What Is the NHA CCMA? The Credential, the Exam, and Where It Counts

The CCMA, short for Certified Clinical Medical Assistant, is the medical assistant credential of the National Healthcareer Association (NHA). You earn it by passing NHA's CCMA exam after meeting its eligibility rules, and you keep it by renewing every two years. NHA's Candidate Handbook says each of its exams "is designed to evaluate the knowledge and skills associated with the performance of tasks required for entry-level practice," and that all NHA certification programs are accredited by the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA).

What a CCMA does, in NHA's description

NHA's CCMA page describes medical assistants as members of the care team who are "often the first and last person a patient interacts with," and lists tasks such as:

• Taking patient vital signs
• Assisting providers with exams and procedures
• Administering injections or medications
• Performing EKG, phlebotomy and other laboratory procedures
• Checking patients in and out, and answering phone calls and questions
• Updating and maintaining electronic health records

The exam follows the same mix. NHA's CCMA test plan has seven domains, and the clinical one, Clinical Patient Care, carries 84 of the 150 scored questions. The rest cover basic science and pharmacology, anatomy, care coordination, front-office work such as scheduling and insurance, communication, and medical law and ethics.

That list describes the job the exam is built on. What you may actually do at work depends on your state's rules and your employer, which the section on state rules below explains.

The CCMA in numbers

As checked on October 28, 2026:

The last two rows come from NHA's 2025 pass-rate report. The CCMA had more exams and more active certifications than any other NHA credential that year. What those pass rates do and don't mean for you is in the guide to how hard the CCMA is.

How you earn the CCMA, step by step

The handbook lists five steps to certification: check your eligibility, prepare and study, register and schedule the exam, take it, and obtain your certification.

1. Check eligibility. You need a high school diploma or equivalent, plus either a medical assistant training program completed within the last five years or supervised medical assisting work experience (one year in the last three, or two years in the last five). High school students can test early for a provisional certification. Every route is in the CCMA eligibility and application guide.
2. Prepare. NHA's test plan is free. NHA sells a study guide and practice tests but says buying them is not required to sit for the exam and doesn't guarantee a pass.
3. Register. You create your own NHA account and apply for the exam, either through your school or employer or as an individual. Unless a sponsor pays, you pay when you apply.
4. Take the exam. Through your school, at a PSI center, or online with a live remote proctor. The CCMA exam format guide covers the questions, timing and tools.
5. Get your certificate. After a pass, NHA emails you, and you print the certificate from "My Achievements" in your account. If you tested before finishing an externship under your school's agreement with NHA, the certificate is held until the school confirms you completed it.

Whichever route brought you to the exam, everyone sits the same seven domains, so you can see how planned CCMA prep is organized around NHA's seven domains.

A CCMA is a certification, not a state license

NHA is clear that its rules only decide who can be certified. The handbook says its eligibility requirements "are separate and distinct from any eligibility to practice requirements set forth under state law," that rules vary by state, and that "NHA certification does not guarantee your ability to meet any or all regulatory requirements." NHA's Help Center adds that some states require allied health professionals to be certified and others require a license.

Two places where the rules touch the CCMA directly:

• Washington. Under WAC 246-827-0200, the state credential "medical assistant-certified" requires an approved training program plus either a certification exam passed within the five years before you apply or a current national medical assistant certification from an approved organization. An approved exam must come from an NCCA-accredited program and cover the clinical and administrative duties set in state law, so passing the CCMA alone doesn't earn the Washington credential. The Department of Health's recognized exams list includes the NHA clinical medical assistant exam, alongside the AAMA, AMT, NCCT and AMCA exams.
• California. NHA's handbook applies two California-only CCMA rules: residents applying on work experience need two years as a medical assistant in the last five, and California CCMAs who train other medical assistants need 60 continuing education hours every five years. What a medical assistant may do in California is set by the Medical Board of California, not by NHA, and the Board's medical assistants page counts a certification toward training other medical assistants only when it comes from a Board-approved certifying organization. NHA wasn't on that list when Passy checked on October 28, 2026, so check it before you plan to train other medical assistants there.

This section covers only those two states. For any other state, check its medical board or health department before you rely on the CCMA for a specific job or task. Employers often set their own requirement too: NHA's CCMA page, citing NHA's own 2025 Industry Outlook, says 96% of employers "require or encourage certification for medical assistants."

CCMA vs CMA (AAMA) and other medical assistant credentials

The CCMA is one of several national medical assistant certifications, and they aren't interchangeable names for the same thing. The best-known alternative, the CMA (AAMA), comes from the Certifying Board of the American Association of Medical Assistants. Its certification page describes a 200-question exam with 160 minutes of testing time, scored from 200 to 800 with 405 to pass, and its eligibility page builds eligibility mainly around CAAHEP- or ABHES-accredited medical assisting programs. It also says a new CMA (AAMA) content outline applies to exam dates on or after July 2027. AMT's RMA is another option, and Washington's list above shows a state can accept several.

Which one you need usually depends on your program, your employer and your state, not on which exam is easier. If you are in a training program, it may already include one specific exam: NHA says most schools that use its exams include the exam fee in tuition. Clinical and administrative tasks appear on all of them, and planned CCMA practice covers clinical and administrative tasks alike.

Keeping a CCMA: the two-year cycle

A CCMA is valid for two years and expires on the date on your certificate. To renew, NHA's handbook requires at least 10 continuing education credits in each two-year cycle, with two hours of education counting as one credit; extra credits don't carry over to the next cycle. NHA's renewal page lists a $195 renewal fee every two years.

NHA One launched in July 2026, and NHA now enrolls certification holders in it automatically when they certify or renew (provisional certification holders and legacy NHA Members are not auto-enrolled). NHA's NHA One article describes it as $95 a year, including unlimited continuing education (except specialty courses), with renewal every two years at no additional cost while those payments are current. If they aren't, renewal costs $195 plus the cost of continuing education.

If you miss your date, the renewal page gives three outcomes: within 30 days you renew normally; between 30 days and one year you reinstate with 15 credits and $391.50 in fees; after one year you retake the exam. The CCMA cost guide puts these amounts next to the exam's own costs.

Is the CCMA exam changing?

The current CCMA exam launched on January 10, 2024, according to NHA's CCMA 3.0 announcement, and uses the test plan based on NHA's 2022 job analysis. As of October 28, 2026, NHA's Product & Cert Portal Updates page lists no new CCMA exam. The most recent change affecting CCMA candidates there is eligibility, not content: for high school students who pass on or after October 1, 2026, provisional certification lasts 18 months instead of 12.

Your next step toward the CCMA

Start with eligibility: the CCMA eligibility and application guide shows which pathway fits you and how registration works. To see the question style first, try the 20 free CCMA practice questions, and when you know your likely test month, compare the 30-, 90- and 180-day access periods planned for CCMA prep.