After you finish your medical transcription training, you are given a certificate. But this certificate does nothing but indicates that you have completed a training in medical transcription; it doesn’t tell the world how good a medical transcriptionist you are. In order to tell employers and clients about your work, you can make use of a credential issued by the Association of Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI). The credential is called Certified Medical Transcriptionist (CMT).

Now, one is eligible to become a CMT if one has two years of medical transcription experience in acute care for taking the CMT test. Wondering what acute care is? Here’s how AHDI defines it:

(Source)…incorporating medical center dictation to include many dictators including multiple ESL dictators, many formats and report types, and all the major specialties, including and especially surgery dictation of all types, and some minor specialties.

Does this mean that one cannot get a credential in the first two years? AHDI has a credential called Registered Medical Transcriptionist (RMT) for transcriptionists with less experience.

In order to become a CMT, you have to take a test conducted by AHDI. You are required to pay a fee of 275 USD. However, if you are a member of AHDI, you need to pay only 195 USD.

The test lasts for five hours. You will know the results as soon as you complete the test. The test report will give you value-added feedback to help you understand your strengths and the areas of improvement. If you do not pass in your first attempt, you can always try again after a gap of six months.

The CMT credential is valid for three years. You are required to take another test for re-certification after three years.

With either of these two credentials from AHDI, you should have no problem getting and keeping a job in medical transcription.