of COD’s Medical Assistant program. “Students who earn the certificate can choose to go on and complete the Medical Assistant certificate and work in both the clinical and administrative areas.”
Classes for the new certificate will be delivered online starting Fall 2023.