Medical Office Procedures Flashcards
6 cards from real RMA practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 6 Medical Office Procedures flashcards as text
Which of the following best defines 'petty cash' management in a medical office?
Answer: A small reserve of cash for minor, everyday office expenses that are impractical to pay by check
Petty cash is a small, fixed amount of money kept on hand for minor incidental expenses (postage, office supplies, refreshments) that are too small to process through formal accounts payable.
A medical assistant is opening mail and finds a check made out to the practice. What should she do with the check before recording it?
Answer: Restrictively endorse it 'For Deposit Only' with the practice account number
A restrictive endorsement 'For Deposit Only' with the practice name and account number written on the back of the check prevents it from being cashed by anyone else if lost or stolen.
Which of the following best describes an 'explanation of benefits' (EOB) form sent by an insurance company?
Answer: A document explaining what services were billed, what the insurer paid, and any amount remaining as patient responsibility
An EOB is a summary statement sent by the insurer to the provider and patient after processing a claim, showing billed amounts, allowed amounts, insurer payments, adjustments, and patient balance due.
When scheduling a new patient appointment, which of the following pieces of information is MOST important to obtain first?
Answer: The reason for the visit and the urgency of the concern
The reason for the visit and its urgency must be established first to ensure the patient is scheduled appropriately — an acute problem may require same-day care while a routine visit can wait weeks.
Which filing method is MOST appropriate for a large practice that wants to distribute filing workload evenly and prevent one section of the files from becoming overcrowded?
Answer: Terminal-digit (reverse numeric) filing
Terminal-digit filing arranges records by reading the assigned number in groups from right to left (last digits first), which distributes new records randomly throughout all filing sections, preventing crowding and balancing workload.
A medical assistant answers the phone and a caller identifies himself as a physician at the local hospital asking for a patient's complete records to be faxed immediately for emergency care. What should the medical assistant do?
Answer: Verify the request through a callback to the hospital's main number and confirm the receiving fax number is secure before transmitting
Even in urgent situations, the identity of the requester and the security of the receiving fax must be verified through an independent callback — 'emergency' requests are a common social engineering technique for unauthorized PHI disclosure.