Can Agents Work?

Jobs / Office and administrative support / 43-6013.00

Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants

Perform secretarial duties using specific knowledge of medical terminology and hospital, clinic, or laboratory procedures. Duties may include scheduling appointments, billing patients, and compiling and recording medical charts, reports, and correspondence.

US jobs
961,610
Median wage
$45,930 a year
Job family
Office and administrative support

Can agents do the work of medical secretaries and administrative assistants?

We read the evidence at the level of the job family, Office and administrative support:

  • Task levelStrongOn computer-use and office-task benchmarks, top agents pass most tasks: 90.2% on OSWorld-Verified (humans: 72.4%), 83.1% on SpreadsheetBench, and 63.3% on WorkArena L1 under the standard protocol. Limits: many top entries are self-submitted and not re-run by the maintainers, and on TheAgentCompany's multi-step workplace tasks the best agent resolves 42.9%.
  • Project levelPartialOnly adjacent evidence. OpenAI reports that GPT-5.5's GDPval deliverables won or tied against professionals' work in 84.9% of comparisons, but GDPval tasks are one-shot and fully specified. No benchmark in our collection tests multi-day administrative work, such as running a calendar or a purchasing process.

Benchmarks for the job family

These cover work in office and administrative support, not always this occupation's tasks.

Typical tasks

From O*NET 31.0. Core tasks first. Few of these tasks have a benchmark today.

  • Answer telephones and direct calls to appropriate staff.
  • Schedule and confirm patient diagnostic appointments, surgeries, or medical consultations.
  • Complete insurance or other claim forms.
  • Greet visitors, ascertain purpose of visit, and direct them to appropriate staff.
  • Transmit correspondence or medical records by mail, e-mail, or fax.
  • Maintain medical records, technical library, or correspondence files.
  • Receive and route messages or documents, such as laboratory results, to appropriate staff.
  • Interview patients to complete documents, case histories, or forms, such as intake or insurance forms.
  • Operate office equipment, such as voice mail messaging systems, and use word processing, spreadsheet, or other software applications to prepare reports, invoices, financial statements, letters, case histories, or medical records.
  • Perform bookkeeping duties, such as credits or collections, preparing and sending financial statements or bills, and keeping financial records.
  • Perform various clerical or administrative functions, such as ordering and maintaining an inventory of supplies.
  • Transcribe recorded messages or practitioners' diagnoses or recommendations into patients' medical records.
Other job titles for this occupation (48)

Clinic Office Assistant · Front Desk Receptionist · Medical Office Specialist · Medical Receptionist · Medical Secretary · Physician Office Specialist · Secretary · Unit Clerk · Unit Support Representative · Ward Clerk · Administrative Support Specialist · Appointment Scheduler · Certified Medical Administrative Assistant (CMMA) · Client Service Coordinator · Clinic Receptionist · Dental Front Desk Receptionist · Dental Front Office Coordinator · Dental Office Receptionist · Dental Receptionist · Dental Secretary · Front Desk Agent · Guest Service Representative · Hospital Admissions Clerk · Hospital Receptionist · Hospital Secretary · Hospital Unit Clerk · Insurance Verifier · Intake Coordinator · Medical Administrative Assistant · Medical Administrative Specialist · Medical Biller Coder · Medical Billing Coder · Medical Billing Specialist · Medical Front Desk Receptionist · Medical Front Desk Specialist · Medical Front Office Receptionist · Medical Office Clerk · Medical Office Receptionist · Medical Office Secretary · Medical Office Worker · Medical Records Clerk · Medical Scheduler · Psychiatric Secretary · Reception Technician (Reception Tech) · Scheduler · Surgery Scheduler · Verification Specialist · Ward Secretary