A medical assistant is an essential member of a doctor's staff.Though the duties may vary from office to office, medicalassistants perform the administrative tasks necessary to keep amedical office running smoothly. Duties may include maintaining andfiling patient records, arranging for laboratory tests and hospitaladmissions, and filling out insurance forms.Medical assistant jobs also include other duties. Settingappointments, answering phones, and processing billing are all partof the job. A medical assistant is also there to greet patients andtake payments.A clinical medical assistant may have additional duties. Statelaw dictates what tasks a clinical medical assistant may do in aparticular state. Duties may include sterilizing medical equipment,preparing laboratory specimens, and recor