Iowa CNA Registry

How to Look Up an Iowa CNA License

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

Iowa keeps its direct care worker records at dia-hfd.iowa.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 Iowa registry search

   Go to dia-hfd.iowa.gov and use the DCW SEARCH panel. It is subtitled “Look up eligibility status of Direct Care Workers”. The search takes Identification Number, First Name, Last Name, City, Counties. 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 every box the panel asks for. If it offers an identification number box, use that as well: the number is unique to one person and a name is not.

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. A common surname can return more than one person, and the wrong record can look right at a glance.

4. Read the record, not just the listing

   Open the record itself. 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.

5. Save a dated copy of the result

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

How to find your identification number

Where a search takes the number, it narrows the result to one person in a way a name may not. If you have lost it, it is on any of these.

• Your certificate or wallet card, if your state issued one after the skills test
• The result page of the registry search itself, once you have found your record, where it shows one
• Your employer's personnel file, because facilities record it when they verify you at hire
• The registry, on 515-381-7835, if none of the above works

What Each Iowa CNA 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 Iowa CNA License Is Not Showing on the Registry

How to Verify a CNA License in Iowa

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 dia-hfd.iowa.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 Iowa until reciprocity is processed. Until an Iowa record exists, employers here cannot verify you, and your out-of-state record is the only proof you have. See transferring a license to Iowa 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 direct care worker. The record carries two things: the certification status, and any substantiated finding of abuse, neglect, mistreatment of residents, or misappropriation of resident 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 Iowa, so if a candidate has worked elsewhere, search that state's registry too.

How to Renew Your Iowa CNA License

Renewal in Iowa 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. If the work was in another state, ask the registry whether it counts before you rely on it, because states differ.

2. Ask your employer to report them

   Your employer files the report through the state's reporting system, DIAL Health Facilities Database. The registry does not accept hours reported by the worker.

   Ask the administrator or director of nursing, not a shift supervisor. Reporting access is held at facility level.

3. Check the record, and read the expiry date

   Look yourself up at dia-hfd.iowa.gov about 2 weeks after the report was filed. A status of active on its own is not enough, because the previous period may still be running. 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 515-381-7835 or DCW@dia.iowa.gov and ask what they will accept as evidence of the work.

5. Keep your own dated copy

   Save the record showing the new expiry date. 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 Iowa CNA License

If 24 months pass with no qualifying work, the record stops being active. What it takes to come back depends on which of these you are.

How to Get on the Iowa CNA Registry

In Iowa 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

   Iowa does not publish a minimum age for registry eligibility. Training providers set their own, so check with the provider before you enrol.

2. Complete an approved 75-hour course

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

3. Pass the written and skills tests

   Written and skills competency tests, three attempts at each. The knowledge test can be taken orally instead of in writing if you ask, which is a federal right in every state and is worth knowing 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 four months 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.

   The state charges no application fee. Testing costs are set by the testing entity rather than the state, so ask your provider what theirs are.

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 dia-hfd.iowa.gov before you contact the registry.

Iowa CNA Registry Contact Information

Iowa CNA Requirements at a Glance

Transferring a CNA License To or From Iowa (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.

Iowa CNA Training Programs

The steps above are the whole route onto the registry. The one thing that comes before them is an approved 75-hour program, because you cannot sit the exam without completing one. The state itself charges no application fee, so training is the cost that matters.

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.

Iowa CNA 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.