Will AI replace Medical Assistants?
Estimated risk score: 48 out of 100
Moderate replacement risk
Estimate from published task research, not reviewed by a person · how we estimate
Within about 19 points for 4 in 5 of the jobs we checked (29 to 67).
For the occupation as a whole, from ratings of its 20 O*NET tasks published in 2023 and calibrated to our hand scores. A specialty inside it can sit higher or lower.
O*NET-SOC 31-9092.00 · Healthcare Support
Tasks rated in 2023 as ones AI could do or speed up
Tasks a GPT-4-class model could do, or do in half the time or less: 7 of its 20 rated tasks; the first 6 are shown. In O*NET’s words.
- Authorize drug refills and provide prescription information to pharmacies.
- Perform general office duties, such as answering telephones, taking dictation, or completing insurance forms.
- Record patients' medical history, vital statistics, or information such as test results in medical records.
- Keep financial records or perform other bookkeeping duties, such as handling credit or collections or mailing monthly statements to patients.
- Greet and log in patients arriving at office or clinic.
- Inventory and order medical, lab, or office supplies or equipment.
Tasks rated in 2023 as not sped up by AI
Tasks such a model was rated as not speeding up or taking over: 9 of its 20 rated tasks; the first 6 are shown. In O*NET’s words.
- Change dressings on wounds.
- Clean and sterilize instruments and dispose of contaminated supplies.
- Help physicians examine and treat patients, handing them instruments or materials or performing such tasks as giving injections or removing sutures.
- Prepare treatment rooms for patient examinations, keeping the rooms neat and clean.
- Set up medical laboratory equipment.
- Collect blood, tissue, or other laboratory specimens, log the specimens, and prepare them for testing.
What the job is
Perform administrative and certain clinical duties under the direction of a physician. Administrative duties may include scheduling appointments, maintaining medical records, billing, and coding information for insurance purposes. Clinical duties may include taking and recording vital signs and medical histories, preparing patients for examination, drawing blood, and administering medications as directed by physician.
Also called: Doctor's Assistant, Chiropractor Assistant, Certified Medical Assistant (CMA), Registered Medical Assistant (RMA), MA, RMA, Podiatric Aide, Optometric Aide.
Source. This site includes information from the O*NET 30.1 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. (O*NET, CC BY 4.0.) Task ratings: Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin and Rock (2023), “GPTs are GPTs: An Early Look at the Labor Market Impact Potential of Large Language Models”, data used under the MIT licence (licence texts). Our change: we averaged the ratings over this occupation’s tasks and calibrated them to our 0–100 scale. It is not a prediction about any one person and not career advice. Disagree? Write to hello@yourstopwashit.com. How we estimate