CNAs on the California Nursing Assistant Registry must renew their certification through the California Department of Public Health in order to stay active. You must have worked for pay as a nurse assistant performing nursing-related services for at least eight consecutive hours during the twenty-four months prior to your certification expiration date, and you must submit evidence of forty-eight hours of in-service training or continuing education. Under federal requirements, certification as a nurse assistant becomes invalid after a lapse of 24 consecutive months or more in the performance of paid nursing-related services. If you let your certification expire, you will be required to re-test at a California Department of Public Health-approved training program.
CNA certificates must be renewed every two years. You may renew your certificate any time within two years after the expiration date of your certificate, if by the time your certificate expires, you will have completed the following:
- You have provided nursing or nursing-related services in a health care facility to residents for compensation, under the supervision of a licensed health professional, within your most recent certification period.
- You have previously received and maintained criminal record clearance for CNA, HHA, Intermediate Care Facility- Developmentally Disabled (ICF-DD), DD Habilitative, or DD Nursing.
- You have successfully obtained and submitted documentation of forty-eight hours of In-Service Training provided by a Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) or Home Health Agency employer or Continuing Education Units (CEUs) provided by a non-SNF employer within your most recent certification period. Online CEU certificates must be submitted with the renewal application. A minimum of twelve of the forty-eight hours must be completed in each year of the two year certification period. A maximum of twenty-four of the forty-eight hours may be obtained only through a CDPH-approved online computer training program.
If you are unable to meet renewal requirements and your certificate has not been expired for more than two years, you may reactivate the certificate by taking the Competency Evaluation. To apply for reactivation, you should submit a completed renewal application (CDPH 283 C), making sure to check the “yes” box for question number six in section VI. If approved, a Competency Evaluation approval letter will be sent to you, along with information needed to schedule the evaluation. You must successfully pass the evaluation within two years from your certificate’s expiration date. Once you have successfully passed the evaluation, maintained criminal record clearance, and the results from the testing vendor have been received, CDPH will issue a current CNA certificate.
The SNF in-service documentation must be submitted on the CDPH 283 A form, including the signature of the instructor responsible for the training. All California Department of Public Health-approved In-Service Training (Skilled Nursing Facility and Home Health Agency employers) classes are accepted. Continuing education classes must be taken with CDPH-approved providers only. CDPH-approved CEU providers have a Nurse Assistant Certification Number (NAC#) noted on the CEU certificate. Approved courses are designed to enhance the knowledge and skills of the CNA/HHA and enhance the skills in the employer-based healthcare settings.
CNA certificate holders are given credit for time in Licensed Vocational Nurse, Registered Nurse or Licensed Psychiatric Technician programs by listing the courses taken and converting the units to hours as follows: semester unit = 15 hours, quarter unit = 10 hours. You must submit a copy of your school transcript to verify your enrollment. Twenty-six of a forty-hour HHA training program may count towards CEUs. You may contact the California Department of Public Health at 916-327-2445 for additional information.