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Medical office assistant: what the job actually is

Running the front of a clinic or hospital unit: appointments, records, billing, and the phone that does not stop.

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Medical office assistant: quick facts

Medical office assistant salary in Ontario: the median pay is $25.00 an hour, according to Job Bank (reference period 2023-2024). Its three-year outlook in Ontario is very good. The job usually needs a shorter college programme or apprenticeship, or over six months of on-the-job training.

Median pay in Ontario
$25.00 an hour
Pay range (low to high)
$17.95 to $32.70 an hour
Job outlook, 2025-2027
Very good
People working in it in Ontario
28,500
Usually needs
Usually a shorter college programme or apprenticeship, or over six months of on-the-job training

Source: Job Bank wages (updated 19 November 2025) and job prospects (updated 10 December 2025), NOC 13112. Pay varies by region and experience.

The work

What this job actually is

  • Keeping a medical office or hospital unit running. Patients are booked, records are right, referrals are sent, and the people in white coats can concentrate on patients.
  • You are usually the first person a patient talks to and often the one they remember. You also hear what they do not tell the doctor.
  • Most of the work is administrative: scheduling, electronic medical records, forms, billing, letters and phone calls. Medical terminology and privacy rules are what separate it from other office work.
  • Job Bank says most medical administrative assistants work in physician offices and hospitals.
  • It is not regulated. Job Bank indicates there is no mandatory licence for this occupation in Canada, and employers decide what training they want. A college diploma is the usual route.

A Tuesday

What a normal day looks like

Not a good day or a bad one. The ordinary version, which is what you would actually be living.

  1. 8:00 — Unlock, turn on the computers, check the voicemail from last night. Three people want to book, one wants to cancel and one is upset.
  2. 8:20 — Pull the charts and print the schedule. Check which patients need forms or a test result.
  3. 8:30 — Doors open. Check-ins, updating health card details, answering what the wait will be, which you do not control.
  4. 9:30 — A patient is angry about a referral that has not arrived. You track it down, apologise without making promises and write it down.
  5. 10:30 — Enter notes and results into the electronic record. Accuracy matters, and you are the one who checks that they went to the right patient.
  6. 12:00 — Lunch, with the phone covered by someone else.
  7. 13:00 — Billing and forms. Insurance, sick notes, referrals, fax confirmation. A lot of small tasks with deadlines.
  8. 14:30 — A patient who needs an urgent appointment. You follow the office's rules on who decides, and you ask the nurse.
  9. 16:00 — Prepare tomorrow's list and reconcile the day. Something does not match; you find out why.
  10. 16:45 — Lock the records, shut down the systems and go home.

Honestly

Who loves this, and who should not do it

The second list is the useful one. Nearly every careers page leaves it out, which is why nearly every careers page reads like an advert.

You may like this if
  • You like being the person who knows where everything is and how it works.
  • You are organised, and you would rather fix a messy filing system than live with it.
  • You want to work in health care without clinical care or lifting patients.
  • You can be friendly and firm in the same sentence with someone upset.
  • You like a steady, mostly regular workplace and the satisfaction of a tidy list at the end of the day.
You may hate this if
  • You do not like being the one who absorbs complaints. The front desk gets the frustration about waits, referrals and forms that are not yours.
  • You get overwhelmed when the phone, the door and the computer all want you at once. Reception does that on busy days.
  • You do not like repetitive administrative work. Much of the day is entering, checking and filing.
  • You are worried about technology. Job Bank notes that increasing use of technology for administrative tasks may moderate demand, so you would need to keep up with the systems.
  • You want clinical work. This job is next to patient care, not in it, and moving into clinical roles means more schooling.
  • You are not comfortable with strict privacy rules. Health information is sensitive, and a lapse is a serious matter.

The route in

How you actually get there in Ontario

  1. Finish high school

    One Ontario college lists the Ontario Secondary School Diploma or mature student status plus Grade 12 English (C or U) for its health services office administration programme. Mature students aged 19 and over may qualify by other routes.

  2. Complete a college programme

    Job Bank says a one- or two-year college programme or specialised courses for medical secretaries is usually required. Georgian College lists an Ontario College Diploma in Office Administration, Health Services, with courses in medical document production, terminology, transcription, human anatomy and medical ethics, and electronic medical records.

  3. Consider an optional certification

    Georgian says graduates are eligible to pursue Health Information-Certified Associate (HICA) certification through the Canadian College of Health Information Management. Whether an employer asks for it is up to them, so ask about it when you phone offices.

  4. Start in an office or on a hospital unit

    You can start in a physician office, clinic or hospital. From there, people move into office management, health records and coordinator roles.

Where this comes from: Job Bank — Medical administrative assistant requirements · Georgian College — Office Administration, Health Services

The money

Medical office assistant salary in Ontario

Job Bank's own figures, quoted rather than summarised, with the period they describe — so you can tell how old they are and go and check them.

