The CMA Certification Countdown Has Begun

Beginning July 15, 2026, all medical assistants performing clinical duties must hold current national CMA certification to remain in their roles. Without it, they will be reclassified as Unlicensed Assistive Personnel (UAP) under South Carolina law, dramatically limiting the clinical tasks they can perform and changing how they must be supervised.

Here's How the SCMA Employer Training Program (ETP) Works:

The statute allows a healthcare employer to deliver a training program that aligns with a nationally accredited certification exam. The SCMA cannot assess your in-house training programs, but can offer the proper framework to serve as a checklist to ensure that your practice has met the requirements. 

• Train your employee on the job using SCMA's structured competency checklist mapped to a nationally accredited exam
• Ensure the Medical Assistant has been working for one full year as a Medical Assistant (required to sit for most approved CMA certification exams)
• Employee sits for an approved CMA certification exam
• SUCCESS! Your practice has a credentialed CMA — and the documentation to prove it

Already have MAs who have been working for a year or more?

No need to start over. You can use the ETP Guide to document the training your medical assistants have already received (past training). If they have been performing clinical duties for one year, they may already meet the NHA CCMA work-experience requirement and be ready to sit for the exam.

The statute requires both education and a test.

While online platforms may be used to administer testing or provide supplemental study, the required education must be delivered either by an accredited institution or through on-the-job training aligned to a national standard. It is this "on-the-job training" component that the ETP Guide helps satisfy.

An employer may not delegate its obligation to provide qualifying on-the-job training by relying solely on online classes, unless those classes meet the accreditation standards specified in the statute.

The guide does NOT contain practice test materials.

While the guide itself does not include practice tests, study materials, or the certification exam, it is designed to support hands-on training and proper documentation, so your staff are well-prepared to pursue certification through an approved testing organization.

References / Statutes

• Section 40-47-196 – Physicians Act and Delegation of Tasks
• Section 40-47-20 (58,59) – Definitions under the Physicians Practice Act, providing compliance date of July 15, 2026