Illinois Health Care Worker Registry

How to Look Up an Illinois CNA License

This section is the mechanics: where the search is, what to type into it, and how to read what comes back.

Illinois keeps its nursing assistant records at hcwrpub.dph.illinois.gov. The search is public, so you can check your own record or a candidate's record without an account and without paying.

1. Open the Illinois registry search

   Go to hcwrpub.dph.illinois.gov and open the nursing assistant search. The search takes First Name, Middle and Last Name boxes, with only Last Name required, and each box matches from the start of what you type, so the first few letters of each name are enough. No login, no account, no fee.

2. Enter your details as the registry recorded them

   Use the name from the time of testing, and fill in what the panel asks for.

3. Match the record to the person

   Check every identifying detail the result shows, not just the name, before you treat a row as a match. Common surnames return several records, and the wrong one can look right at a glance.

4. Read what the record says, not just that a name came back

   Appearing on the registry is not the same as being current, so read what the record says about standing, whether that is a status, an expiry date, or both, then check it against the status table below. If a result links through to a fuller record, open it, because some registries keep the status there. The results table shows a list with Last, First, Middle, Sex, Race, Height and Eyes columns, and a Details icon at the end of each row that opens the record page. That page shows Work Eligibility, Administrative Findings, the date and type of the last State Police background check, the Last Employment Verification (the date and job category of work an employer has verified in about the last two years, and blank otherwise), and Certification Program Information: the training completed and each Competency Evaluation date with its code, P for passed, F1 or F2 for a failed attempt, NS for a missed exam and R for reciprocity. It also has a Validate SSN link for confirming the person's SSN. Read those parts together, because the record shows neither an expiry date nor a CNA status word.

5. Save a dated copy of the result

   Print to PDF or screenshot the page showing the name, what the record says about standing, and the date you checked. Employers and agencies usually want that record on file.

There is no Illinois certification number

Illinois does not issue a certification number, so there is nothing to look up or request. Your registry record is the proof: employers check it by name, and if a job application asks for your number, write N/A and point the employer to the registry.

What Each Illinois Health Care Worker Registry Status Means

The status field is the part that decides whether someone can work. Wording varies by state, so read the exact term on the record rather than assuming what it means.

Why Your Illinois CNA License Is Not Showing on the Registry

How to Verify a CNA License in Illinois

This section is what the result proves: what a record is evidence of, what to save as your copy of it, and what it means for you specifically. The search itself is the same for everyone.

Verifying your own license after finishing training

Look yourself up at hcwrpub.dph.illinois.gov once your testing entity has filed your results. Allow at least 2 weeks before you treat a missing record as a problem. Save a dated copy of the record, because most employers ask for proof at offer stage rather than checking themselves.

Verifying your license after transferring from another state

A certification held in another state does not appear in Illinois until reciprocity is processed. Until an Illinois record exists, employers here cannot verify you, and your out-of-state record is the only proof you have. See transferring a license to Illinois for the application route, then verify the new record the same way.

Verifying someone else's license (for employers)

Federal rules require a facility to check the registry before it lets someone work as a nursing assistant. The record carries two things: the certification status, and any substantiated finding of abuse, neglect or misappropriation of property the state has recorded against that person. Read both, because someone can be listed and still carry a finding that bars employment. The record only covers Illinois, so if a candidate has worked elsewhere, search that state's registry too.

How to Renew Your Illinois CNA License

Renewal in Illinois is not a form you file. Active standing continues only when your employer reports qualifying work, which makes renewal something you check rather than something you submit. You cannot report the hours yourself.

1. Work at least 8 hours in a qualifying role

   The hours must be paid nursing or nursing-related duties inside the 24 months before your record lapses. Unpaid placements and volunteer shifts do not count. Which paid work counts? Paid nursing or nursing-related work under the clinical supervision of a nurse. IDPH says private duty work in someone's home does not count. Does work in another state count? No. IDPH says that to keep your Illinois certification active you have to keep working in Illinois, even if you also hold certification in another state.

2. Ask your employer to report them

   Your employer files the report through the state's reporting system, the Health Care Worker Registry web application, which employers reach through the IDPH Web Portal. The registry does not accept hours reported by the worker.

   At a facility, ask the administrator or director of nursing rather than a shift supervisor.

3. Check the record, and read the expiry date if it has one

   Look yourself up at hcwrpub.dph.illinois.gov once the report has been filed. Where the record carries an expiry date, being listed on its own is not enough, because the previous period may still be running, and the expiry date is what tells you the new period has actually started.

4. Fix a missing report before it lapses

   If the hours were worked but never reported, that is correctable, and it is far easier to correct while the record is still active. Contact the registry on 844-789-3676 or dph.hcwr@illinois.gov and ask what they will accept as evidence of the work.

5. Keep your own dated copy

   Save a copy of the record showing your current status, and the new expiry date where the record has one. If a report is ever missed, that copy is what you give a new employer while the registry corrects it.

How to Reinstate a Lapsed Illinois CNA License

If your active period runs out without the qualifying work reported, the record stops being active. What it takes to come back depends on which of these you are.

How to Get on the Illinois Health Care Worker Registry

In Illinois you do not file a registry application yourself. You train, you test, and your testing entity sends the application and results to the registry.

1. Meet the basic requirements

   You must be at least 16. Training providers may set their own requirements on top of that.

2. Complete an approved 120-hour course

   Train with a provider approved in Illinois. See our list of Illinois CNA programs.

3. Pass the written and skills tests

   A written knowledge test, which state law lets you take in English or Spanish, and a demonstration of the required performance skills during your training program, checked by an approved evaluator. Both must be passed. Federal rules say you can choose to take the knowledge test orally instead of in writing, but some states offer that only as an approved accommodation, so ask your testing entity how to request it if reading is difficult for you or English is not your first language.

   If a facility has already hired you, both tests have to be passed within 120 days of your hire date. Our free CNA practice tests cover the same knowledge areas as the written test, and the free CNA skills course walks through the skills evaluation itself.

   Check what the exams cost and who collects the fee before you book.

4. Let your testing entity file the results

   The testing entity sends your application and results straight to the registry. There is nothing for you to submit.

5. Check that you appear on the registry

   Allow at least 2 weeks, then look yourself up at hcwrpub.dph.illinois.gov before you contact the registry.

Illinois Health Care Worker Registry Contact Information

Illinois CNA Requirements at a Glance

Transferring a CNA License To or From Illinois (Reciprocity)

Reciprocity is how an active certification held in one state becomes a certification in another. It usually avoids retesting, but only while your current certification is in good standing. A lapsed or flagged record cannot transfer.

Illinois CNA Training Programs

The steps above are the whole route onto the registry. The one thing that usually comes before them is an approved 120-hour program.

If you want to prepare before you enrol, our free CNA skills course covers the material the program and the skills test are built on.

Illinois Health Care Worker Registry FAQ

Look Up a CNA License in Another State

Every state runs its own registry, and a certification is only verifiable in the state that issued it. Pick a state to see its portal, its status vocabulary and its renewal rules.