The Certifying Board (CB) of the American Association of Medical Assistants® (AAMA) has approved the launch of a three-year eligibility pilot program, which temporarily opens a new education pathway for medical assistants to become eligible to sit for the CMA (AAMA)® Certification Exam.
Applicants first submit their documentation for review, free of charge, to determine their eligibility to apply for the exam. The criteria and submission requirements for the review are outlined on the Eligibility Pilot Program webpage of the AAMA website.
Before implementing the program, the CB took into account several policy priorities, including but not limited to the following:
- Maintaining global and national accreditation standards
- Heeding a recommendation from the National Commission for Certifying Agencies
- Needing to collect and evaluate empirical evidence on examination performance by candidates who are not graduates of accredited medical assisting programs
Examine all the CB’s considerations and rationale in detail by reading the November/December 2019 Public Affairs article, “The CMA (AAMA)® Certification Exam Eligibility Pilot Program: Criteria and Rationale for the Three-Year Pilot Study,” on the AAMA website.
Legal Eye 
I can’t help feeling that this is not fair to the programs that went through a huge amount of work preparing for a Self Study and a very stressful time preparing for a Site Visit, and the visit itself to maintain CAAHEP Accreditation for our programs and our graduates taking the CMA (AAMA) exam. If this “temporary” program allows those qualifying to take the CMA(AAMA) exam without coming from a CAAHEP accredited program, why do we bother to go through the expense and very stressful process for accreditation?
Thank you for the important issues you raise, Barbara. My best response is reflected in my post of October 30:
Accreditation, Certification and the CMA (AAMA) Credential
Medical Assisting Programs Should Maintain Programmatic Accreditation
October 30, 2019October 30, 2019Donald A. Balasa
Since the announcement of the CMA (AAMA)® Certification Exam Eligibility Pilot Program, many people have had questions concerning its rationale and ramifications. Take the following set of questions for example:
This new pilot program has North Carolina educators in deep discussion. I wanted to clarify a few items before presenting this new pilot program to my advisory board:
1. What is the benefit of programs to maintain accreditation if students can sit for the CMA (AAMA) Certification Exam in a nonaccredited program?
2. When students find out about this pilot program, retention rates could be affected. Is the AAMA prepared to address this issue? I can imagine that curriculum revisions will be increasing. Our college administration has insisted that we offer a one-year diploma that is not accredited to offer students the opportunity to complete faster.
3. Is the pilot program expected to be available for three years?
Those are great questions. Medical assisting programs accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP) or the Accrediting Bureau of Health Education Schools (ABHES) should maintain their programmatic accreditation because state boards of medical examiners and state boards of nursing have established education and/or credentialing requirements for medical assistants who are delegated the administration of medication by physicians, physician assistants, and advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs), especially nurse practitioners.
Note the following requirements for medical assistants to be registered, and therefore permitted to work as medical assistants, from the joint rules of the South Dakota Board of Nursing and the South Dakota Board of Medical and Osteopathic Examiners:
20:84:04:01. Approved education programs. An applicant for registration shall have graduated from a medical assistant program that is approved by the boards or accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP), or a similar accrediting institution approved by the United States Department of Education. Approved programs must provide classroom, laboratory, and clinical learning experiences that provide for student attainment of entry-level competence as a registered medical assistant.
The number of CAAHEP- and ABHES-accredited medical assisting programs—and the number of their graduates—has decreased in the last five years. Some programs have closed, and some continue to offer a medical assisting program but have discontinued their programmatic accreditation.
However, anecdotal evidence is emerging that accredited medical assisting programs that have articulation agreements with other allied health programs are experiencing stable if not increasing enrollment in their medical assisting programs.
Thank you again for your question, Barbara.
Don
Donald A. Balasa, JD, MBA
Chief Executive Officer, Legal Counsel
American Association of Medical Assistants
Ph: 800/228-2262 | Fax: 312/899-1259 | http://www.aama-ntl.org
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