Medical Assistant Certifying Bodies

Professional Certification Requirements 

The more you know about the medical assistant career, the better you are prepared! To clear up a common misconception about the medical assistant certification exams: although there are certain educational requirements to sit for certification exams, neither the American Association of Medical Assistants (AAMA), nor the National Healthcareer Association (NHA), and American Medical Technologists (AMT) require an Associates Degree to take their medical assisting certification exams.

Subject:

Re: RMA vs. CMA, is one better than the other?

Suzy Ashmore shared the following with us:
Re: RMA vs CMA (AAMA) - One better than the other?

Message:
"WOW!!! I have read this forum for quite some time!! I am appalled at the amount of misinformation still being posted. i.e.: "RMA goes to college, CMA does not", and "CMA is only recognized state wide, RMA is a national certificate", and on and on. If you people really want to know the facts, you need to contact representatives of the state societies in the state in which you live. AMT has chapters in all 50 states, including the Caribbean.

I am not sure which states do not have a AAMA chapter. I live in Oklahoma and there is no state chapter here for AAMA. This whole controversy started over this: AAMA has the CMA designation (with capital letters) COPYRIGHTED. So this means that any other organization that wishes to "certify" ma's CANNOT use CMA with capital letters. Didn't anyone read the comment I made about the lawsuit that AMT brought against AAMA a few years ago? It says essentially this: AAMA is the only organization that can use "Certified". All others can say their ma's are "certified". Look closely here: the only difference is the CAPITALIZATION. A medical assistant is a medical assistant, regardless of the type of "credential" they hold. But, there are slight differences in the organizations (AAMA, AMT, ARMA, AAMP) themselves.

To certify through AAMA, you MUST have received your MA training from a formal school - a trade or vocational school, or a college. All the other organizations will allow you to sit for the exam if you have OJT (on job training). All 4 of these organizations I mentioned above are NATIONWIDE accepted. There may be some states that require a state certificate that may not be accepted in another state, but these 4 are good ANY WHERE!! Which credential is better???? Who knows.

Which school is better??? Who knows. Some schools offer both administrative and clinical curriculum. Some schools offer one without you having to take the other. If you want to sit for the AAMA or AMT exam, you will have to have a basic knowledge of both administrative and clinical areas. For those of you who have "only" a phlebotomist" certificate, this will not be enough for you to become certified as a Medical Assistant. You will need some school or OJT to become a "certified" medical assistant. If you are RMA and wish to apply for a job that calls only for CMA, I suggest you contact AMT to obtain the letter that will inform employers that RMA is the same as CMA.

I guess this controversy will never end. If the MA's themselves out there are confused over the designation, how can you expect an office manager (who is more than likely neither) to know the difference?

Anyone who wishes, please contact me by e-mail: . I am the secretary of the Oklahoma State Society of American Medical Technologists and I will be happy to help you with the credentials." 

--- Suzy Ashmore