Associate of Applied Science or Certificate in Medical Assisting

The Medical Assisting program at SBC-Vienna is designed to prepare students to assist medical providers by performing administrative duties and basic clinical duties in an office and/or medical center. The core curriculum covers a variety of subjects, including medical practice, medical law and ethics, medical communications, medical records, insurance, patient preparation and basic laboratory procedures/tests. The courses are grouped around knowledge and skills required for administrative and clinical medical assisting; however, courses are not necessarily offered in the sequences in which they appear in the catalog. Also, students will typically, but not always, be taught by more than one instructor during their program of study. Students are required to complete a supervised clinical externship at a medical facility that includes competencies, logs and evaluations completed by the student. At the completion of the program, graduates who have diligently attended class and their externship, studied and practiced their skills should have the necessary skills to seek entry-level employment as medical assistants.

The Medical Assisting program at SBC is not programmatically accredited by the Accrediting Bureau of Health Education Schools (ABHES) or the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP). Therefore, graduates of the program are not eligible to take the Certified Medical Assistant (CMA) exam that is offered by the American Association of Medical Assistants (AAMA). Graduates are eligible for the Registered Medical Assistant (RMA) examination offered by American Medical Technologists (AMT). This credential is a nationally recognized voluntary certification that could enhance employment opportunities. Registration and certification requirements for taking and passing these examinations are not controlled by SBC, but by outside agencies, and are subject to change by the agency without notice. Therefore, SBC cannot guarantee that graduates will be eligible to take certification or registration exams at all or at any specific time, regardless of their eligibility status upon enrollment.

Associate of Applied Science in Medical Billing & Coding

The Medical Billing and Coding program at Sanford-Brown College is designed to prepare students for careers in a variety of healthcare settings, including medical offices, hospitals, clinics and skilled-care facilities. The curriculum is structured to include didactic instruction in several areas, including, but not limited to, billing practices and systems, coding and reimbursement systems, data abstracting, health record maintenance or healthcare computer applications. The final portion of curriculum includes a supervised clinical externship at a medical facility. At the completion of the program, graduates who have diligently attended class and their externship, studied, and practiced their skills should have the necessary skills to seek entry-level employment in the field of medical billing and coding.

*Programs and availability are subject to change

Accreditation/Information Disclosure

Accreditation is a voluntary process which may be undertaken by schools to demonstrate compliance with specific standards designed to indicate a level of education quality. SBC is institutionally accredited (accredited in total) by the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS), a national accrediting agency recognized by the United States Department of Education (DOE) and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA). This indicates that SBC substantially meets or exceeds the stated criteria of education quality established by ACICS, and approved by the DOE and CHEA. This recognition of institutional accreditation by ACICS entitles SBC to offer Title IV Financial Assistance to students who qualify.

An additional form of accreditation that a school may undertake to obtain is a specific, individual accreditation of certain programs (programmatic accreditation). Institutional accreditation is not the same as or a substitution for programmatic accreditation. Although programmatic accreditation is not required for employment in many cases. The existence of programmatic accreditation is a further indication that a program meets the standards of the profession, and may therefore indirectly enhance employment opportunities. Also, in some cases, programmatic accreditation will allow the graduates of the accredited program to sit for some credentialing exams immediately upon graduation without any requirement of work experience.

Sanford-Brown College does not guarantee employment or salary.