Pennsylvania CNA Registry
Check any Pennsylvania certified nursing assistant on the Pennsylvania Nurse Aide Registry. The search is free, needs no account, and is the same record an employer sees. This page covers looking up a license, reading the status, keeping your certification active, and getting listed after your exam.
This is the state's own system, run by Pennsylvania DOH. It is the same database an employer checks, and the only place a certification status is authoritative.
Four ways to use this page. Pick the one that matches your situation.
Pennsylvania Nurse Aide Registry
- Governing agency
- Pennsylvania DOHPennsylvania Department of Health, Division of Nursing Care Facilities
- Lookup portal
- cna365.examroom.ai Credentia, public search
- Registry phone
- (888) 204-6249
- Renewal cycle
- 24 months work hours must be reported
How to Look Up a Pennsylvania CNA License
This section is the mechanics: where the search is, what to type into it, and how to read what comes back.
Pennsylvania keeps its nurse aide records at cna365.examroom.ai. The search is public, so you can check your own record or a candidate's record without an account and without paying.
-
Open the Pennsylvania registry search
Go to cna365.examroom.ai and use the Nurse Aide Registry panel. It is subtitled “Welcome to the Government of Pennsylvania Department of Health Credential Management System”. The search takes a reCAPTCHA tick box you have to clear first, then one of two sections: Search By Name, which takes First Name, Last Name, City and Date of Birth, or Search By Registration Number, which takes up to 15 numbers at once. The note on screen says any two of the four name fields will do, but the Search button only appears once First Name holds at least two letters plus one other field. No login, no account, no fee.
-
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 a registration number box, use that as well: the number is unique to one person and a name is not.
-
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.
-
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. The results table shows First Name, Last Name, City, State, Postal Code, Program, Status, Registration Number and Action.
-
Save a dated copy of the result
Print to PDF or screenshot the page showing the name, registration 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 registration 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 (888) 204-6249, if none of the above works
What Each Pennsylvania 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.
| Status | What it means | Can they work? |
|---|---|---|
| Active | The registration is current and the Registry Card is valid. Pennsylvania issues that card for 24 months at a time, and it stays Active only while qualifying paid work is reported inside each period. | Yes |
| InActive | Twenty-four consecutive months passed with no paid nursing-related work, so the registration is no longer current. You cannot be employed as a nurse aide until it is active again, and Pennsylvania gives you one attempt at the exam to get there before retraining is required. | No |
| Revoked | The registration has been taken away. A nurse aide who is not enrolled or in good standing on the registry may not be employed in a nursing care facility that receives Medicare or Medicaid reimbursement. | No |
Why Your Pennsylvania CNA License Is Not Showing on the Registry
| Problem | What is happening | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Your name returns no results | The registry stores the legal name you used at the time of testing. A lapsed Pennsylvania registration stays on the registry and shows as InActive rather than disappearing, so a blank result is usually a spelling difference or a city that no longer matches. City is the last known address the registry holds for you, so it can be somewhere you have since moved away from. The search will also not run at all without a first name of at least two letters, so a surname on its own returns nothing and never even shows a Search button. | Search your maiden or pre-marriage name, and give the search less to match on rather than more. |
| You passed but you are not listed | Results have to reach the registry from your testing entity before a record exists. | Give the registry time to process them, then call (888) 204-6249 with your test date and testing entity. |
| The record shows as expired but you have been working | Qualifying hours have to be reported before the record updates, and yours may not have been filed. | File your own employment verification with the registry, then re-check the record. |
| You do not know how to file the report | The registry expects the report to come from you, so it will not arrive on its own. | Contact the registry on (888) 204-6249 and ask for the form they accept. |
| Details on your record are wrong | Name, address and registry data come from the record created at testing. | Contact the registry on (888) 204-6249 with documentation of the correct details. |
How to Verify a CNA License in Pennsylvania
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 cna365.examroom.ai once your testing entity has filed your results. 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 Pennsylvania until reciprocity is processed. Until a Pennsylvania record exists, employers here cannot verify you, and your out-of-state record is the only proof you have. See transferring a license to Pennsylvania 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 nurse aide. The record shows the certification status, and nothing about findings. Pennsylvania keeps any substantiated finding of abuse, neglect or misappropriation of resident property on the certification record rather than on a separate list, but the public search does not display it, so a clean-looking result is not a cleared record. Federal rules require the registry to disclose findings to anyone who asks, so ask the registry on (888) 204-6249 before you rely on the search alone. The record only covers Pennsylvania, so if a candidate has worked elsewhere, search that state's registry too.
