Career Articles

Do I Need a College Degree to Work in the Medical Industry?

There are hundreds, if not thousands of different types of medical jobs. Healthcare is the largest industry, showing the highest amount of growth of any other field, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Employing 14 million people in 2006, the healthcare industry is projected to add about three million more jobs by 2016, according to the BLS. Many careers in the medical industry do not require a college degree. However, if you want to continue to advance your career, or to be promoted into a leadership or management role, you should start working toward your college degree to increase your career options and opportunities.

Job Opportunities in Administrative & Support Roles

Administrative personnel assist the clinicians with documentation, billing, and organization of the medical practice. Administrative or support professionals do not provide any type of patient care – in other words, their role is non-clinical. Many support roles are desk jobs. Most administrative and support positions are available to high school graduates with little college coursework, and some require a certificate in a specialized course that can be taken online in a matter of weeks.

Below are a few top medical jobs based on projected percentage of job growth, as well as number of jobs, compensation, and quality of life. All of these medical jobs are in very high demand and experiencing significant growth, due to the aging population, and advancements in health care.

Medical receptionist
Medical secretary
Medical transcriptionist
Medical biller or coder
Medical interpreter

As a whole, medical support roles and administrative roles make up a whopping 18% of all jobs in the healthcare industry, which is why these jobs are amongst the top medical jobs. Also, most of these jobs require less college coursework which is a big perk. Therefore, they don't pay as high, but they are in great demand and many jobs continue to be available. Medical transcriptionists are not the fastest growing of all the support roles, yet they are slated to experience a 10.5% growth, which is still very strong. Due to the great flexibility of medical transcription jobs, the work-from-home capabilities, and the relatively short training requirements, medical transcription is a hot administrative role.

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