How to Renew Your Medical Assistant Certification: A Step-by-Step Guide for CCMA, CMA, CMAA, & RMA

By now, you already know that MA certification isn’t a one-time milestone. Every major credentialing body ties an expiration date to your certification, and letting that date slip past can quietly cost you your professional standing. 

Therefore, it becomes essential to know how to renew your medical assistant certification, and doing it on the right timeline for your specific medical assisting credential keeps your title active and your career moving forward.

The exact renewal process depends entirely on who issued your credential, i.e., a CCMA renews differently from a CMA, and a CMAA from one organization doesn’t follow the same rules as a CMAA from another. 

This guide breaks down the renewal process for all four major issuing bodies, step by step, so you know exactly what to do next.

What Happens If You Don’t Renew Your Medical Assistant Certification

Once your certification lapses, you lose the right to use your credential initials professionally, whether that’s on a name badge, an email signature, or a resume. 

NOTE:

Many employers tie job duties, pay grades, or compliance requirements directly to active certification status, so a lapse can affect more than just your title. The longer a certification stays expired, the more continuing education, fees, or exam requirements it typically takes to bring it back.

It should also be noted that each issuing body includes a grace period, and the specific windows and penalties vary by organization. However, what stays consistent across all four bodies is the general pattern: renew promptly, reinstate within a defined window, or eventually retake the exam. 

General Guideline for MA Recertification

Before diving into the full step-by-step process for each issuing body, here’s a quick-reference comparison of renewal cycles and general expectations.

How to Renew Your NHA Certification (CCMA & CMAA)

National Healthcare Association certification renews every two years, and the process is identical whether you hold the Certified Clinical Medical Assistant (CCMA) or the Certified Medical Administrative Assistant (CMAA) credential. 

According to NHA’s certification renewal guidelines, this shared process covers most NHA credentials except Certified Pharmacy Technician.

The NHA Renewal Process, Step by Step

1. Complete 10 continuing education credits. Log in to your account at nhanow.com, scroll to the Continuing Education section, choose a course, and complete or upload your CE credits.
2. Submit your renewal. Select “Renew Certifications” from your NHA dashboard menu.
3. Pay the renewal fee. The standard renewal fee runs $195 every two years, which averages out to roughly $8 a month. If you hold more than one NHA certification, you won’t need to complete additional CE credits and instead pay $65 for each additional certification.

Once your renewal is processed, your certification stays active for another two-year cycle.

For more information, visit the official NHA website.

What Happens If Your NHA Certification Expires?

NHA breaks reinstatement into three tiers based on how long your certification has been expired:

• Less than 30 days: You can still complete the normal renewal process without any additional fees.
• 30 days to 12 months: You remain eligible to reinstate, but with added requirements: 15 continuing education credits, a $277.50 renewal fee, and a $99 reinstatement fee, for a combined total of $376.50.
• More than 12 months: Certifications expired for more than a year are no longer eligible for reinstatement, and you’ll need to retake the certification exam to recertify.

How to Renew Your AAMA CMA Certification

The CMA (AAMA) credential operates on a longer cycle than most other medical assistant certifications. Per the AAMA’s official recertification guidelines, CMAs (AAMA) must recertify every 60 months, and recertification can be completed through one of two paths: continuing education or an exam.

The AAMA Recertification Process, Step by Step

Option 1: Recertifying by continuing education (the most common path):

1. Earn 60 continuing education units (CEUs). Of the 60 total, 30 must come from AAMA-approved CEUs, broken down into 10 administrative, 10 clinical, and 10 general credits, with the remaining 30 coming from any combination of categories.
2. Apply non-AAMA CEUs if applicable. Up to 30 non-AAMA CEUs can count toward your total, and documentation can be uploaded for review at any point during your certification period.
3. Submit your application and fee. Recertification can be completed online, by phone, or by mail. The AAMA member fee is $80, and the nonmember fee is $160.

Option 2: Recertifying by exam 

This option is required if you don’t have 60 CEUs, or if your credential has been expired for more than three months. 

For this, submit your exam application, pay the enrollment fee, prepare using AAMA’s study resources, then sit for the same exam given to first-time candidates.

For more information, visit AAMA’s official website.

