CCMA vs. CMA: Which Medical Assistant Certification Is Right for You?

Table of Contents

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• What Is the CCMA Certification?
• What Is the CMA (AAMA) Certification?
• CCMA vs. CMA: Side-by-Side Comparison
• Do Employers Prefer CMA or CCMA?
• CCMA vs. CMA Externships: What's the Difference?
• Which Is Better: CCMA or CMA?
• The Biggest Misconception About CCMA vs. CMA

If you’re researching how to become a medical assistant, you’ve probably come across two credentials again and again: the CCMA (Certified Clinical Medical Assistant) and the CMA (Certified Medical Assistant). Both are nationally recognized certifications that can prepare you for medical assistant jobs. Both require you to pass a certification exam. Both cost <$200. And despite the slightly different names, they can lead to many of the same roles in clinics, physician practices, and outpatient healthcare settings. So does it actually matter which one you earn?

We spoke with Rajit Dasgupta, Director of Healthcare Programs at Springboard, to break down the practical differences between the CCMA and CMA – from eligibility and exams to externships, employer recognition, and long-term career opportunities.

What Is the CCMA Certification?

The Certified Clinical Medical Assistant (CCMA) credential is issued by the National Healthcareer Association (NHA). It is an NCCA-accredited certification designed to validate the clinical and administrative skills needed to work as a medical assistant.

We cover the credential in depth in our complete guide to the CCMA certification, but eligibility is where CCMA stands apart.

To qualify for the CCMA exam, you generally need a high school diploma or equivalent and must meet one of two pathways:

• Complete a medical assistant training or education program within the previous five years, or

• Have one year of supervised medical assisting experience within the previous three years, or two years within the previous five years.

That second option is significant. Someone who has already been working in a medical assisting environment may be able to qualify for the CCMA exam based on their experience rather than completing another full training program.

“If a student already has real, hands-on experience, the CCMA route can be faster and doesn't require ‘starting over’ through an accredited program,” says Dasgupta.

What Is the CCMA Exam Like?

The current CCMA exam contains 180 questions, including 150 scored questions and 30 unscored pretest questions, with three hours to complete the exam. Clinical Patient Care makes up more than half of the scored exam, which reflects the CCMA’s particularly strong emphasis on hands-on clinical skills.

Those skills include patient intake, vital signs, infection control, assisting with procedures, phlebotomy, EKGs, specimen collection, and other tasks medical assistants may encounter in an outpatient setting.

And because CCMA-track programs are often structured to get students working sooner, the clinical externship typically happens after the exam rather than before it. "CCMA-track students, including Springboard’s, typically pass the certification exam first and complete a post-certification externship afterward," Dasgupta explains. Springboard, for example, requires students to complete their externship within 120 days of passing the CCMA exam to be considered fully certified.

The CCMA credential must be renewed every two years. NHA requires 10 continuing education credits plus a recertification fee to maintain the credential.

What Is the CMA (AAMA) Certification?

The CMA (AAMA) credential is issued by the American Association of Medical Assistants (AAMA) and is another nationally recognized medical assistant certification.

Eligibility is more prescriptive than CCMA: candidates must graduate from a CAAHEP- or ABHES-accredited MA program. There is no work-experience pathway, regardless of a candidate’s outside clinical background. 

That makes your choice of training program especially important.

“Most students don't actually choose between the two as a pure preference – the decision is really a byproduct of which training program they're in,” says Dasgupta. “So the practical guidance is: pick the program format that fits your life first – in-person and accredited vs. flexible and online – and the certification follows from that.”

What Is the CMA Exam Like?

The CMA (AAMA) exam contains 200 multiple-choice questions, including 180 scored questions and 20 pretest questions. The current exam blueprint allocates 59% of scored questions to clinical competency, 21% to general topics like legal issues and communication, and 20% to administrative topics including billing, coding, insurance, scheduling, and health information management.

Unlike the CCMA’s two-year renewal cycle, the CMA (AAMA) credential must be recertified every five years. CMA holders can recertify through continuing education – which requires 60 recertification points – or by passing the certification exam again.

Do Employers Prefer CMA or CCMA?

This may be the most important question for someone deciding between the two credentials – and in many cases, employers don't make a strong distinction.

“In practice, most outpatient and ambulatory employers care first and foremost that a candidate holds a recognized medical assistant certification at all,” says Dasgupta. “A lot of job postings simply say ‘certified medical assistant (CMA, CCMA, RMA, or equivalent).’”

