Alabama Certified Nurse Aide Registry

Frequently Asked Questions

  1. What is the meaning of Good Standing?
  2. Does the Alabama Nurse Aide Registry have a renewal process for Certified Nursing Assistants?
  3. Is my certification Active?
  4. What are the entities that keep an individual’s certification active?
  5. Can the registry tell me if my certification is active or not?
  6. Can a Patient Care Technician (PCT/PCA) take the certification test and be placed on the Nurse Aide registry?
  7. What is my certification number?
  8. Who must be listed on the Nurse Aide Registry?
  9. What are the training and testing requirements for the Alabama Nurse Aide Registry?
  10. Where can I get my program CNA certificate?
  11. How can I keep my certification active?
  12. How long does an individual have to take their certification tests?
  13. Do CEU’s keep a certification active?
  14. How can I get my certification reactivated if I have not worked as a CNA for over 24 months?
  15. Does Alabama have a Reciprocity form?
  16. What is the reciprocity process if I originally received my certification in Alabama, went to another state, got on their registry, and have now returned to Alabama?
  17. How can I get transferred to the Alabama CNA registry from another state?
  18. How is the expiration date determined for individuals listed on the Nurse Aide Registry?
  19. What are the qualifications of a CNA instructor?
  20. What is needed to start a Nursing Assistant Program?
  21. How and where can I enroll in a Nurse Aide Training Program?
  22. Must nursing students complete the competency evaluation test to be listed on the Nurse Aide Registry?
  23. How can employers obtain verification of a Nurse Aide Registry listing?
  24. How do I change my name on the registry, due to marriage, etc.?
  25. Why do some fields indicate that the information is "Not Available"?

What is the meaning of Good Standing?
Good Standing means a person is on the registry and their certification has no substantiated adverse finding of abuse.
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Does the Alabama Nurse Aide Registry have a renewal process for Certified Nursing Assistants?
No, there is no renewal process for the Alabama Nurse Aide registry.  Certifications are kept active if the individual is currently working or within the past 24 months worked in a nursing home, hospital, home health agency, hospice agency, or mental health facility.
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Is my certification Active?
Certification is "active" if the individual is currently working in a nursing home, hospital, home health agency, hospice agency, or mental health facility.  The Active status extends 24 months beyond the last date worked at a nursing home, hospital, home health agency, hospice agency, or mental health facility.
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What are the entities that keep an individual’s certification active?
Community Mental Health Centers
The Office of Mental Illness Community Programs serves as a liaison between the DMH/MR and community mental health providers in an effort to enhance treatment for consumers. The office works to ensure that quality standards are implemented and maintained throughout the community provider network. This office is responsible for:
  • Planning and implementing new programs designed to further enhance treatment and quality of life.
  • Working with community providers to maintain quality standards in existing services. Improving the community continuum of care available to adults with serious mental illness and children and adolescents with severe emotional disturbance with particular emphasis on services that divert admissions to and enhance discharges from state hospitals and other more restrictive treatment settings.
  • Planning and coordinating services with other state agencies, advocacy organizations, state and local providers, insurers, and other interested parties.
Home Health Agencies
A program which provides skilled nursing services and at least one of the following other therapeutic services: physical therapy, speech language pathology, or occupational therapy, medical social services, or home health aide services in a place of residence used as a patient's home. The HHA must provide at least one of these services (i.e., skilled nursing, physical therapy, speech language pathology, occupational therapy, medical social services, or home health aide services) directly and in its entirety by employees of the HHA. The other therapeutic service and any additional services may be provided either directly or under arrangement. HHAs are not required to be licensed by the Alabama State Board of Health but may apply for certification in Medicare and Medicaid programs.

Hospices
A coordinated program of home, outpatient, and inpatient care and services including the coordination of the services listed below to hospice patients, and families, through a medically directed interdisciplinary team, under the Code of Alabama, 1975, in order to meet the physical, psychological, social, spiritual, and other special needs that are experienced during the final stages of illness, dying, and bereavement:
  • Nursing care by or under the supervision of a registered nurse
  • Medical social services by a social worker under the direction of a physician
  • Services of an aide
  • Medical supplies including drugs and biological, and the use of medical appliances
  • Physician's services
  • Short-term inpatient care, including both palliative and respite care and procedures
  • Counseling for hospice patients and hospice patients' families
  • Services of volunteers under the direction of the provider of the hospice care program
  • Bereavement services for hospice patients' families
Hospitals
A health institution planned, organized, and maintained for offering to the public, generally, facilities and beds for use in the diagnosis and/or treatment of illness, disease, injury, deformity, abnormality or pregnancy, when the institution offers such care or service for not less than twenty-four consecutive hours in any week to two or more individuals not related by blood or marriage to the owner and/or chief executive officer/administrator. In addition, the hospital may provide for the education of patients, medical and health personnel, as well as conduct research programs to promote progress and efficiency in clinical and administrative medicine.

