Medical assistant certification in Georgia

In the Board's view, you are an unlicensed worker who answers to a physician. The physician who assigns your tasks supervises your work and must limit it to services you have been properly trained to provide.

There's no state exam to pass or required program to finish. Instead, solid training is what lets the physician trust you with tasks, and the physician keeps complete records, according to the Board rule.

The Board rule spells out which medical tasks a physician may hand over to you:

• Injections that go just beneath the skin (subcutaneous)
• Injections that go into a muscle (intramuscular)
• Checking vital signs
• Breathing treatments with a nebulizer
• Taking out stitches and changing dressings

A law the state passed in 2009, O.C.G.A. 43-34-44, also makes clear that the medical practice act does not block you from giving these injections, checking vital signs or giving nebulizer treatments under a physician's supervision at the doctor's office.

Only for some tasks. That same law says a supervisor does not have to be on site every moment. Tasks can also come from an advanced practice registered nurse or a physician assistant, as long as that person is allowed to order them.

The Board rule sets a tighter standard for certain tasks. When you give injections, do nebulizer treatments, remove sutures or change dressings, one of these people must be physically present: a physician, a physician assistant who works from a written job description, or an advanced practice nurse who works from a protocol. Checking vital signs, though, does not require a physician to be there, per the Board rule.

If a physician gives work to someone who is not permitted to do it, that counts as practicing without a license, and the Board can discipline the physician.

The Board's pain management standards also bar physicians from letting an unlicensed person dispense controlled substances. So handing out controlled substances is not something you can be asked to do.

Rather than licensing x-ray operators, Georgia registers the equipment itself. X-ray users are registered through the Department of Community Health, and radiation may be applied to a person only by licensed practitioners and operators who have been authorized.

When x-rays are part of your duties, the facility that registered the equipment has to provide a minimum of 6 hours of instruction in radiation safety. That instruction must begin no later than 30 days after you are hired and wrap up within 90 days, with the facility holding on to the records, under state rules.

The median career school program takes about 9 months, so the sooner you ask, the sooner you could start training. Ready to get started? Choose one accredited school on our Georgia programs page and send its short Request information form with your details and preferred start time. The program listings show which schools are accredited by CAAHEP or ABHES.

Across the site's listed programs nationwide, the median length at the 378 career schools that report it is 9 months, with the shortest at 2 months and the longest at 32 months.

On top of that, IPEDS data shows 354 schools nationwide with a medical assistant associate degree.

Across 392 career schools nationwide, the median published price for an entire program comes to $17,257 once tuition, fees and books are counted. Meanwhile, at 437 public colleges nationwide, tuition and fees come to a median of $4,346 for in-district students studying full time for a year. Schools participating in federal student aid account for 1,049 of the listed programs.

Nationwide, distance education is available for 30 programs, 14 of which hold accreditation. The coursework happens online, while the hands-on clinical portion, usually called an externship, takes place in person.

In May 2025, medical assistants nationwide earned a median of $45,690 a year, or $21.97 an hour, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.