Even if you have already been employed as a professional medical assistant, your job may want you to continue your education. Most employers require continuing education credits for registered medical assistants to retain their certification.
Medical assistants who do not take continuing education units will be behind in new techniques and advancements in the medical industry. Nonetheless, most states will allow people to keep practicing. Therefore, you should try to stay up to date with new developments to have a better career position.
Continuing Education for Medical Assistants
One of the greatest advantages of continuing education for medical assistants is learning new field developments that show they are serious about the job. Updating CE credits give you a position to negotiate a salary increment with your employer. Some employers are also kind enough to provide stipends for RMAs who wish to travel for conferences and seminars that earn points.
A medical assistant looking forward to recertification must complete 60 recertification points that can be done within five years. The ACE CE courses are categorized into three;
- Administrative
- General
- Clinical
You can access dozens of courses when you register for an annual membership. The subscription also allows you to earn free credits. All courses provided by CE institutions are AAMA approved for CEUs and are further accepted by all certifying organizations, including AAMA and AMT.
Requirements
To maintain your certificate, you have to attain ten administrative, ten clinical, and ten general points. The other 30 points must combine any of the three categories. Out of the 60 points, medical assistants have to ensure that 30 points are from CEUs approved by the American Association of Medical Assistants.
As a medical assistant, you should constantly plan the continuing courses you want to take and schedule to go through the courses.
Medical Assistant Continuing Education Courses and Costs
Some of the courses undertaken by medical assistants include patient assessment, examination, treatment, scheduling appointments, etc. Many courses cover all these areas that RMAs should study in continuing education.
Some institutions charge for credits if medical assistants do not take any courses. However, these are pretty expensive and are only delivered after taking a short quiz. ACE CE courses are free for members with an annual subscription.
Now that you understand what it takes to maintain your certification or get recertified, you must decide on your next move. You can always shop around for continuing education units offered near you. Also, consider the pricing to be sure you can keep up with the membership. Many institutions are willing to offer free CE credits for medical assistants who study through the courses they offer.
