Maryland CNA Registry

How to Look Up a Maryland CNA License

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

Maryland keeps its nursing assistant records at mdchart.health.maryland.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 Maryland registry search

   Go to mdchart.health.maryland.gov and use the License Lookup panel. It is subtitled “Search for a Maryland health professional's license or certificate status”. The search takes a Profession Type dropdown, a License Type dropdown that narrows to the chosen profession, Last Name, First Name, License Number and a Date of Birth picker. At least one of Last Name, First Name or License Number is needed, because a dropdown or Date of Birth on its own will not run a search. The name and number boxes all match part of what you type, so Smi finds Smith. 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. If it offers a license number box, the number is unique to one person and a name is not, but some panels take the number or a name, not both.

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 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 Name, License Number, Profession, License Type and Status, one row per credential. The same person can appear on two rows with one number, one for Certified Nursing Assistant-I (CNA-I) and one for Certified Nursing Assistant-II (CNA-II), each with its own status, and only a CNA-I may work in a nursing facility or skilled nursing facility. Clicking a row opens a License Detail view with the issue, expiration and renewal dates and a Sub Status.

5. Save a dated copy of the result

   Print to PDF or screenshot the page showing the name, license 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 license 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
• Your employer's personnel file, because facilities record it when they verify you at hire
• The registry, on 410-585-1900, if none of the above works

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

How to Verify a CNA License in Maryland

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 mdchart.health.maryland.gov once your application has been processed and your results have reached the registry. 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 Maryland until reciprocity is processed. Until a Maryland record exists, employers here cannot verify you, and your out-of-state record is the only proof you have. See transferring a license to Maryland 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 shows the certification status. It is not the whole check, because Maryland records findings of abuse, neglect or misappropriation of property on a separate list, so a current certification does not on its own mean there is nothing against someone. The record only covers Maryland, so if a candidate has worked elsewhere, search that state's registry too.

That separate list is the CNA-I (formerly GNA) Abuse Registry. Check both before you rely on a result.

How to Renew Your Maryland CNA License

Renewal in Maryland is yours to file. You report your own qualifying work to the registry, and the record does not update until you do, however long you have been working.

1. Work at least 16 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. Some states also exclude certain paid jobs, such as private duty or work in a doctor’s office, or count only work supervised by a nurse, so check what the registry accepts before you rely on that kind of job. If the work was in another state, ask the registry whether it counts before you rely on it, because states differ.

2. File the report yourself

   You submit it, not your employer, through the state's system, MDH CHART. The record does not update until you do, so file before it lapses. Check what the registry wants as evidence of the hours, because some states take your own signed statement and others want the employer to confirm them.

   Do it while you still work there. Whatever the registry asks for, it is harder to get from a former employer.

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

   Look yourself up at mdchart.health.maryland.gov once the report has been filed. Where the record carries an expiry date, a status of active 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 410-585-1900 or mbon.cna@maryland.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 Maryland 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 Maryland CNA Registry

In Maryland you file the registry application yourself, and no record exists until it arrives. States differ on when it has to go in, some wanting it when you enroll and others once you have passed, so check the timing with MBON rather than assuming it comes last.

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 100-hour course

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

3. Pass the written and skills tests

   A written test of 70 multiple-choice questions and a skills evaluation of five randomly chosen skills. Both must be passed, and you get four attempts, at least 45 days apart, before you have to retrain. 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 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.

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

4. File your registry application

   Submit the application yourself, with whatever documents the registry lists. No record exists until it arrives. Your exam results may travel separately, sent straight from the testing entity, and some states also require your training provider to confirm the training, so check whether anything is waiting on someone else.

5. Check that you appear on the registry

   Give the registry time to process the result, then look yourself up at mdchart.health.maryland.gov before you contact the registry.

Maryland CNA Registry Contact Information

Maryland CNA Requirements at a Glance

Transferring a CNA License To or From Maryland (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.

Maryland CNA Training Programs

The steps above are the whole route onto the registry. The one thing that usually comes before them is an approved 100-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.

Maryland 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.