Medical Assistants
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.
817,870 people do this job in the US. $45,690 a year.
of the working time. Estimate.
- 42%
- 0%
- 58%
Measured, from Anthropic's usage data (2025). Counts help on part of a task.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 4.4 h long four times in five.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 10%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 41%. Today's estimate: 41%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
The tasks
Sorted by . 20 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Interview patients to obtain medical information and measure their vital signs, weight, and height.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 11% | 17 min8 min to 29 min | Stays with people | |
| Keep financial records or perform other bookkeeping duties, such as handling credit or collections or mailing monthly statements to patients.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 8% | 38 min13 min to 1.7 h | 95%Half by now | |
| Explain treatment procedures, medications, diets, or physicians' instructions to patients.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 8% | 13 min4 min to 21 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Perform general office duties, such as answering telephones, taking dictation, or completing insurance forms.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 8% | 13 min4 min to 33 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Help physicians examine and treat patients, handing them instruments or materials or performing such tasks as giving injections or removing sutures.Done daily by most who do it. | 8% | 21 min8 min to 42 min | Stays with people | |
| Perform routine laboratory tests and sample analyses.Done daily by most who do it. | 7% | 25 min13 min to 1.1 h | Stays with people | |
| Record patients' medical history, vital statistics, or information such as test results in medical records.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 7% | 10 min4 min to 21 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Clean and sterilize instruments and dispose of contaminated supplies.Done daily by most who do it. | 6% | 17 min8 min to 38 min | Stays with people | |
| Prepare treatment rooms for patient examinations, keeping the rooms neat and clean.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 6% | 8 min4 min to 17 min | Stays with people | |
| Show patients to examination rooms and prepare them for the physician.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 4% | 6 min3 min to 13 min | Stays with people | |
| Contact medical facilities or departments to schedule patients for tests or admission.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 17 min8 min to 29 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Authorize drug refills and provide prescription information to pharmacies.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 4% | 8 min4 min to 17 min | 100%Half by now |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025).
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025).