According to Dasgupta, large hospital systems and multi-specialty groups that hire medical assistants at scale are particularly likely to view the credentials as interchangeable because both demonstrate core medical assisting competencies.

“Smaller, physician-owned practices sometimes have a preference either way,” Dasgupta adds, “usually shaped by whichever credential is most common among local training programs.”

That means it’s worth looking at medical assistant job postings in your area before choosing a program. If the employers you want to work for consistently request a particular credential, that can help guide your decision.

CCMA vs. CMA Externships: What's the Difference?

The hands-on experience required to become job-ready is another area where the two pathways can differ – but Dasgupta says the biggest distinction is often when students complete that experience rather than what they learn.

In the traditional CMA (AAMA) pathway, a practicum is part of the accredited program. A completing student may register for the exam after finishing their classroom coursework, but program completion – including the practicum – must be verified before the CMA credential is awarded.

Some CCMA training programs structure the process differently, with students preparing for and passing the NHA exam before moving into an externship.

“The clinical skills covered – vitals, patient intake, EKGs, specimen collection, assisting with procedures – are largely the same either way,” says Dasgupta.

That hands-on component matters regardless of which certification you pursue. Passing an exam demonstrates your knowledge; an externship gives you an opportunity to demonstrate that you can apply those skills with actual patients and in a healthcare workplace.

As Dasgupta puts it, “The exam proves knowledge, the externship proves you can apply it.”

Which Is Better: CCMA or CMA?

Neither credential is inherently “better” for every aspiring medical assistant. Your training options and career goals are more useful factors to consider.

The CCMA may make more sense if:

• You want to complete a flexible or online medical assistant training program.

• You already have qualifying supervised medical assistant experience.

• You want a strong emphasis on direct clinical patient care.

• You want to enter the medical assisting field relatively quickly.

• You may eventually want to stack other NHA certifications in areas like phlebotomy or EKG.

The CMA may make more sense if:

• You're enrolled in or considering a CAAHEP- or ABHES-accredited medical assisting program or another qualifying program.

• You want a program with a practicum incorporated into its formal structure.

• You're interested in both clinical and administrative medical assisting.

• You see yourself eventually moving toward office management, billing, or supervisory responsibilities.

For students who genuinely have access to both pathways, Dasgupta recommends thinking about where you want the credential to take you.

“Do you want to eventually move into office management, billing, or supervisory work? CMA's exam covers administrative content, which can be a slightly better on-ramp there,” he says. “Do you want the fastest route into direct, hands-on patient care in outpatient or specialty clinics? CCMA is well-suited and often quicker to obtain.”

Does choosing CMA vs. CCMA affect your pay or advancement? Not significantly, according to Dasgupta. “Pay in this field is driven far more by geography, care setting (hospital vs. outpatient vs. specialty), and years of experience than by which certification letters follow your name.” He notes that CMA’s administrative emphasis may be useful for medical assistants interested in office management or billing, while CCMA holders can stack other NHA credentials, such as phlebotomy or EKG technician certifications.

The Biggest Misconception About CCMA vs. CMA

One misconception Dasgupta regularly encounters is that the CMA is the “real” medical assistant certification while the CCMA is somehow a shortcut.

“The biggest one is that CMA is somehow ‘the real certification’ and CCMA is a lesser or shortcut credential,” he says. “In reality, both are nationally recognized, both require passing a formal exam, and both require ongoing recertification – they simply come from different certifying bodies with different eligibility structures.”

That distinction is useful for career changers in particular. A shorter or more flexible training pathway doesn't mean you should ignore hands-on experience. In fact, Dasgupta says completing an externship can be especially important for CCMA students coming from online programs.

“Most employers still expect to see it completed, and it's the part of a candidate's background that actually demonstrates real clinical hours to a hiring manager.”

Both the CCMA and CMA can lead to a career as a medical assistant. Employers frequently recognize both, and your experience, clinical skills, location, and work setting are likely to matter more over the course of your career than which credential you initially earned.

So rather than asking which credential is universally better, ask: Which pathway gives me the training, hands-on experience, schedule, and support I need to actually start my medical assisting career?

If the flexibility of the CCMA route appeals to you, Springboard's Certified Medical Assistant Career Track is a four-month online program designed to prepare students for the NHA CCMA exam. The program includes weekly sessions with an experienced medical assistant instructor, CCMA exam prep and an exam voucher, career coaching, and support finding a clinical externship.