Nursing Homes
A business entity that is engaged in providing housing, meals and care to sick or disabled individuals who require, on a daily basis or more frequently, medical care, nursing care, or rehabilitation services. This definition shall not include any business, operation, or facility that is exempt from licensure pursuant to Alabama law, nor shall it include any business, operation, or facility that is (1) licensed by the Alabama State Board of Health as another kind of facility, and (2) functioning within the scope of applicable law and administrative rules.
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Can the registry tell me if my certification is active or not?
Information regarding your status on the registry can be obtained from your former or current employer.
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Can a Patient Care Technician (PCT/PCA) take the certification test and be placed on the Nurse Aide registry?
In order to be on the Nurse Aide Registry, you must complete a state approved nurse aide training program.
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What is my certification number?
Your Social Security number is your certification number.
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Who must be listed on the Nurse Aide Registry?
Any individual successfully completing the state approved nurse aide competency and evaluation and training program desiring to work as a nurse aide in an Alabama nursing home must first be listed in good standing on the Alabama nurse aide registry. This would include RN's and LPN's previously having worked as a Nurse Aide.
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What are the training and testing requirements for the Alabama Nurse Aide Registry?
An individual must successfully complete a State-approved nurse aide training and competency evaluation program and pass both the written and skills tests to be listed on the nurse aide registry.  Individuals who enter the competency evaluation/test and do not pass by their third attempt and within 24 months of the training must be retrained in a State-approved nurse aide training program before retaking the competency test.
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Where can I get my program CNA certificate?
Program certificates are obtained from the program that the CNA completed.
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How can I keep my certification active?
You must work at least 8 hours every 24 months in a nursing home, hospital, home health agency, hospice agency, or mental health facility for paid compensation.  Volunteer work does not count.  Private sitting, assisted living facilities, and doctor's office work does not count.
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How long does an individual have to take their certification tests?
Twenty-four (24) months from the date of completion of the nurse aide training program.
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Do CEU’s keep a certification active?
No.  Skilled nursing facilities are required to provide 12 hours of mandatory continuing education to CNA’s (12 per year according to the date of hire for the CNA).
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How can I get my certification reactivated if I have not worked as a CNA for over 24 months?
You must complete a Nurse Aide Training program (retrained) and take the certification test (retested) to be eligible to work in a nursing home.
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Does Alabama have a Reciprocity form?
No.  The reciprocity process for the state of Alabama requires your employer contact the State agency to have your name placed on the Alabama Nurse Aide Registry.
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What is the reciprocity process if I originally received my certification in Alabama, went to another state, got on their registry, and have now returned to Alabama?
As long as the individual is on another state's registry (current/active and in good standing), their status is active in the state of Alabama.  Information regarding an individual’s status is shared state to state.
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How can I get transferred to the Alabama CNA registry from another state?
The only way you can get on the Alabama CNA Registry from another state is to apply for a job at a nursing home.  Once hired by one of the entities in #4 above, your certification must be verified and placement made on the Alabama Nurse Aide Registry.  You must have an active certification in the state you are transferring from with no validated allegations of abuse against you.

If you want to do home health work and not work in a nursing home, the CNA Registry cannot transfer you.  The only other way to get on the Alabama Registry is for you to take an approved CNA program with clinicals and pass the state/federal tests (both written and skills).

Note: An individual listed on another state’s Nurse Aide Registry with validated findings of resident abuse, resident neglect, or misappropriation of resident property in a nursing home may not be employed as a nurse aide in Alabama nursing facilities.
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How is the expiration date determined for individuals listed on the Nurse Aide Registry?
Initially, the expiration date is 24 months from the date the individual successfully completed the competency evaluation/test.  Once on the registry, the following conditions must be met:
  • Work is for monetary compensation.
  • Work as a nurse aide, performing direct patient care.
  • Work is under the supervision of a registered nurse.
  • Total time worked equals eight (8) hours or more every 24 months in a nursing home, hospital, home health agency, hospice agency, or mental health facility.
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What are the qualifications of a CNA instructor?
Current Alabama Nursing License, two (2) years of nursing experience (one (1) in Geriatrics), complete a state approved Train the Trainer course or a Master’s Degree in Nursing.
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What is needed to start a Nursing Assistant Program?
Obtain a Private School License from the Alabama Department of Education (Post Secondary).
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How and where can I enroll in a Nurse Aide Training Program?
State-approved Nurse Aide Training Programs are offered at most community colleges, many nursing homes, and some private schools.
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Must nursing students complete the competency evaluation test to be listed on the Nurse Aide Registry?
Yes.  Nursing students who are currently enrolled in an Alabama nursing program and have taken and passed Fundamentals of Nursing and their clinical skills within the past 24 months and want to be listed on the Nurse Aide Registry should obtain proof of training with a letter from their instructor, and contact NACES at 1-877-889-0939 to get an application and handbook to apply to take the test.
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How can employers obtain verification of a Nurse Aide Registry listing?
You can verify Nurse Aide listings 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, by accessing the Registry website (www.alabamapublichealth.gov), click on "A-Z Index", scroll down to the letter N, then click on "Nurse Aide Registry".  The system uses the Social Security Number to access Registry records and with each look-up will provide information on whether or not an individual is listed on the Nurse Aide Registry.  Printed verifications are available when using the website.  Staff-assisted verifications are available during registry hours by calling 334-206-5169.  Please note that the State of Alabama does not maintain employment or work history records for Nurse Aides.
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How do I change my name on the registry, due to marriage, etc.?
In order to make a change to the Nurse Aide Registry, you must send in copies of your new Social Security card and picture ID, such as your driver's license, to:
Alabama Certified Nurse Aide Registry
Alabama Department of Public Health
Division of Health Care Facilities
The RSA Tower, Suite 700
201 Monroe Street
Montgomery, AL  36104
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Why do some fields indicate that the information is "Not Available"?
The Nurse Aide Registry changed to a new computer system in October 2006.  Records added prior to this date may not include all information.

If your records are incomplete, we will update them with the correct information. For example, if the Test Date indicates "Not Available", then mail, e-mail, or fax us a copy of your test results. Click here for contact information.
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Alabama Department of Public Health