Who Regulates the Medical Assistant Profession? Who Makes the Rules?

Medical assisting as an occupation remain largely unregulated in the United States. Beauticians and cosmetologists have stricter rules and professional licensing requirements than medical assistants. Medical Practice Act and the Board of Medical Examiners govern the practice of medicine to protect the health, safety and well being of citizens! These boards have ruled that physicians are accountable for the actions of all medical assistants under their employ. Therefore a good place to start asking questions regarding the medical assistant's scope of practice and what they can do is your State Board of Medical Examiners, or Medical Board.

What is the Medical Assistant's Scope of Practice?

 It must be clearly understood: Medical assistants MUST always stay within their scope of practice. They must practice ONLY methods and procedures that are commonly accepted in their profession in which they were properly trained and supervised. This includes medical assistants.

 Medical assistants who disregard established professional standards and attempt to perform procedures or tasks beyond their training, capabilities, or scope of practice are in danger of exposing themselves, patients and supervisors to serious consequences and liability issues.

 Although certified medical assistants are trained in phlebotomy, EKG and X-ray procedures many states mandate that anybody performing phlebotomy, EKG and X-ray must have a specific licence to do so. Medical assistants who draw blood in California and those who perform point of care testing in Georgia are also required to be certified.

What Is the Medical Assistant Allowed to do?

The medical assistant's role and responsibilities should be clearly delineated and communicated to them and other medical office staff to maximize the productivity and efficiency of the medical office team. For example, it should be made clear that medical assistants are not licensed to make independent medical assessments (triage) or give medical advice at any time under any circumstances. In addition, no matter how experienced, the medical assistant's performance should be periodically assessed by their supervisor. Several U.S. states mandate that medical assistants who perform needle injections; such as necessary for allergy testing, purified protein derivative (PPD) or Mantoux skin tests, venipuncture, and IV lines must be licensed or certified. In other states medical assistants need permission from the state to expose patients to X-rays and ultrasound examinations.

You can also check with their State Health Department and national recognized credentialing bodies for medical assistants such as AAMA and AMT. Physicians, licensed healthcare practitioners, and medical office managers are not always sure of what tasks can be assigned to the medical assistants they supervise.

Link Resources pertaining to the medical assistant's scope of practice: 

 American Association of Medical Assistants—Scope of Practice PDF

 AAMA Library and Form Center 

 American Medical Technologists—Lawful Scope of Practice

 Arizona 

 California 

 Florida 

 New Hampshire 

 New York State 

 Pennsylvania 

 South Dakota 

 Virginia