Medical office management programs prepare people to oversee clinics and other medical offices. Students learn to manage budgets and maintain the schedules of doctors and other healthcare professionals. They also learn to supervise their staff and to act as the link between the professional and the clerical staff.

Have you ever been to a potluck where the buffet table was filled with many different salads but only a few main courses? Have you ever been in a club or organization where everyone thought that "someone-other-than-me" was going to take care of some crucial task? Have you ever opened a cupboard at home and found three empty boxes of cereal sitting on the shelf?

If you've ever been in any of these situations, you probably have experienced a case of poor management. The person in charge of the potluck didn't assign types of dishes equally among the volunteers. The president of the club didn't adequately delegate responsibility to a member. The person in charge of the household didn't keep track of the food supplies.

Of course, in each of these situations, there's always another side to the story. Maybe nobody listened to the potluck coordinator. Maybe the club members forgot their responsibilities. Maybe the household culprit failed to tell the household leader about the shortage of cereal. Whatever the case may be, an effective manager always helps lessen these kinds of problems.

As a medical office manager, you help minimize the problems in the very busy profession of healthcare. Doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals depend on you to keep their clinics and practices running smoothly.

In this program of study, you learn the nuts and bolts of healthcare. You study medical terminology and coding systems for classification. You learn accounting, medical billing, and insurance policies. You also learn how to keep track of supplies and resources and perform other kinds of office procedures.

Because medical office management involves leadership and training abilities, you also study principles of effective communication and leadership. In addition, you study the law and ethics of healthcare. This helps you to make decisions and exhibit behavior that others will imitate.

Over 40 vocational schools and community colleges offer programs in medical office management. You can typically earn either a certificate, which takes about one year of full-time study after high school, or an associate degree, which takes about two years.