What Happens If Your CMA (AAMA) Certification Lapses?

Once your CMA (AAMA) credential expires, you can no longer use the CMA (AAMA) abbreviation after your name until you recertify. You still have options to reactivate it, but the window matters:

• Expired less than three months: You may still reactivate by passing the exam or by submitting a recertification-by-continuing-education application, with an additional $50 reactivation fee added on top of your standard recertification fee.
• Expired more than three months: Continuing education renewal is no longer an option, and you’ll need to take the exam to restore your credential.

How to Renew Your American Allied Health CMAA Certification

American Allied Health (AAH) is a separate credentialing organization from NHA, and it happens to also issue a certification called CMAA, along with its own RMA(AAH) designation. If you’re not certain which body issued your CMAA, check your certificate or account login before following these steps, since the AAH renewal process differs from NHA’s.

The AAH Renewal Process, Step by Step

To renew AAH certification, there are two requirements to renew: paying renewal dues and completing a short online continuing education course worth at least 5 CE credits, both of which can be handled directly within your AAH account.

1. Obtain 5 CE credits through AAH’s online continuing education courses.
2. Pay your renewal dues through your AAH account.
3. Access your new certificate once payment and CE completion are confirmed.

NOTE: Unlike NHA and AAMA, AAH certifications renew annually rather than every few years, so this short process repeats each year to stay current.

For more information, visit AAH’s official website.

Reinstating an Expired AAH Certification

AAH also tiers its reinstatement options by how long a certification has lapsed:

• Less than a month expired: A small late fee may be added to your renewal dues.
• Less than a year expired: You can pay a reinstatement fee to renew.
• More than a year expired: Renewal generally remains possible for up to 36 months past expiration without retaking the exam.

If you were previously certified through a different agency, AAH also offers reciprocity: provided your prior certification came from an agency AAH recognizes, hasn’t been expired longer than three years, and you can provide proof such as your previous card, member ID, or certification number, you can transfer your credential into AAH’s registry.

How to Renew Your AMT RMA Certification

American Medical Technologists (AMT) uses a different structure entirely for its Registered Medical Assistant (RMA) credential, built around what it calls the Certification Continuation Program (CCP).

Understanding the 3-Year CCP Cycle

Rather than a single renewal date, AMT certification runs on a rolling three-year cycle.

1. Pay your annual renewal fee. This fee is required every year to keep your certification active and includes access to membership benefits. For RMA holders, the annual fee is $75.
2. Earn and record CCP points throughout the cycle. Points accumulate over a 3-year cycle, and recording roughly one-third of your total each year keeps you on track. RMA certification requires 30 total CCP points across the 3-year cycle, or about 10 per year.
3. Manage everything through your AMT Portal. Fees, CE activity logs, and certification status can all be handled online. 

NOTE: You shouldn’t submit proof of your points unless AMT specifically requests it through an audit.

For more information, visit the official AMT certification maintenance page.

What Happens If Your AMT Certification Lapses?

Reactivation becomes necessary if you failed to document your required CCP points, failed to pay one or more renewal fees during your 3-year cycle, or were flagged during a CCP audit and couldn’t demonstrate compliance. From there, two paths exist:

• Reactivate by CCP: Submit a reactivation application and fee (the RMA reactivation fee is $280), then provide documentation of your required CCP points completed within the past three years. Once approved, you’ll receive an email to claim your updated digital badge.
• Reactivate by exam: Submit the exam-based application and fee, retake the original certification exam, then claim your updated badge once you pass.

If your certification has lapsed for 10 or more years, reactivation by exam becomes mandatory regardless of which path you’d otherwise prefer.

Final Words

Renewing your medical assistant certification comes down to knowing three things: 

• Which body issued your credential
• How long your renewal cycle runs
• What continuing education or fees are due before your deadline. 

NHA, AAMA, American Allied Health, and AMT each structure this differently, but all four reward proactive renewal and penalize procrastination.

For MAs weighing whether to stack an additional credential through a structured, teacher-led program, explore CCI Training Center’s Medical Assistant Program to see how an accelerated path fits around a working schedule. 

Career Services support is also available to help you figure out where a second credential fits into your career trajectory.