How Do I Become a Clinic Office Manager?

A clinic office manager oversees the operations of a medical office and performs a range of management, billing, administrative, and planning tasks. To become a clinic office manager, you will typically need a high school diploma or its equivalent as well as an associate's degree in a field such as medical administration or health services. In most cases, you will also need related skills, such as those that involve leadership, organization, computer and software usage, and delegation.

In most cases, at least some higher education is required to become a clinic office manager. While you might find a job as an office manager in another field with a high school diploma, many employers will expect you to have a college education when you want to manage a clinic office. This doesn't necessarily mean you will need a bachelor's degree, however — many employers hire individuals who have associate's degrees for this position. If you do choose to earn a bachelor's degree, however, you may prove to be a more competitive job candidate when compared to individuals with less education.

Often, an associate's degree in a medically related discipline provides good preparation for a career in this field. For example, you could consider enrolling in a degree program in medical administration. As part of this type of program, you will likely learn about common medical office procedures, coding, medical terminology, and medical ethics. You can also take pharmacology, transcription, and billing courses. Often, this type of program also provides an introduction to medical writing and structures of the human body, and sometimes it includes a career development component as well.

Though earning a degree in medical administration may prove helpful when you want to become a clinic office manager, there are other degree programs appropriate for this job, too. For example, you could consider earning a degree in health services or health services administration. You may even qualify for this job after earning a degree in business administration.

You will also need a range of skills to become a clinic office manager. For instance, leadership and organizational skills as well as analytical abilities and an affinity for multitasking are usually required for this job. You will likely need planning, training, and evaluation skills as well. Good communication and delegation skills are also important when you want to pursue this job. Additionally, most employers will expect you to have experience with computers, various types of office equipment, and software commonly used in a medical office.