Table 2.

New Roles for MAs, Skills, and Training Requirements

	Roles	Skills Emphasized	Additional Training
Relational	Health coach Community health worker Dual role translator Patient navigator Care coordinator	Use interpersonal skills and personal cultural/linguistic skills to communicate health education, medical system, and community resources information to patients. May use motivational interviewing to assist patients in setting health goals	Motivational interviewing Health care interpreter training and possibly certification Health coach training Chronic care management training
HIT/Documentation	Panel manager Scribe EHR super‐user Quality improvement assistant	Use computer skills to document and analyze patient data, review care gaps, report on trends, or teach others to utilize EHR and other HIT systems	Computer skills, usually OJT or in‐house training on EHR
Cross‐Trained Rotation	Greeter/scheduler Medical records/coder Referral coordinator Phone bank Pharm/lab tech Phlebotomist Limited license rad tech	Use multiple clinical and clerical skills to rotate through front and back office tasks based on practice workflow needs. Requires flexibility and willing to learn and maintain multiple skills. May require additional clinical skills and training as well as good customer service skills	Tech skills require outside training and certification Many organizations offer customer service training in‐house
Leadership/Managerial	Lead MA/MA supervisor Mentor/preceptor Trainer Floor coordinator	Use leadership skills to assist in supervising, training, and assessing other MAs and/or in coordinating practice workflow and supplies distribution	MAs often promoted for identified aptitude Additional leadership/management training

EHR, electronic health record; MA, medical assistant; OJT, on‐the‐job training.