When Amarillo College launched its Certified Medical Assistant (CMA) Program in 2014, it was in direct response to a growing demand for multi-skilled practitioners in physician’s offices and other healthcare settings.

Since then, it has been the program’s initial students doing the responding, and what they’ve achieved is nothing short of perfection.

The first students to complete the two-semester CMA Program this spring—10 in all—passed both national examinations for which they qualified to sit: the CCMA (Certified Clinical Medial Assistant) and the CMAA (Certified Medical Administrative Assistant).

Such a 100-percent, national-certification pass rate establishes a solid foundation upon which the program can build, which it soon will, by expanding to offer classes in Hereford.

“You can’t set the bar any higher than that,” Kendra Hubbard, CMA Program director, said. “We are delighted that all our students who took the national exams passed them. Next, in addition to our Amarillo-based program, we plan to begin offering CMA classes at our Hereford campus.”

A CMA is trained to handle both administrative and clinical duties, everything from scheduling appointments and billing to assisting with examinations, drawing blood and performing basic first aid and CPR. It is such a cross-trained mix of traditional office work and hands-on clinical procedures that is increasingly in demand in physicians’ offices and outpatient care facilities nationwide, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Eight members of AC’s duly certified first cohort are already employed in the field, while two others are using their completion as a stepping stone to the study of nursing. Moreover, Hubbard says, a number of employers are standing by to tap into the next group of AC graduates, which will emerge from the 2015-2016 cohort that begins classes in the fall.

“More and more, employers are looking for certified CMAs. The jobs are out there, so this can be a solid career in and of itself,” Hubbard said. “Also, many who work in medical facilities right now are being required to obtain CMA certification to meet federal guidelines regarding access to healthcare records, so we expect our enrollment to increase.

“But CMA certification is not necessarily the end-all; it also opens the door to pretty much all the allied health professions. It can lead to all sorts of related careers.”

While you need no previous healthcare training to participate in the CMA Program, there are three courses that, while not listed as prerequisites, are required at some point in addition to the 25-credit-hour CMA curriculum. Hubbard said all three—Medical Terminology, Anatomy and Physiology I, and Business Computer Applications—are dual credit offerings available through AC to area high school students or can be completed at AC in summertime.

The CMA Program consists of 13 credit hours during the fall semester and 12 hours in the spring, 25 total hours that are inclusive of clinical experiences at local healthcare facilities.

Anyone interested in entering the CMA Program at AC this fall—in Amarillo or at AC’s Hinkson Campus in Hereford—is encouraged to contact Kendra Hubbard at 806-576-7795.

June 5, 2015