CCMA vs. CMA: Which Certification Should You Take?

If you are getting into medical assisting, you will run into two credentials constantly: the CCMA from the National Healthcareer Association (NHA) and the CMA from the American Association of Medical Assistants (AAMA). Both are nationally recognized. Both qualify you to work as a medical assistant in clinics, physician offices, and hospital systems across the country. The practical difference comes down to who issues the credential and, more importantly, how you become eligible to sit for the exam. The CMA (AAMA) is strict about its eligibility path. You must graduate from a medical assisting program accredited by either CAAHEP or ABHES. There is no work experience route. If your school is not on one of those two accreditor lists, you cannot take the CMA exam. The CCMA (NHA) is more flexible. You qualify if you graduated from an accredited MA training program, or if you have at least one year of full-time supervised clinical work experience as a medical assistant within the last three years. That second path is what makes the CCMA popular with career changers and on-the-job-trained MAs who never went through a formal program. Neither credential is strictly better than the other. The right one depends on your training background, your local job market, and where you want to work.

Here is how the two exams and credentials stack up. All fees and policies are as of 2025 — always confirm current details on nhanow.com (CCMA) and aama-ntl.org (CMA) before you register. The two differences that matter most in real life are the eligibility path and the renewal cycle. If you did not complete a CAAHEP or ABHES accredited program, the CCMA is likely your only option. And if you do not want to track down 60 CEUs every five years, the CCMA's shorter two-year, 10-CEU cycle may fit better with how you prefer to maintain your credential.

In most markets, no. At the entry level, there is no meaningful salary difference between a CCMA and a CMA. Pay is driven far more by your employer, your city, your specialty, and your years of experience than by which three letters follow your name. That said, hiring preferences do vary by market. Some large hospital systems and academic medical centers have historically preferred the CMA for certain clinical roles, while outpatient clinics, urgent cares, and specialty practices are often credential-neutral or specifically list the CCMA in postings. The best way to answer this for your situation is to spend fifteen minutes on Indeed or LinkedIn searching medical assistant jobs in your target city. Look at what the top ten to twenty postings actually require or prefer. That will tell you more about local pay and hiring reality than any national average.

Yes. Nothing stops you from holding both the CCMA and the CMA at the same time, and some medical assistants do. Practically though, most people pick one credential and stick with it because two sets of renewal requirements and two sets of CEUs is a lot to track. Getting both can make sense in a specific scenario: you came into the field through the CCMA work experience path, and now you want to work at a hospital system that specifically prefers the CMA. In that case, if you go back and complete a CAAHEP or ABHES accredited program, adding the CMA opens those doors. For most people, one credential is enough. Employers who accept national MA certification generally accept either one, and holding both does not usually translate into higher pay.

If your program is CAAHEP or ABHES accredited, you are eligible for both exams, so you get to choose based on fit. Many accredited-program graduates go with the CMA. Their school built the curriculum around the AAMA exam blueprint, instructors teach to it, and study materials are widely available. If your program actively prepares you for the CMA and your instructors recommend it, that is a strong signal. The CCMA is also a legitimate choice and is increasingly accepted by employers, including large health systems that once leaned heavily on the CMA. It is often less expensive, has a shorter renewal cycle, and uses PSI testing centers that many students find more convenient. Before you commit, do two things. First, ask your program which exam they officially recommend and what their recent pass rates look like. Second, pull up job postings in the area where you actually want to work and count how many list CMA versus CCMA versus "national MA certification." Let those two data points, not a national reputation ranking, drive your decision.