Medical Assisting, A.A.S.

Program Description

The Medical Assisting Program prepares students for employment and career in health care industries, such as physician’s offices, outpatient clinics, in-patient administration, government, and health insurance industries. The curriculum is designed to provide didactic, laboratory, and externship learning experiences where students develop the knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform medical billing and coding, patient scheduling, data entry into the electronic medical record, electrocardiogram and cardiology diagnostic testing, phlebotomy procedures, basic laboratory tests, and maintain overall daily operations in a clinical setting.  Medical assistants are the only multi-skilled allied health professional that is professionally trained to work in ambulatory settings.

Graduates of the Medical Assisting A.A.S. will be able to:

• Demonstrate professional and therapeutic communication skills
• Utilize medical terminology as related to body functions
• Perform administrative functions in an outpatient setting
• Perform clinical functions/procedures in the outpatient setting
• Describe the implications of health law in the clinical setting
• Demonstrate the standards of care for the medical assisting profession

General Education Courses

The list of general education courses appears in the General Education List . Some programs recommend or require specific courses to fulfill general education requirements. Please check your program’s sequence of study for this information.

Program Requirements

• PAS-1000 First Year Experience 1 Credit **
• BIO-2060 Human Anatomy and Physiology II 4 Credits
• HIM-1530 Medical Terminology 3 Credits
• HIM-1581 Principles and Applications of ICD Coding 4 Credits
• HIM-1600 Principles and Applications of CPT 2 Credits
• HIM-2600 Medical Reimbursement and Billing 3 Credits
• MAS-1050 Law and Ethics for Medical Assistants and Allied Health 3 Credits
• MAS-1060 Introduction to Computerized Medical Practice 3 Credits
• MAS-2010 Administrative Medical Assisting 3 Credits
• MAS-2020 Clinical Procedures I 4 Credits
• MAS-2030 Pharmacology for Medical Assistants 3 Credits
• MAS-2040 Professional Seminar 1 Credit
• MAS-2050 Clinical Procedures II 4 Credits
• MAS-2060 Medical Assisting Practicum 3 Credits

Transferability

Credit earned at any public institution in the state shall be transferable to any other institution if the:

• Credit is from a college or university parallel course or program;
• Grades in the block of courses transferred average 2.00 or higher; and
• Acceptance of the credit is consistent with the policies of the receiving institution governing students following the  same program. Refer to ARTSYS at artweb.usmd.edu and the receiving institution’s catalog to select transferable courses.

Need Help?

For help selecting an academic program or courses, consider using Career Coach, available at www.pgcc.edu/go/careercoach.

Sequence of Study - Medical Assisting A.A.S.

Below are the required courses for your program arranged in a suggested sequence. Please note that the sequence does not  include developmental coursework. See Academic Preparation  for the developmental course sequence if applicable to you.

Program Total: 60 Credits

¹ Fulfills Computer Literacy requirement

² Refer to Course Descriptions , for eligibility requirements for BIO-2050 .

Asterisk (*) denotes a general education course.

Double asterisk (**) denotes a course that is an institutional requirement.