Comprehensive Medical Assistant

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CNC

This Career Education (CE) certificate program includes instruction and skills training on competencies for entry-level employment working in the front office or back office as a medical assistant. Students learn and demonstrate essential skills: medical office procedures, appointment scheduling, reception techniques, communication, medical records and electronic health records management, data entry, billing, coding, insurance reimbursement, laboratory procedures (including venipuncture, pharmacology, injections), electrocardiography, spirometry, public relations, and practice-building techniques. An externship in a physician’s office combining administrative and clinical experience helps provide the student with the clinical experience necessary to enter the workforce.

All students complete a background check and drug screen three months prior to enrolling in MA 217C and are required to hold Basic Life Support (BLS) CPR certification (AHA approved with AED) and a certificate of medical malpractice, throughout the externship. During the externship students complete 160 hours of non-paid supervised training to demonstrate basic medical front office and clinical back office skills and competencies.  

The Comprehensive Medical Assistant program meets the California Certifying Board for Medical Assistants requirements to sit for the California Certified Medical Assistant exam (CCMA) and the American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC), Certified Professional Coder (CPC) certification exam.  Letter grade only. Students may begin the program in the Summer, Fall or Spring and there are no prerequisites to enroll in the program. Material fees are kept to a minimum. Students are required to purchase a stethoscope, sphygmomanometer for the physical examination procedure course, and a uniform is required for the externship. These additional fees are approximately less than $400.00.

Students in the Comprehensive Medical Assistant program may meet the Associate of Science Degree in Health Sciences graduation requirements as outlined in the catalog; students are encouraged to discuss these requirements with their assigned academic counselor.

The Comprehensive Medical Assistant Certificate of Completion prepares students and incumbent workers with administrative and clinical instruction and skills training required for working in the front office and back office of a physician’s office, medical clinic, outpatient or ambulatory care center. This noncredit program is designed to help meet industry demand and offers education and opportunities for workers to upskill and cross train to the front and back office. Students learn soft skills, appointment scheduling, reception duties, HIPAA, electronic medical and health records, insurance authorizations, reimbursement, abstracting data, coding, medication administration, injections, physical examination procedures, minor office surgery procedures, laboratory procedures, venipuncture, ECG, and spirometry diagnostic testing. Program completion qualifies students to sit for the American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC) and Certified Practice Coder (CPC) certification exams, but does not qualify students to sit for the California Certifying Board for Medical Assistants (CCBMA) certification.