Medical office assistants are employed in:
- doctors' offices
- hospitals
- medical clinics and other health-care settings
- public and private insurance companies
- health software companies.
In large organizations, experienced medical office assistants may move into supervisory positions.
Medical office assistants are part of the larger 2011 National Occupational Classification 1243: Medical secretaries. In Alberta, 88% of people employed in this classification work in the Health Care and Social Assistance (PDF) industry.
The employment outlook in this occupation will be influenced by a wide variety of factors including:
- trends and events affecting overall employment (especially in the Health Care and Social Assistance industry)
- location in Alberta
- employment turnover (work opportunities generated by people leaving existing positions)
- occupational growth (work opportunities resulting from the creation of new positions that never existed before)
- size of the occupation.
In Alberta, the B213: Medical Secretaries occupational group is expected to have an above-average annual growth of 3.9% from 2016 to 2020. In addition to job openings created by employment turnover, 94 new positions are forecasted to be created within this occupational group each year.
Employment turnover is expected to increase as members of the baby boom generation retire over the next few years.