The Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services (DADS) Regulatory Services Division, Licensing and Credentialing Section and Enforcement Section, manages:
- Nurse Aide Training and Competency Evaluation Program (NATCEP);
- Nurse aide certification, investigation, and sanctions;
- Nurse Aide Registry (NAR);
- Nursing facility administrator (NFA) licensing, investigation, and sanctions;
- Medication aide (MA) permitting, investigation, and sanctions; and
- Employment Misconduct Registry (EMR) of unlicensed staff of DADS-regulated facilities and agencies found to have committed acts of abuse, neglect, exploitation, misappropriation, or misconduct.
The Licensing and Credentialing Section’s Nursing Facility Administrators (NFA) Licensing Branch:
- Licenses NFAs, certifies nurse aides, and permits medication aides;
- Manages the nurse aide training and competency evaluation programs (NATCEP); and
- Maintains the NAR and medication aide database.
The Professional Credentialing Enforcement Unit of the Enforcement Section:
- Conducts investigations of NFA complaints and referrals and sanctions violation of NFA requirements;
- Makes findings of abuse, neglect, or misappropriation against nurse aides and enters on the NAR, and findings of misconduct to the MA database; and
- Manages the EMR program.
In Texas, nurse aide enforcement activities are conducted by the Professional Credentialing Enforcement unit. You may contact them by phone at 512-438-5495 or by email at credential@DADS.state.tx.us . Enforcement activities include coordinating due process related to referrals of misconduct by a nurse aide that occur in nursing facilities and entering findings of abuse, neglect and misappropriation of resident property, as appropriate.