The American Medical Technologists offers the Registered Medical Assistant (RMA) credential for medical assistants. To be eligible for this program, you must complete an accredited medical assistant program. You also must have at least two years of experience as a medical assistant. After meeting these requirements, you must pass an AMT approved medical assistant certification examination. The text for the RMA covers three main domains of knowledge: general medical assisting knowledge, administrative medical assisting and clinical medical assisting.
The certification through the National Healthcareer Association is the Certified Clinical Medical Assistant (CCMA). This credential has fewer eligibility requirements than the AMA's one. To be this one, you need to complete an approved medical assistant training program or you must have a year of experience as a medical assistant. The almost-three-hour-long, multiple-choice examination for the CCMA credential covers topics such as the health care system, medical terminology, phlebotomy, medical law and ethics.
The American Association of Medical Assistants' (AAMA) credential requires that you are a graduate of a medical assisting program that is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP) or the Accrediting Bureau of Health Education Schools (ABHES). To prepare for the exam, the AAMA recommends that you take a certification review course. The AAMA offers a review course through local chapters, but medical assisting programs offer them as well.
According to the AAMA, training programs for medical assistants cover topics such as human anatomy, physiology, and pathology, medical terminology, keyboarding and computer applications, recordkeeping and accounting, coding and insurance processing, laboratory techniques, clinical and diagnostic procedures, pharmacology, medication administration, first aid, office practices patient relations, and medical law and ethics. As of May 2010, the CAAHEP has accredited 588 programs in medical assisting while the ABHES has accredited 310 programs.
Certified medical assistants have salaries that generally increase as their level of experience increases. Those with one to four years of experience have a salary range of $21,000 to $31,300 while those with five to nibe years of experience have a salary range of $24,300 to $35,300 as of May 2010. Certified medical assistants with 10 to 19 years of experience generally earn between $26,400 and $37,200 according to PayScale.com. Veterans with 20-plus years of experience have some of the highest salaries with a range of $30,500 to $42,900.