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Medical assistant certification is voluntary, as it is not required by law for a working medical assistant to be certified. Some employers do require certification as a pre-requisite for employment. Additionally, some of the job tasks of medical assistants require certification by some states. These may include performing x-rays and drawing blood.

There two separate types of medical assistant certification. One is Certified Medical Assistant (CMA) or Registered Medical Assistant (RMA).

Both of these certifications require graduation from an accredited medical assistant program. The program must be accredited wither by the Accrediting Bureau of Health Education Schools (ABHES) or the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Programs (CAAHEP).

The American Association of Medical Assistants (AAMA) is the institution that awards CMA’s. In order to obtain a CMA (AAMA) you must graduate from an accredited medical assisting program and pass the CMA (AAMA) Certification/Recertification Examination.

An accredited medical assisting program will include training in the following areas:
o Human anatomy, physiology and pathology
o Medical terminology
o Keyboarding and computer applications
o Recordkeeping and accounting
o Coding and insurance processing
o Laboratory techniques
o Clinical and diagnostic procedures
o Pharmacology
o Medication administration
o First aid
o Office practices
o Patient relations
o Medical law and ethics

Once you complete a training program you can schedule and complete the certification exam.
The AMAA website has helpful information about finding an accredited program and everything you need to know about the exam.

The American Medical Technologists (AMT) awards RMA’s. To receive an RMA you must have the pre-requisites, submit an application to take the RMA exam, and of course pass the examThe pre-requisites are:

1. you must be of good moral character
2. meet one of the 3 following requirements
a. applicant must be a recent graduate from an accredited medical assistant program or a formal medical services training program of the United States Armed Forces;
b. applicant must have been employed as a medical assistant for 5 years; or
c. applicant has passed a generalist medical assistant certification examination offered by another medical assisting certification body.

For more detailed information about the receiving RMA (AMT) certification, visit AMT’s website.