- CMA (AAMA)
- The Certified Medical Assistant credential awarded by the American Association of Medical Assistants (AAMA) to candidates who pass its national certification exam. It signifies competency across the clinical, administrative, and general knowledge domains of medical assisting.
- Scope of Practice
- The range of duties and procedures a medical assistant is legally permitted to perform, defined by state law and delegated under provider supervision. Staying within scope is essential to lawful and safe practice.
- HIPAA
- The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, a federal law that sets national standards for protecting the privacy and security of patients' protected health information (PHI). Medical assistants must safeguard PHI in every clinical and administrative task.
- Aseptic Technique
- A set of practices that prevents contamination by pathogens during clinical procedures, ranging from medical asepsis (clean technique) to surgical asepsis (sterile technique). It is central to infection control in the medical office.
- Venipuncture
- The procedure of puncturing a vein, typically with a needle, to collect a blood sample or administer fluids. Medical assistants perform venipuncture as part of specimen collection.
- Vital Signs
- Objective measurements of essential body functions—typically temperature, pulse, respiration, and blood pressure—used to assess a patient's basic health status. Accurate measurement and documentation are core clinical duties.
- CPT Code
- Current Procedural Terminology codes are standardized numeric codes used to describe medical procedures and services for billing and insurance claims. Accurate CPT coding is a key administrative medical-assisting task.
- ICD-10-CM
- The International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, Clinical Modification, a coding system used to report patient diagnoses on insurance claims and medical records. It pairs with CPT codes to justify the medical necessity of services.
- Informed Consent
- The process by which a patient voluntarily agrees to a treatment or procedure after being told its risks, benefits, and alternatives. Medical assistants often help document that consent was obtained.
- Exam Duration
- The total time allotted to complete the CMA (AAMA) certification exam. Candidates are given 160 minutes to answer all questions.
- Scaled Score
- A converted score that adjusts raw exam results onto a common scale so that different test versions are comparable in difficulty. On the CMA (AAMA) exam, the minimum passing score is 405.
- Multiple-Choice Question (MCQ)
- A test item that presents a stem and several answer options from which the candidate selects the single best response. The CMA (AAMA) exam consists of 200 multiple-choice questions.