$17.95
Low (hourly)
$25.00
Median (hourly)
$32.70
High (hourly)

Ontario, NOC 13112. Reference period 2023-2024, last updated by Job Bank on 19 November 2025. Wages vary a lot by region inside Ontario and by how long you have been doing it — the low figure is roughly where you start, not what the job is worth.

Source: Job Bank — Medical office assistant wages in Ontario

Where it is heading

The outlook for the next three years

Job Bank publishes a three-year outlook for every job in every province. It is the closest thing to an honest forecast, and it moves, so read it as a weather report rather than a verdict.

Ontario, 2025-2027

Very good5 out of 5 stars

  • Employment growth will lead to several new positions.
  • Several positions will become available due to retirements.
  • There are a small number of unemployed workers with recent experience in this occupation.

What that rating means: how many openings Job Bank expects in Ontario for this kind of work against how many people are likely to be looking — not whether it is a good job. A “limited” rating means more competition for each opening; it does not close the door, and it can change before you are ready to walk through it.

What is changing in this work

  • Investments in new healthcare facilities
  • Increasing use of technology to perform administrative tasks may moderate demand for this occupation

Who hires for it

  • Most medical administrative assistants work in physician offices and hospitals
28,500
people work in this job in Ontario
more than 95%
are women (48% across all jobs)
5%
are self-employed (15% across all jobs)

Source: Job Bank — Medical administrative assistants job prospects in Ontario (NOC 13112). Outlook updated by Job Bank on 10 December 2025; read by us on 5 October 2026.

Before you leave school

Things you can do now

  • Take business, computer studies or any course that makes you faster and more accurate with software and documents.
  • Practise typing and proofreading. Accuracy and speed are both part of the work.
  • Ask your guidance office about a co-op placement in an office or a health setting. Reception work shows quickly whether you like it.
  • Volunteer at a school office or community organisation where you answer phones and deal with the public.

Test it

Do this before you decide anything

Reading about a job tells you almost nothing. This is designed to be done alone, this week, for free.

Call a clinic with a question and read a college programme

About 60 minutes
  1. Read the Georgian College page for Office Administration, Health Services from top to bottom, including the courses and the placement. Note which subject you would find hardest.
  2. Phone one clinic during a quiet time and ask the person who answers: what does a medical office assistant here do in a day, and what do you look for in someone new? Notice how busy the line is.
  3. Search for a day-in-the-life video from a working medical office assistant. Count how many times the phone rings and how many different tasks they switch between.
  4. Set a timer for 25 minutes and do a pile of small admin tasks without your phone: sort files, reply to emails, fix a spreadsheet. Notice whether you enjoy finishing things.

What it tells you. A yes is enjoying the small tasks and finding the clinic call and the videos interesting rather than draining. That is a good reason to look up programme dates. A no is feeling that the constant switching and the phone are your idea of a bad day; this is the job's main texture, so believe it.

Better than any article

Questions for somebody who does this job

Most people say yes to a teenager who asks good questions. These are the ones that get real answers rather than encouragement.

  1. “What do you do that the doctors or nurses probably do not see?”
  2. “How do you handle a patient who is upset at the desk?”
  3. “What software do you use all day, and how hard was it to learn?”
  4. “What did you need to learn that your programme did not teach?”
  5. “Did you have to get any certification, or did the office train you?”
  6. “Where have people in your role moved on to?”

Could you own one of these?

The part other career sites never mention

Not as a job in an office, but the skills move. Some people go on to run a medical billing or transcription service, or work as a virtual assistant for clinics. Those are business ventures that need clients, privacy and security arrangements, and legal advice before you start.

Business 101 is free and teaches that part

Quick answers

Questions people ask about this job

How much does a medical office assistant make in Ontario?

The median pay for a medical office assistant in Ontario is $25.00 an hour, according to Job Bank (reference period 2023-2024, updated 19 November 2025). The range Job Bank publishes runs from $17.95 to $32.70 an hour. Pay varies by region, employer and experience.

What is the job outlook for a medical office assistant in Ontario?

Job Bank rates the employment outlook for this work in Ontario as very good for 2025-2027 (updated 10 December 2025). Employment growth will lead to several new positions. Several positions will become available due to retirements. There are a small number of unemployed workers with recent experience in this occupation. A lower rating means more competition for each opening, not that no one is hiring.

What do you need to become a medical office assistant in Ontario?

Job Bank says this work usually needs a shorter college programme or apprenticeship, or over six months of on-the-job training. The usual route in Ontario, in order: Finish high school; Complete a college programme; Consider an optional certification.

Where does a medical office assistant work in Ontario?

Most medical administrative assistants work in physician offices and hospitals. (Job Bank.)

How many people work as a medical office assistant in Ontario, and how many are women?

Job Bank counts about 28,500 people working in this job in Ontario. More than 95% of them are women, compared with 48% across all jobs. That describes who does the work today, not who can.

Not sure this is the right list to be reading

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Parent of a teenager weighing this up? Career coaching for teens gets them talking to people who do the work, anywhere in Ontario.

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Wages and training requirements change. Every figure on this page is linked to the body that publishes it, and the review date above says when we last checked. If you find something out of date, tell us and we will fix it.