CHANCES ARE YOU ENCOUNTERED A medical assistant the last time you visited a physician. It could have been the person who scheduled your appointment, or whom you first met with in the exam room, asking routine questions while checking your vital signs. A medical assistant may have helped you with your bill or your prescription needs by calling or emailing the prescription into the pharmacist. Medical assistants are there to make sure you receive the best treatment possible. There are many opportunities for employment in today's healthcare without undergoing the cost and training required to become a physician or nurse. A career as a certified medical assistant (CMA) stands out as an increasingly vital component in medical practice. Multi-skilled and versatile, medical assistants help care for people and improve productivity in a medical practice, while providing a human touch. Along with the numerous scientific advances that have occurred in medical care over the past century, many changes have also taken place in the way medical care is provided. Long gone are the private practitioners, who until the 1970s often made house calls. These dedicated physicians provided individual care and typically were aided by only a single nurse and sometimes a secretary in the office (although the nurse often handled those duties). With the introduction of managed care and other changes in the economics of healthcare, individual physician practices are disappearing. In their place are larger practices that typically include several doctors and a significant nursing and administrative staff. As a result, physician practices, from those focusing on general care, to specialists such as orthopedic surgeons and ophthal¬mologists, are turning to medical assistants in the interest of cost-effectiveness and efficiency. From assisting in running the office administratively to interacting with patients and helping with basic medical care, medical assistants with their wide range of skills are increasingly viewed as vital partners in caring for patients efficiently and effectively. Because of their versatility and enhanced training in recent years, medical assistants are becoming the allied health professionals of choice for a variety of healthcare settings. Medical assistants are members of a well-established profession and are in demand. An added benefit is that the typical training program requires only one- to two-years. There are also varied employment opportunities in addition to private practice, for example, in hospital departments, clinics, pharmacies, insurance companies, long-term care facilities, and other healthcare settings. This report will help you learn more about the career, from specific job duties and educational requirements, to the observations of medical assistants currently on the job. If you are looking for an important, exciting healthcare career, and like working with a wide variety of people, certified medical assistant may be the right choice for you.