Be a Patient Advocate as an Administrative Medical Assistant
American National University’s Administrative Medical Assisting certificate program is designed exclusively for students and professionals who have recently completed an associate or bachelor’s degree:
- Recent college graduates seeking an administrative medical assistant career.
- Experienced professionals seeking a career change in the medical industry.
The Administrative Medical Assisting Certificate is designed to give students the necessary skills to enter the field of administrative medical assisting. It will prepare you for a variety of entry-level positions in the fast-growing medical field and provide key administrative skills that can assist you in a variety of other healthcare settings. As a skill credential, this certificate program has been created to provide additional training to accompany your existing degree(s) to make you stand out in the workplace. An earned associate’s degree or higher from an accredited institution is required to be enrolled in any skill credential program.
Your Learning Experience
The 100% online Administrative Medical Assistant certificate program coursework covers:
- A foundation in administrative medical assisting courses that cover health care laws and ethics, effective communication, office operations, medical terminology, and more.
- Body systems and pathology through identifying structure, function, major organs, genetic concepts, and directional terms as well as analyzing and diagnosing patients for effective treatments.
- Background in computers for the use of electronic health records, medical office management and finance, and healthcare billing and coding.
Upon successful completion of this degree program, students will be able to:
- Display professionalism through effective communication between other health care professionals and with patients by recognizing and respecting cultural diversity. Along with this, students will be able to adapt communications to an individual’s ability to understand through verbal, nonverbal, and written techniques in person or over the phone.
- Perform within legal and ethical boundaries by maintaining confidentiality in preparing medical records and following the employer’s established policies dealing with the health care contract while implementing and maintaining federal and state health care legislation and regulations. Students will comply with established risk management and safety procedures by recognizing professional credentialing criteria and the impact personal ethics and morals have on delivery of healthcare.
- Perform operational office functions by performing an inventory of office supplies and equipment, applying computer techniques to support office operations, and following safety protocols and ergonomics procedures. Perform administrative procedures utilizing basic administrative medical assisting functions like scheduling, coordinating, and monitoring appointments or inpatient/outpatient admissions and procedures. Students will also be able to obtain and monitor reimbursement through accurate claims submissions, understand and adhere to managed care policies and procedures, and apply principles of practice finances by performing procedural and diagnostic coding.
Along with these outcomes listed, students will take the Medical Administrative Assistant certification (MAAC) exam offered through the American Medical Certification Association as part of AMA298 Administrative Medical Assisting Exam Success Class.
Do you want to be an administrative medical assistant but don’t already have a degree? See our Administrative Medical Assistant associate degree program.
Where could your certification take you?
- Medical records assistant
- Patient care coordinator
- Patient services representative
- Administrative medical assistant
- Healthcare administrative associate
ADMINISTRATIVE MEDICAL ASSISTING - CERTIFICATE REQUIRED COURSES
Program Core (Required) 48 total credit hours required
BIO201 Basic Anatomy and Physiology I
4 Credit Hours
A study of the anatomy, physiology and medical terminology of the skeletal, muscular, respiratory, cardiovascular, lymphatic, immune, hematological, digestive, and reproductive systems. This course covers human development, birth and genetics.
BIO202 Basic Anatomy and Physiology II
4 Credit Hours
(Prereq.-BIO201) Students taking this course will study the anatomy, physiology and medical terminology of the cell, tissues, membranes, and structures of the nervous system, the sensory system, the integumentary system, the digestive, the urinary system, and the endocrine system. This course will discuss the basic chemistry, water acids, bases, carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, nucleic acids and classes of macromolecules in cells.
COM151 The Microsoft® Office
4 Credit Hours
This is an introductory course that provides a comprehensive study of The Microsoft® Office. This course is a combination of lecture and hands-on training.
EHR100 Electronic Health Records
4 Credit Hours
This course introduces the basic concepts of medical charting which are applied to an Electronic Health Record (EHR). Topics include concepts of implementation, skill development for basic navigation of an electronic health record, components of the electronic record, technology that is used for input into the record, and privacy and security issues affecting access to the patient information. Other topics introduced are ethical and legal aspects of the patient’s medical record in a hospital or clinic setting.
MED107 Medical Terminology
4 Credit Hours
Medical terminology is the language of medicine. Students will be taught using a systematic approach to word building and term comprehension based on the concepts of word roots, prefixes and suffixes. This course will provide the student the primary skills to use terminology to accurately describe the body and associated components, conditions, processes, and procedures. Students will learn terms pertaining to all the body systems and terms pertaining to pharmaceutical treatment.
MED160 Health Care Law and Ethics
4 Credit Hours
Introduction to law and ethics pertinent to medical careers. Topics include legal issues that are important to health care professionals, including the foundations of law and ethics as well as professional, social, and interpersonal health care issues.
MED200 Medical Office Management
4 Credit Hours
This course introduces a systems approach to the medical office management and the vocabulary used in a medical office management setting. Topics include the importance of monthly planning meetings, the value of time management skills, emergency preparedness procedures for a medical office setting, and the difference between an office procedure manual and a personnel policy manual.
MED208 Medical Office Procedures
4 Credit Hours
Course includes skills needed to handle administrative duties in a busy medical office including reception, telephone procedures, computer skills, and scheduling and office equipment usage. Topics include the electronic healthcare record, patient navigator, written and oral communications skills. A minimum letter grade of “C” is required for successful completion of this course and a score of 70% on all skill-based competencies.
MED218 Communication for the Healthcare Professional
4 Credit Hours
Effective communication is a critical skill for the healthcare professional. This course provides the basic skills to communicate orally and in writing within an interdisciplinary, multicultural, and multigenerational healthcare environment. The essential of communication and the “soft-skills” needed for entry level healthcare jobs and career success are taught.
MED247 Health Insurance Billing and Coding
4 Credit Hours
(Prereq. – BIO201, BIO202) This course provides information about major insurance programs and federal health care legislation. Topics included in this course are diagnosis and procedure coding systems, reimbursement methodologies, and the roles to accurately process medical insurance claims.
MED285 Medical Office Finances
4 Credit Hours
(Prereq. – MED208, MAT090 if applicable) This specialized course is designed to teach basic medical office skills. Instruction will be provided in the preparation of various medical forms and reports, and medical office financial procedures such as recording payments, reconciling bank statements, and general bookkeeping procedures. This course also provides detailed instruction in processing insurance claims including: ICD and CPT coding, completion of CMS1500 and other specialized insurance forms, and third party billing and reimbursements. A minimum letter grade of “C” is required for successful completion of this course and a score of 70% on all skill-based competencies.
AMA298: Administrative Medical Assisting Exam Success Class
4 Credit Hours
(Prereq. – Should be taken in the final term and student must have completed all MED courses.) This course is designed to prepare the student for success on the certification exam through a structured classroom review and testing to reinforce the student’s recall and knowledge of materials presented throughout the program.
For all courses: See course description for applicable prerequisites.
