So I need clarification. I work in the clerical part of the medical field (front desk). I schedule appts, update basic information and verify insurance. The current office im in I feel has me doing things well past my actual job. Refilling meds, telling patients results of labs or other tests. They expect me to know when a patient asks for a refill when they were last seen and if they need scheduled. I feel this is way out of my job expertise and expressed im uncomfortable. Am I wrong?

If you are in no way clinically licensed to read and understand a test result, no, legally you should not be discussing any test results ever. That’s a huge liability to the practice and they’re actually brain dead if they’re letting you despite you saying you aren’t comfortable. Bring in legality to the issue and they won’t make you continue doing that, if they care at all about their practice and keeping it compliant with all regulations and laws involving medicine and healthcare.

Giving out medical information as a receptionist is out of your realm. Check your job description, and explain you are not comfortable answering medical questions. You know if they ask one there will be more. We have strict guidelines as a CMS provider and what duties belong to MA, Nursing and Physician and receptionist.

You absolutely should not be refilling meds or telling patients lab results. Have you escalated this concern past your direct supervisor?

You should be giving results to the Physician that saw the patient for results to be given. As a receptionist we are not certified to do so unless Provider looks at them and gives you ok to give results if no follow up appointment is required with Physician. Also they do have a medication log under patients chart that should show when they would be due for their next refill if patient confirms they are out of medication based on last prescription given . We would schedule their next visit for Physician to write for refill or send electronically to Pharmacy . You shouldn’t be doing refills only Physicians are certified and credentialed for that . I was a Medical receptionist for 12 years and only verified Insurances, Scheduled appts. I gave Physicians their patients Labs/ X-rays results once generated from main Hospital I was given security access to as head receptionist . I would put on Physicians desk in their in box , once they signed the results they would either bring it back to me to call patient with results supporting a note from Dr. stating all is normal or Physiician would call if they had time . Prescription refills were sent electronically to Pharmacy once patient completed their follow up visit for medication refill. Then you should only be scheduling for their follow up for next refill date. Hopefully this helps , we wear a lot of hats at the front office but their are some things we should not be doing at all . I forgot to ask , is this a private Physician Office or Corporate owned ? A lot of privately owned offices will make their own guidelines or rules depending on the position . I would address if you are not comfortable with your duties that your are not certified to handle .

Usually, if you are directly giving patients clinical answers, advice, interpretation, or education that could affect their care, employers generally want some kind of healthcare background or credential. The exact level depends on the setting and how “clinical” the role really is.

Here’s the rough breakdown:

•Pure customer service / scheduling / insurance questions → often no clinical licence needed.

•Basic scripted health information → sometimes a Medical Assistant (MA), CNA, pharmacy tech, or healthcare experience is enough.

•Answering symptom questions, medication questions, lab results, triage, care instructions, or “should I worry about this?” → usually requires an LPN, RN, or higher because that crosses into clinical judgement.

A lot of companies blur the lines a bit. They’ll advertise:

•“Patient support specialist”

•“Care coordinator”

•“Clinical support representative”

•“Health navigator”

…but then quietly expect you to understand medical terminology, documentation, workflows, EMRs, and patient communication without technically “practising medicine.”

An LPN background is actually a stronger position than an MA for many patient-facing clinical support roles — especially telehealth, nurse advice lines, care coordination, utilisation review, population health, clinical informatics, and application support for healthcare systems.

The big legal dividing line is this:

•Giving general educational information from approved scripts/protocols = often allowed for non-licensed staff.

•Using independent judgement to assess or advise patients = licensed clinical territory.

So if a company says:

“You’ll answer patient clinical questions”

…you’d want to ask:

•Are responses scripted?

•Is there triage involved?

•Is a licence required?

•Who supervises escalations?

•Is this considered patient education or clinical decision-making?

Because sometimes firms try to get “nursing-level work on customer-service wages.”

Is it really that hard? There's a lot of people out there, probably me, that would do that job without a word. I've been in that position before. I just complained about it and went on. It was something I could add on my resume, in the right way.

