Because there are no state or federal standardized licensing requirements for medical assistants, hiring a graduate from a program accredited by CAAHEP is the best way for practices and other medical facilities to ensure the hiring of quality trained, qualified employees.

A growing number of malpractice insurance carriers require medical assistants to be specifically CMA credentialed. The reason is that credentialed personnel on staff will lessen the likelihood of a successful legal challenge to the quality of work of the employee.

The CMA is the only exam that is limited to graduates of a medical assistant program that’s accredited by the CAAHEP or ABHES programs.

According to the American Association of Medical Assistants (AAMA), more employers of medical assistants prefer that job applicants are at least certified through one of the three exams listed above and more insistent that they specifically have the CMA credential. The AAMA, the field’s largest national professional organization, says it responds to more than a hundred employer requests for CMA certification verification per day.

Certified medical assistants are likelier to have higher salaries than those medical assistants who are not certified. An American Association of Medical Assistants survey of more than four thousand medical assistants revealed this.

In a recent key development, only certified medical assistants will legally be allowed to enter medication, radiological, and diagnostic orders into electronic medical records. Previously, these entries could be done only by licensed medical professionals. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in Washington extended the group of personnel permitted to enter orders to include only one non-licensed professional group, that is credentialed medical assistants.

All indications are that the managed care organizations’ requirement regarding the Certified Medical Assistant credential is likely to accelerate. Human resource directors in managed care place great faith in professional credentials for the employees they hire (including physicians), and therefore are likelier to establish certification as a mandatory professional designation for medical assistants.

Choosing Hunter Business School’s Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs approved Medical Assistant program is a smart way to boost your career opportunities and earnings potential for the future.

For more information, read Why More Employers Are Hiring CMAs (American Association of Medical Assistants) and The CMA Credential: Rise Above the Crowd.