By Rowda Mitwalli, Senior Director of Talent Acquisition, CardioOne
Having trouble finding and keeping medical assistants (MA) for your independent medical practice? You’re far from alone.
Recruiting talented MAs has never been harder, and independent cardiology practices can’t keep up with salaries offered by hospital-owned and private-equity-backed practices.
But compensation is only one part of attracting high-quality MAs. Equally important is developing a supportive and empowering practice culture—and that’s where independent practices have a huge edge over their hospital-owned counterparts. While cultivating a positive work culture will benefit your entire practice, it’s especially critical for MAs, who are among the hardest care team members to keep.
In this blog post, we’ll cover everything independent cardiology practices need to know about attracting and retaining quality MAs and care team members — from creating a winning culture to writing a compelling job posting, sourcing the best candidates, and setting up new hires for success.
Inside the Medical Assistant hiring crisis
The current MA shortage boils down to the basic laws of supply and demand. As practices have expanded their services and patient panels in recent years, they’ve added new MA roles, but there aren’t enough qualified candidates available to fill all the open slots.
Practices of all sizes feel the squeeze, with 47% of medical group leaders saying MA is the most difficult staff role to recruit for in 2025. The problem won’t get better anytime soon. MA roles are expected to grow 15% faster than all jobs through 2033, with nearly 120,000 job openings each year.
Given these market pressures, competition for candidates is fierce, with many receiving multiple offers. Yet while a higher base salary may convince an MA to sign on, it’s not what keeps them happy over the long haul. We’ve seen highly compensated MAs walk away from practices with toxic cultures that leave them feeling overwhelmed and undervalued. When salaries are comparable, culture becomes the deciding factor.
Want to attract top MA talent? Lead with Culture
In the battle for the best MAs, independent cardiology practices hold a built-in advantage: the freedom to shape their workplace culture. When practices pair competitive pay and benefits with an environment where MAs feel respected and supported, they can attract and retain excellent employees.
Independent groups already have an inherent upper hand. Most private practices don’t require weekend work. They can make decisions faster with less bureaucratic red tape. And they foster close-knit teams where employees aren’t just a number.
Practice managers can enrich their culture further by:
Giving MAs room to grow
A lack of growth opportunities is one of the top reasons why MAs leave their employers. Independent practices can combat this by setting up career development paths that guide MAs into progressively more challenging roles, such as moving from Staff MA to Lead MA.
Providing diverse work experiences
An onslaught of repetitive tasks makes work life dull for MAs. The good news: cardiology practices offer MAs multiple opportunities beyond rooming patients and checking vitals, including administering EKGs and stress tests. Rotating responsibilities among team members keeps work engaging and helps MAs expand their skills over time.
Recognizing and rewarding MAs (and other staff)
Formal and informal recognition makes MAs feel appreciated for their contributions to patient care. Consider implementing a variety of tactics, ranging from monthly excellence awards to informal thank-you notes, and personal emails. You can also recognize the entire team by hosting surprise in-office lunches, bringing together staff and strengthening camaraderie.
Next, write a warm, friendly job posting
A job posting is the first and best place to show MA candidates why your practice is the best place to work. Avoid generic job descriptions that large organizations would use. Instead, use warm, personal language that highlights what sets your practice’s culture apart, including growth opportunities, recognition programs, and work-life balance.
Salary transparency is another way to show respect for job seekers. Include pay ranges, benefits, and work schedules in your job posting. This demonstrates you value candidates’ time and streamlines the application review process by filtering out those who wouldn’t accept the position at the posted salary or schedule.
Know where to source the best MA candidates
Practices with great cultures understand that recruiting for different roles requires unique strategies. While some roles may attract hundreds of applicants on LinkedIn, MA roles do not. Four best practices that work when finding MAs:
Use Indeed and LinkedIn
Indeed usually attracts more MA applicants than LinkedIn, which makes it the perfect place for your job posting. Use LinkedIn to directly message qualified MAs with strong profiles who are active on the platform.
Ask for employee referrals
Hiring-from-within reflects a positive workplace culture. If no one is qualified, ask team members for referrals. They often find the best candidates.
Perform community outreach
Look locally. Consider joining Facebook work groups in your town or region. Ask local technical schools for promising recent graduates seeking MA roles.
Show personal interest
Use brief phone interviews to narrow your list of candidates. Sound welcoming and genuine, because candidates are more likely to join a practice where they feel seen and appreciated from the very first conversation.
One other friendly word of advice: Don’t look for a unicorn (a candidate who checks every box). They don’t exist, and searching for one slows your hiring and overburdens existing staff. Instead, hire for coachability. Seek candidates with core skills—such as a positive attitude and a willingness—who fit your culture best.
Set up new MA hires for success
After extending an offer, integrate new MAs into your culture. Offer a warm welcome by sending an intro packet with essential first-day info, including where to report, how to dress, and where to park. Then follow up with a personal call to answer questions. Allow completion of pre-hire paperwork remotely when possible.
Prepare an onboarding packet that spells out your practice’s mission and values, along with job responsibilities and practice workflows. Add a personal touch with “meet the team” bios with fun facts like pets or favorite movies
The first two weeks are crucial. Keep the lines of communication open and assign a “work buddy” as a go-to person in an MA’s first few days on the job.
Managing MA turnover
Even with a strong practice culture, turnover happens. Avoid disruption by:
Cross-training staff
Train front desk staff on basic MA duties, such as taking vitals and rooming patients. Have MAs cross-train on front desk duties, too. This will help ease the strain of unexpected absences or extended leaves.
Keeping SOPs handy
Create standard operating procedures (SOPs) and keep them centrally accessible, such as on a shared drive or in the break room, for quick reference.
Sourcing per-diem employees
Per-diem staff is often less costly than agencies. A talented per-diem staffer can help fill in gaps part time and reduce the risk of burnout for your full-time staff.
Where to find help finding MAs (and building a winning practice culture)
Practices with strong cultures aren’t afraid to ask for help. A management services organization like CardioOne specializes in helping independent cardiology practices develop talent strategies that authentically reflect their unique work environment and attract top MAs.
Our practices receive hands-on support at every step of the process, from writing job descriptions and posting MA positions to onboarding new workers and performing background checks.
Interested in working for an independent cardiology practice? See current openings.