How To Become A Medical Scheduler: What It Is and Career Path

What is a medical scheduler and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted Expert

Eve Leija AAS, NCMA

Medical Schedulers, also called medical appointment schedulers, work in outpatient care centers, hospitals, private offices, or other medical practices. Their responsibilities include making appointments, medical billing, ordering supplies, medical transcription, interacting with vendors, and minor computer troubleshooting. They coordinate appointments with patients and their caregivers for consultations, evaluations, treatments, and follow-up. They gather existing and new patient insurance information to verify their insurance details.

Furthermore, they conduct pre-procedure phone calls and confirm appointment times with patients through telephone. Also, they review discharge instructions with patients. Asides from that, they prepare patients for diagnostic and imaging tests.

The minimum educational requirement for this position is a high school diploma or its equivalent. However, some employers prefer an associate's degree in medical assisting or medical office administration. Having relevant certifications is a plus. Applicants must possess communication and organization skills. Medical Schedulers earn around $42,633 yearly, which falls between $39,662 and $46,658.

What general advice would you give to a Medical Scheduler?

Eve Leija AAS, NCMA

Medical Assistant Program Director, Website

To maximize salary for a medical assistant obtaining certification from one of the credentialing organizations such as American Association of Medical Assistants (AAMA) can make a new hire more competitive. Continuing educations along with developing any specialized skills such as phlebotomy. Demonstrating professionalism initiative and reliability, along with gaining a strong reference from previous employers.

ScoreMedical SchedulerUS Average

Salary

2.5

Avg. Salary $32,201

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

7.2

Growth Rate -8%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.2

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.37%

Asian 3.77%

Black or African American 9.57%

Hispanic or Latino 11.96%

Unknown 3.77%

White 70.56%

Gender

female 92.04%

male 7.96%

Age - 51

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 51

Stress Level

7.2

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

4.7

Complexity Level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

9.3

Work Life balance is excellent

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a medical scheduler

Explore medical scheduler education requirements

Most common medical scheduler degrees

Associate

29.5 %

Bachelor's

21.7 %

High School Diploma

20.8 %

Start to develop specific medical scheduler skills

Skills	Percentages
Patients	29.23%
Customer Service	15.47%
Medical Terminology	6.40%
EMR	4.65%
Data Entry	3.30%

Complete relevant medical scheduler training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New medical schedulers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a medical scheduler based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real medical scheduler resumes.

Gain additional medical scheduler certifications

Medical scheduler certifications can show employers you have a baseline of knowledge expected for the position. Certifications can also make you a more competitive candidate. Even if employers don't require a specific medical scheduler certification, having one may help you stand out relative to other applicants.

The most common certifications for medical schedulers include Medical Assistant and Certified Medical Administrative Assistant (CMAA).

More About Certifications

Research medical scheduler duties and responsibilities

Manage patient pre-op responsibilities, and generate all necessary paperwork.
Schedule patients for any testing that is necessary including MRI's, EMG's and Doppler's.
Transcribe physician orders including schedule labs, testing and screening/specimens and occasionally transport patients to various location of the hospital.
Prepare class for transition techniques to transition from ICD-9 to ICD-10.

Prepare your medical scheduler resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your medical scheduler resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a medical scheduler resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Medical Scheduler Resume templates

Build a professional Medical Scheduler resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Medical Scheduler resume.