How to Renew Your Pennsylvania CNA License
Renewal in Pennsylvania 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.
-
Work at least 8 consecutive 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.
-
File the report yourself
You submit it, not your employer, through the state's system, the Credentia Platform. 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. -
Check the record, and read the expiry date
Look yourself up at cna365.examroom.ai once the report has been 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.
-
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 (888) 204-6249 and ask what they will accept as evidence of the work.
-
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.
| Item | Pennsylvania |
|---|---|
| Active period | 24 months from the reported work |
| Work required | At least 8 consecutive hours of paid nursing or nursing-related duties |
| What counts | Paid nursing or nursing-related duties |
| What does not count | Volunteer shifts and unpaid clinical placements |
| Work in another state | Ask the registry before you rely on it. States differ on whether out-of-state hours count |
| Who reports it | You. The registry expects the worker to file |
| Where the report is filed | the Credentia Platform |
| Renewal fee | None |
| Filing deadline | No deadline. Renewal opens 90 days before your expiry date and stays open after it |
| Continuing education required | None to renew. Your employer has to give you at least 12 hours of in-service education a year based on your performance review, but that is the facility's duty and has no impact on registry renewal. |
How to Reinstate a Lapsed Pennsylvania 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.
| Your situation | What you do | Retesting |
|---|---|---|
| You worked recently, but the hours were never reported | File the employment verification for that work now | No |
| No qualifying work for 24 months or more | Pennsylvania gives you one attempt at the competency exam to become active again, and requires retraining if that attempt fails. | Yes |
| You hold an active certification in another state | Apply through reciprocity. See our Pennsylvania reciprocity guide | Usually not |
| You are not working in a Medicare- or Medicaid-certified facility | The federal requirement does not reach you, but other employers set their own rules and many still ask for an active certification | No |
How to Get on the Pennsylvania CNA Registry
In Pennsylvania you do not file a registry application yourself. You train, you test, and your testing entity sends the application and results to the registry.
-
Meet the basic requirements
You must be at least 16. Training providers may set their own requirements on top of that.
-
Complete an approved 80-hour course
Train with a provider approved in Pennsylvania. See our list of Pennsylvania CNA programs.
-
Pass the written and skills tests
A knowledge examination, which you may take written or orally, and a hands-on skills demonstration. Both must be passed. 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 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.
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. -
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.
-
Check that you appear on the registry
Give the registry time to process the result, then look yourself up at cna365.examroom.ai before you contact the registry.
Pennsylvania CNA Registry Contact Information
- Phone
- (888) 204-6249
- Mailing address
- Credentia Services Registry Management
1025 Greenwood Blvd, Suite 401
Lake Mary, FL 32746
- License lookup
- cna365.examroom.ai
- Registry information
- Pennsylvania Department of Health Nurse Aide Registry
Pennsylvania CNA Requirements at a Glance
| Requirement | Pennsylvania |
|---|---|
| Registry name | Pennsylvania Nurse Aide Registry |
| Credential term used by the state | nurse aide |
| Governing agency | Pennsylvania Department of Health, Division of Nursing Care Facilities |
| Minimum age | 16 |
| Total training hours | 80 |
| Exam | A knowledge examination, which you may take written or orally, and a hands-on skills demonstration. Both must be passed. |
| Testing deadline | Both tests within 120 days of hire |
| Application fee | Free |
| Renewal cycle | 24 months, worker-reported hours |
| Testing vendor | Credentia |
Transferring a CNA License To or From Pennsylvania (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.
The route in and out of Pennsylvania, the documents required and the current processing time are covered in the guide. The tool checks any two states against each other.
Pennsylvania CNA Training Programs
The steps above are the whole route onto the registry. The one thing that comes before them is an approved 80-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.
| Program | City |
|---|---|
| Penn Asian Vocational Institute | Philadelphia |
| UPMC Senior Communities | Pittsburgh |
| Lehigh-Carbon Comm. College | Allentown |
| Walnut Creek Healthcare & Rehab | Erie |
| Reading Area Community College | Reading |
Tell us where you are and we will match you with approved programs. Takes about a minute.
Find CNA programs near you✓ Free Service • ✓ No Obligations • ✓ Compare Multiple Programs • ✓ Accredited Schools Only
Cost, format and city for each one, listed by city so you can start near you.
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.
Pennsylvania CNA Registry FAQ
Is the Pennsylvania CNA Registry free to search?
Why can I not find my name on the registry?
How long does Pennsylvania certification last?
Can I report my own work hours?
What happens if my status expires?
Can an employer see abuse or neglect findings?
Do I need to be on the registry to work in Pennsylvania?
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.