CNA License Lookup: How to Verify a Certification in Any State

Searchers say "CNA license," and this page uses the phrase too, but the credential itself is a certification: state-approved training, a competency exam, and a listing on the state's nurse aide registry.

Whatever you call it, the lookup is the registry's own search, and federal rules require every state to establish and maintain a nurse aide registry that is accessible to the public and health care providers promptly (42 CFR 483.156(a)).

The state may run that registry itself or contract the daily operation and maintenance to a non-state entity; either way, the state must maintain accountability for the registry (42 CFR 483.156(b)(1)).

Missouri shows that a vendor portal can carry a state-run registry's search: the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services runs the registry, and Missouri candidates can check their listing on Headmaster's TestMaster Universe (TMU) portal, which also handles applications, scheduling and renewals.

Headmaster partners with the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services for CNA testing and registry services there.

Prometric, which offers registry services for checking the registry status of nurse aides in its states, is another vendor route a state's lookup can take.

One lookup that will not work: Nursys, which covers only RN and LPN/VN licenses from participating boards of nursing, so it is not a CNA lookup tool.

To start any state's search, look up the state's name plus "nurse aide registry," and confirm you are on the state agency's own page or the contractor the state names before you enter anyone's details.

If you are still weighing the credential itself, the certified nursing assistant career guide covers the role, the training and the exam behind the listing you are about to check.

A registry search starts with a name, and the federal rules set the minimum of what a registry holds: each aide's full name, information necessary to identify the individual, and the date the person became eligible for placement in the registry (42 CFR 483.156(c)(1)).

A state finding of abuse, neglect or misappropriation of property belongs in that same record.

That minimum explains the two habits of a good search: use the full name exactly as it appeared on the certification, and fill in any identifying details the search form asks for, which helps separate records when a common name returns more than one.

The federal list is a floor rather than the whole record — states can hold and display more than the minimum, and the search form itself tells you what it accepts.

If a search returns nothing, check the spelling of the name and the state you are searching, then contact the registry directly.

One more check before you read a record: a state registry may also list home health aides who passed a state-approved HHA competency evaluation, and the federal rules require those entries to be distinguished from nurse aides.

Make sure the record you are reading is the nurse aide listing before you act on it.

Each state's registry defines the statuses it displays; the federal rules define the moments behind them — getting listed, going inactive after time without paid work, and a state finding.

Getting listed is on a clock: a record of passing the competency evaluation must be added to the state registry within 30 days of the date the person is found competent (42 CFR 483.154(e)(2)).

In Texas, once a candidate passes both tests, the candidate's information goes to HHSC for the Texas Nurse Aide Registry.

Going inactive runs on paid work.

A nurse aide who goes 24 consecutive months without providing nursing or nursing-related services for pay must complete a new training and competency evaluation program or a new competency evaluation program (42 CFR 483.35(d)(6)).

The registry side matches: aides with 24 consecutive months of no nursing or nursing-related services must be removed, unless the entry includes a documented abuse, neglect or misappropriation finding (42 CFR 483.156(c)(2)).

Findings are their own category.

Only the State survey agency may place a finding of abuse, neglect or misappropriation of property on the registry (42 CFR 483.156(b)(2)).

A finding must be entered on the registry within 10 working days, and it stays permanently unless it was made in error, the aide is found not guilty in court, or the state is notified of the aide's death.

Any registry response that includes a finding must also include the aide's own statement disputing it, if the aide filed one (42 CFR 483.156(a)(4)).

Texas shows how a state layers its own statuses on top.

Registry certificates there are valid for two years from issue.

A nurse aide who has not done nursing-related work and completed 24 hours of in-service education in the 24 months since registration or renewal is in expired status and must retake both exams.

For nursing homes, verification is written into CMS's requirements: before allowing an individual to serve as a nurse aide, a facility must receive registry verification that the individual has met competency evaluation requirements (42 CFR 483.35(d)(4)).

The rule carries exceptions for aides in training: a full-time employee in an approved program, or someone who recently completed one and is not yet listed, can start before the listing appears.

Nursing homes must also seek information from every state nurse aide registry they believe will include information on the individual (42 CFR 483.35(d)(5)).

Status does not transfer automatically between states: Texas tells aides who move that they must contact the new state's registry, because whether CNA status transfers varies from state to state.

The verification requirements just described are nursing home rules.

A home care agency, an assisted living community or a hospice can run the same public search — the registry is open to the public — and should confirm its own state's hiring checks with the state agency.

The registry holds the aide's full name, identifying information, the listing date and any state finding, and any response that includes a finding must also carry the aide's own disputing statement where one was filed.

A registry lookup is also not the whole screen: it answers the certification question, and it is separate from the other checks an employer runs before an offer.

Federal rules allow two setups for who runs a registry's daily operation: the state itself, or a non-state contractor with the state staying accountable.

That setup, along with whether the search sits on a vendor portal, decides where the search lives, so it is the first thing to identify in any state.

Keep the multi-state habit when a worker has moved: because status does not transfer automatically between states, an aide who has worked in more than one state may need a lookup in each registry.

Career information, not licensing, legal, medical, benefits or tax advice: registry listings, statuses and reactivation rules are state rules — confirm with the state nurse aide registry or the agency that runs it.