Stepful Graduates were hired at
Stepful’s Medical Assistant program is designed for those looking to take the next step in their careers by becoming a certified medical assistant in Utah.
Our online program prepares you to earn your Certified Clinical Medical Assistant certification from the National Healthcareer Association and perform all the duties of medical assistants, including both those in the front office as well as working with patients.
Our Utah Medical Assistant classes take 4 months to complete and cover all essential topics such as medical terminology, anatomy and physiology, healthcare systems, phlebotomy, EKG, patient care coordination, and much more.
The Stepful staff is here to support you at every stage of the journey. From career preparedness to help finding an in-person externship*, we're here to help you launch your career in healthcare.
*Please note, students must be available M-F, 9-5 p.m. to be eligible for externship support.
All medical assistants in Utah must either complete high school or earn their GED. Before enrolling in a program or applying for a job, students and aspiring medical assistants must provide a copy of their diploma or GED.
Medical assisting training courses will help students understand basic healthcare topics such as infection control, patient safety, and human anatomy. At the end of most medical assisting training programs, students will be eligible to take a certification exam.
Aspiring medical assistants can choose between several different training programs.
Online programs are the least expensive and least time-consuming of the three options. They typically cost a few hundred dollars and can be completed in 4-6 months. Good online programs offer their students externship opportunities.
Here at Stepful you can opt for our 4-month medical assistant program that prepares you for the most popular medical assistant certification. We support our students from enrollment to employment.
Associate degree programs are the most expensive and take about two years to complete. While earning a degree is a goal of many hard-working students, it is rare for employers to require medical assistants to have a degree.
Medical assisting externships are vital to the success of any aspiring medical assistant. During an externship, medical assisting students shadow an experienced medical assistant and have an opportunity to practice hands-on skills like phlebotomy and applying bandages.
Not only do externship hours give students a chance to practice their skills, but it allows them to get real-time feedback from an experienced coach and form relationships with other healthcare providers.
Organizations in Utah that may offer externships include Intermountain Health and MountainStar Medical Centers.
Our coaches at Stepful make finding an externship easy. We guide our students through the process and help them land an externship interview with one of our 8,000 affiliated clinics.*
*Please note, students must be available M-F, 9-5 p.m. to be eligible for externship support.
There are a variety of certification options that are accepted by healthcare organizations in Utah. These include the Certified Clinical Medical Assistant (CCMA), Registered Medical Assistant (RMA), and Certified Medical Assistant (CMA). Each of these tests has similar training requirements, passing rates, and testing fees.
Here at Stepful, we prepare students to take the Clinical Certified Medical Assistant Exam (CCMA). This exam, offered by the National Healthcareer Association, is nationally recognized and is more clinically focused than the CMA or RMA. The CCMA exam has a 160-minute time limit for students to complete 200 questions.
Websites like Indeed, Monster, and ZipRecruiter are great places to look for work as a medical assistant in Utah. These sites help job candidates save time by organizing application information for easy submission.
The Utah Department of Workforce Services is another useful resource for hopeful medical assistants looking for work in Utah. In addition, many hopeful job candidates choose to search directly on healthcare organizations' websites.
At Stepful, we guide our students every step of the way, from enrollment to employment, by providing interview coaching and resume assistance to help them secure a job after earning their certification.
Medical assistants are not required to have a certification to work in Utah. However, employers are much more likely to hire certified medical assistants, according to the NHA.
Healthcare organizations in Utah recognize the Certified Medical Assistant (CMA) from the AAMA, Certified Clinical Medical Assistant (CCMA) from the NHA, and Registered Medical Assistant (RMA) from the AMT.
Medical assistants in Utah do not need to register with the state or obtain a license.
The Utah Nurse Practice Act gives specific instructions about what responsibilities should and should not be delegated to unlicensed assistive personnel such as medical assistants.
Some tasks that should not be done by a medical assistant include
Utah laws do allow medical assistants to carry out a variety of healthcare tasks, as long as the medical assistants have been taught how to perform the task safely, the outcome of the action is predictable, and the patient is stable.
A medical assistant in Utah can perform the following tasks:
No matter what type of facility they work in, most medical assistants have similar responsibilities. Typically, medical assistants are responsible for both clinical and administrative tasks.
These may include
Medical assistants in Utah enjoy great job security and have a generally positive job outlook.
As of May 2023, there were 9,660 medical assisting jobs in Utah, or 5.76 jobs per 1,000 residents. Utah cities with the highest number of medical assistants include Provo, St. George, and Salt Lake City.
Nationally, the job outlook for medical assistants is nearly four times higher than the average growth expected for all jobs across the nation (4%). Job openings for medical assistants in the United States are expected to increase by 15% between 2023 and 2033, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
Medical assistants in Utah earn a decent salary, with an average pay of $18.22 per hour, or $42,413 per year. The median salary for medical assistants in Utah is $40,270 per year or $19.36 per hour.
The Utah State Society of Medical Assistants (USSMA) provides resources for both aspiring and current medical assistants in the state of Utah. They host an annual conference, distribute newsletters, offer continuing education opportunities, encourage collaboration and networking, and more.
Additional organizations that support medical assistants in Utah include the American Medical Technologists, the National Healthcareer Association, and the American Association of Medical Assistants.
Like the USSMA, these organizations offer training and certification opportunities, continuing education courses, annual conferences, networking, and much more.
