Medical Assistant Schools in New Jersey

Medical Assistant Certification in New Jersey

New England has seen impressive growth in its health care industry in recent years. This has led to an increase in job opportunities for many people in the health care field, including medical assistants. Medical assistants in New Jersey may provide many different services to doctors and patients to enhance the health care experience. This career path may give you the chance to work in different settings, including nursing homes, hospitals, and clinics.Find medical assistant schools in New Jersey for proper medical assistant certification training to be successful in this healthcare industry and start your career today!

This state is home to many resources for those that hope to become medical assistants. The New Jersey Society of Medical Assistants is an organization that supports evidence-based care offered by Certified Medical Assistants, offers continuing education opportunities to MAs across the state, and encourages professional growth. As a student or working professional, you may be able to connect with others in your field by attending events. Popular events include Professional Growth Weekend and the society’s annual convention.

Doctors may be seeing a large influx of patients in coming years. The Asbury Park Press reports that health care costs are dropping in New Jersey, permitting more patients to seek out the care they need. As a medical assistant, you can help streamline a nurse practitioner or doctor’s day and ensure that patients get prompt care.

Medical Assistant Education in New Jersey

There’s no one way to contribute to the field of healthcare. Rather, you have to look at your unique skills, talents, and career goals to figure out how you can best become involved in this growing industry. For many people who are new to healthcare, becoming a medical assistant is a great solution.

Medical assistants are often ready to begin working after spending one to two years earning a diploma, certificate, or Associate’s degree. This makes it much more time-efficient than careers that require a Bachelor’s degree. Furthermore, there are several areas of specialty within medical assisting that allow you to choose which type of career path you would like to follow.

A general medical assisting degree may permit you to pursue administrative or clinical roles. A degree in administrative medical assisting or billing and coding may put you firmly on the administrative side of the medical industry. Other students choose to become patient care technicians or nurse aides.

Before entering the medical industry, you should have an eye for detail. This is essential in both clinical and administrative roles, since a slight error in patient care or in data entry may have serious consequences. In addition, you should be flexible and able to work with all sorts of different people. Throughout the course of the day, you may take direction from a dozen separate nurses and doctors. However, you should also be self-motivated and able to work independently when the need arises.

Medical Assistant Education in New Jersey

The first step to becoming a medical assistant is completing your medical assistant training in NJ. If you want to continue your education after earning this degree, you may want to pursue an Associate’s degree. This option takes most students about two years, as you must take a mix of clinical, medical theory, and general education courses. Diploma and certificate programs, on the other hand, take about one year of study. They are fairly similar, so your options may simply be limited by what schools are near you.

In the early stages of your education, you may take core classes that teach you about medical terminology, medications, and the human body. Classes that are commonly taken in the first semester include Pharmacology, Anatomy and Physiology, and Medical Office Administration. You may practice your new skills on selected patients and peers to gain experience.

As you progress through medical assistant training, NJ schools may ramp up your training with more advanced classes. Classes at this level may include Health Information Technology and Electronic Health Records, Patient Relations, and Phlebotomy. These sorts of classes often require quite a bit of clinical experience, as you need to develop a strong sense of patient communication and bedside manner, as well as develop specific patient care skills.

Upon being accepted to medical assistant schools in NJ, you can begin applying for scholarships. These scholarships can help you minimize your student debt and help cover your school costs. CentraState Healthcare Foundation awards the Health Professions Scholarship and the CentraState Associated Auxiliary Scholarship. You may be able to apply for multiple scholarships through the New Jersey Hospital Association, an organization that awards scholarships of $2,000 each. The New Jersey Association of Healthcare Recruiters offers numerous scholarships to students at medical assistant programs in NJ.

Medical Assisting Classes in New Jersey

  • Medical Terminology
  • Medical Assistant Lab Procedures
  • Medical Assistant Clinical Procedures
  • Pharmacology for Allied Health

When you search for “medical assistant schools near me” this is likely the main type of program you find. Quite a few New Jersey technical schools and community colleges offer medical assistant programs. Most options lead to an Associate’s degree, which requires that you earn 60 credits over a period of two years. However, some schools do offer one-year diploma or certificate programs.