I also work as a Medical Receptionist, but you should not be refilling medication or telling their results. That would be a doctors responsibility.

Well, U may be wrong to an extent
I have served as a,recruiter for a while
The technicalities of most assignments
could be found in these statements. '' the employee will also perform any other duty as assigned,, If this appears somewhere in d job description or company policy, and u received ur offer letter to d job without clarifications on d above statement. , Then u have to think again before rejecting any assumptions.

No, you are not wrong. You aren't clinically licensed to give results or refill meds. That is a Medical Assistant or PA or NP but not front office. They have more access to records that up front does. Also this is why I feel that offices that want to pay $14-$16 an hour is ridiculous for all the work that we do up front. Go with your gut feeling, it's usually not wrong. I've worked up front also and am struggling if I want to get back into that. I loved what I did but the pay was no where near what it needs to be in this field. We practically run the office and they think we aren't worth the actual amount.

Your reply is very scary. As a receptionist with no medical background and or experience you should definitely not give patients their lab results or any other medical information. Each medical provider in that practice is putting their license on the line and possibly a patient’s health outcome if the correct understanding of their results isn’t received or given to them correctly by non-clinical personnel.

When you say you are doing refills on medications is that being passed down from a superior after it was authorized by said physician ? You should not be electronically sending if you are not certified to do so. Curious if you can message me as I've been in this position?

I’ve been in same field. For your office expect you to refill meds and provide labs for patients is irresponsible in my opinion. I get taking messages for the refills but absolutely no on the labs. I agree with others it could be a liability issue. Good luck.

I very much appreciate all this feedback. The good and bad. I have stopped doing any of it. I put my foot down and let them know I am not comfortable doing it and asked why no other office has their front desk doing this. From what I have observed the MAs just want to focus on pre auths and scheduling test. I've been applying else where with not much luck.

ohmygod do not do that. if you mess up you are completely liable for any mistakes because you are acting way out of your scope. i know how it feels when doctors pressure you to do things you dont want to do / know you shouldnt, but protect yourself on this.

As a clinician who also practices Medical Law you ABSOLUTELY SHOULD NOT be giving test results or refilling medications. You are putting yourself in a very precarious position and the entire practice could be shut down immediately with loss of license for even allowing you to do this. You have EVERY RIGHT TO REFUSE. If you are penalized as a result of your refusal, you have a law suit.

You are not a clinician and they violate HIPPA. Document and forward that leadership. You will be the scapegoat if stuff hits the wall

Talk

CNAs/nursing assistants can’t legally refill drugs, much less an office assistant, no offense OP. This is a liability issue for that practice. Also lab results. No, an office assistant can’t give lab/test results, only a doctor or registered nurse can do that. Whoever is asking OP to do these tasks needs to be reported. It might seem like a “simple task” to “scanning clerk 1” but it’s not just the task we’re talking about here. An office assistant has no clinical training to do these tasks. Regarding refills, if patients are calling for a refill you could take a message and forward to the doc or nurse but anything further, don’t do it OP. But when the call comes for the refill, you could look up when they were last seen and send that along with your message. The doctor or nurse can make the decision of if and when the patient needs seen. I want to know exactly what these doctors and nurses are doing all day that they can’t do those things? I think I’d report them but I don’t know where. OSHA? Nursing board? Medical board? Not sure.

If that's not in your job description, you need to express your concerns to your manager. Those duties usually are done by the MA. Tell her/him that you are not trained for that

Well I would learn as much as I can for the time that you're there as an employee after a 6 months to a year or if you've been there longer I would go to the HR department and ask for a raise and tell them what you do what you've learned was not in your job description but you do willingly and learned and you would like to get paid for it it should be some better terms than that but yes I would take that as a tool

Never give a client test results unless you are a certified or licensed healthcare professional. I am not and my job tried to have me do it some time ago, but i refused. So it was not asked again. I would not want a receptionist giving me test results. All you have to do is stop doing it. If they call, take a message and leave it for whomever. If they come in, have them wait to speak with the doctor or nurse. Bam.