CMA certification: cost, renewal & jobs

What is CMA (AAMA) certification?

CMA (AAMA) is a national medical assistant credential from the American Association of Medical Assistants, earned by passing a 200-question exam in 160 minutes. It covers both halves of the job: clinical work such as injections and phlebotomy, and administrative work such as scheduling and records. The exam costs $125 if you're an AAMA member and $250 if you aren't. Certification runs 60 months. AAMA writes it as "CMA (AAMA)" with the parenthetical attached, because several other credentials answer to CMA.

CMA vs RMA vs CCMA vs medication aide

Five credentials cover medical assisting, and a separate job shares the letters. Employers rarely explain which they mean.

Washington, one of the few states that credentials medical assistants at all, accepts all five exams for the same state credential. Pick the one your program prepares you for unless a specific employer says otherwise.

Who requires CMA

Clinics, physician offices, and hospital outpatient departments ask for it on medical assistant roles, usually asking for certification rather than for a named issuer. It comes up where the job includes injections or drawing blood, because those are tasks a supervising provider delegates under their own license. Reception and scheduling roles in the same clinic don't ask for it. Phlebotomist roles have their own credential, CPT, and don't need this one.

Requirements and eligibility

AAMA lists four ways to qualify. You need one of them.

• Be a student or graduate of a medical assisting program accredited by CAAHEP or ABHES.
• Have been certified as a CMA (AAMA) before.
• Be a medical assisting educator with at least 1,000 hours teaching in a postsecondary program at a USDE- or CHEA-accredited institution.
• Qualify through the Alternative Pathway, which takes graduates of a qualified postsecondary program or apprenticeship that isn't CAAHEP- or ABHES-accredited.

The Alternative Pathway wants a program of at least 560 academic contact hours over the equivalent of 2 semesters, plus either a 160-hour outpatient practicum or 1,000 hours of medical assisting work afterward. The curriculum has to cover anatomy, physiology, pharmacology, infection control, applied mathematics, injection technique, and phlebotomy, and you document at least 10 injections and 10 phlebotomies. AAMA reviews the paperwork for free and only charges you once you're approved to sit.

Cost, format, and renewal

Figures below are AAMA's own, current as of July 2026. Membership halves the exam fee and both renewal fees.

The two CEU rules run independently, and people conflate them. The 10/10/10 split applies to the whole 60, not to the 30 AAMA CEUs inside it.

When your state credentials medical assistants

Most states don't credential medical assistants. You work under the delegating provider's license, and your certification is an employer expectation rather than a legal one. That catches people who assume a national certification is a license.

Washington shows what a state credential looks like when there is one. It issues Medical Assistant-Certified, confusingly also abbreviated MA-C, along with narrower credentials for registered assistants, phlebotomists, hemodialysis technicians, and EMTs. It wants a CAAHEP- or ABHES-accredited program, or another accredited or state-approved program running at least 720 clock hours with a 160-hour externship, plus a passing score on one of the 5 recognized exams within the past 5 years. There your national certification is an input to the state credential, not a substitute for it. Check your own state before you assume either way.

How to get certified

1. Check whether your state credentials medical assistants. It changes what you're aiming at.
2. Work out which of AAMA's four eligibility categories you fall into. If your program wasn't CAAHEP- or ABHES-accredited, read the Alternative Pathway before assuming you're out.
3. Price AAMA membership against the $125 it takes off the exam. Dues vary by state society and local chapter, so the comparison is yours to run, and membership saves you again at every renewal.
4. Apply through AAMA and pay the exam fee.
5. Sit the exam: 200 questions, 160 minutes.
6. Apply for your state credential if your state has one.
7. Start logging CEUs. You need 60 over 60 months, 30 of them AAMA's.

Demand for CMA on MedJobList

117 of the active US openings we track right now name a certified medical assistant, in the title or in the requirements. Medical assistant postings often ask for certification without naming the body that issued it, which is what you'd expect in a country where most states leave the choice to the employer. You can browse those openings below, or filter the full job list by CMA yourself.

On the job

The 60-month cycle is long enough to forget. AAMA counts CEUs continuously, so log them as you earn them rather than reconstructing 60 months of paperwork at the end. Ask whether your employer pays for AAMA membership: it halves the exam fee and both renewal fees.