You may split your time between clinical work and administrative tasks, since many employers prefer to hire medical assistants that can take on both duties. This may give you some flexibility in your day-to-day work, so you don’t have to worry about getting bored or doing the same tasks every single day. You should anticipate getting quite a bit of clinical experience by the time you graduate. In an internship or practicum course, you may practice your administrative skills and figure out how to navigate the office of a medical clinic or hospital. In your clinical rotations, you may practice routine procedures and get feedback from supervising doctors and nurses.

Medical Billing and Coding Programs in New Jersey

  • Healthcare Delivery Systems
  • Basic Diagnosis Coding Systems
  • Basic Procedure Coding Systems
  • Reimbursement Methodologies

Billing is a complex area and healthcare. Some patients receive state healthcare, some have private insurance through an employer, while others pay out-of-pocket. No matter what the situation may be, you must be able to properly bill for all work done and keep records of payments. In a billing and coding program, you may learn how to use different medical coding languages and navigate specific billing programs that are commonly used in local healthcare facilities.

New Jersey Nurse Aide and Patient Care Tech Classes

  • Home Health Aide
  • Advanced Home Health Aide
  • Basic Healthcare Terminology

Certified nursing assistant and patient care technician programs are extremely common in New Jersey. This may be the fastest option on this list, providing students a way to get experience in this field and become licensed before advancing their education.

As a CNA or patient care tech, you may be able to work part-time while pursuing an Associate’s degree or Bachelor’s degree in a healthcare field. Some schools do require that CNAs and care techs get some administrative experience, but the majority of programs only cover clinical work in their curricula.

Medical Secretary and Administrative Med Assisting Programs in New Jersey

  • Human Relations in Organizations
  • Document Production
  • Quality Assurance for Healthcare Documentation
  • Medical Transcription

This specialty, commonly offered at medical assistant schools in New Jersey, covers some billing and coding topics while helping students learn how to work in a general office setting. You may spend quite a bit of time learning about patient privacy, since the way you store and access information may be the main protection a clinic has against unauthorized access.

As you study patient privacy, you may look at it through a legal lens and an ethical lens, both of which help you make decisions for the safety of your patients’ personal information. You may also learn how to schedule appointments and manage physicians’ schedules to avoid overbooking them.

This is your chance to start working toward medical assistant certification in New Jersey.

After exploring our list of medical assistant programs, request more information from those that interest you.

Medical Assisting Careers in New Jersey

Your job outlook may be better if you pursue medical assistant certification; NJ employers may be more willing to hire MAs that are certified by the American Association of Medical Assistants.This may also increase your income potential.

What kind of job outlook may you enjoy when you finish your Associate’s degree, diploma, or certificate? While job outlook statistics may vary at across New Jersey, this state has a closely knit healthcare system that may keep job openings fairly stable across the state.

Between 2014 and 2024, demand for medical assistants is expected to swell 17% across New Jersey (O*Net, 2017). If you go into billing and coding, you may choose to work as a medical records technician. Job openings for medical records technicians may see a jump of 8% by the year 2024 (O*Net, 2017). A 15% boost in nursing assistant job openings is anticipated by 2024 (O*Net, 2017). Job openings for medical secretaries may increase 12% between 2012 and 2024 (O*Net, 2017).

One of the main benefits of studying medical assisting is the fact that your skills may be useful in almost any healthcare setting. Many hospitals and clinics employ medical assistants in clinical and administrative roles. However, you may find that home healthcare is one of the fastest growing opportunities in this industry. A recent report indicates that most of the rapidly expanding jobs in New Jersey are in healthcare, and home health aides are at the top of the list (NJ 1015, 2017).

Don’t wait any longer to find a healthcare career you love.

Get in touch with New Jersey schools today to begin your search for the ideal program.

If you are ready to enter this rewarding and essential field in healthcare, you can get started today by requesting information from the schools listed on this page. Choose the NJ schools that offer the medical assistant options you are interested in and submit a request for information to learn more. Program materials are free, and you can ask for as many as you need to make the right decision about where to go with your education and your career.

Listed below are all of the schools offering Medical Assistant programs in New Jersey. As a rule, you should contact at least 3-5 schools during the course of your research, and ideally more. There are important differences between the programs in terms of cost, admissions requirements, and other characteristics, and, as with many things in life, the way to find the best Medical Assistant program for your needs is to spend some time shopping around.

Here Are The Medical Assistant Schools…

Salary numbers provided are from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.