Washington CNA Registry

How to Look Up a Washington CNA License

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

Washington keeps its nursing assistant records at wahelms.my.site.com. 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 Washington Provider Credential Search

   Go to wahelms.my.site.com and use the Provider Credential Search panel. The search takes First Name, Last Name, a Credential Status list, a Credential Type list, Credential Number, Business Address, City and Zip Code, with a "not a robot" tick box before every search. A last name, a first name or a credential number on its own is enough, and setting Credential Type to Nursing Assistant Certification keeps other professions out of the results. 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 a credential 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. 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 Credential Number, Credential Type, First Name, M.I, Last Name, Suffix, CE Due Date, Status and Enforcement Action, six rows to a page, with a View button that opens the full record, where the expiration date is shown.

5. Save a dated copy of the result

   Print to PDF or screenshot the page showing the name, credential 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 credential 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 360-236-4703, if none of the above works

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

How to Verify a CNA License in Washington

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 wahelms.my.site.com 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 Washington until reciprocity is processed. Until a Washington record exists, employers here cannot verify you, and your out-of-state record is the only proof you have. See transferring a license to Washington 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 Washington 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 Washington, so if a candidate has worked elsewhere, search that state's registry too.

That separate list is the OBRA Nurse Aide Registry. Check both before you rely on a result.

How to Renew Your Washington CNA License

Renewing a Washington certification takes an application and a fee every 12 months, not a report of work hours. It expires if the renewal is not filed in time, however much you have worked.

Nursing facility work adds a separate federal rule. Anyone who goes 24 consecutive months without paid nursing or nursing-related work needs at least a new competency evaluation before a Medicare- or Medicaid-certified facility can use them as a nursing assistant again. Washington tracks that on the OBRA Nurse Aide Registry, not on the certification record.

1. Renew before the expiration date

   File the renewal and pay the fee with WABON before the expiration date on your record. Renew online through HELMS by your birthday each year. Renewal opens 85 to 90 days before the expiration date, and you can still renew up to a year late with a $50 late fee. After that it takes a reactivation application, and after more than three years expired, unless you hold an active certification in another state, a new training program and both tests.

2. Check the record, and read the expiry date

   Look yourself up at wahelms.my.site.com once the renewal has been processed. 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.

3. Keep your nursing facility eligibility current

   At least one shift of paid nursing or nursing-related work inside every 24 months keeps you eligible. 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. Your employer reports that work to the OBRA Nurse Aide Registry, through form DSHS 16-193, not you. The facility that submits the form confirms it has verified your work history. If the work was in another state, ask the registry whether it counts before you rely on it, because states differ.

   Keep your own record of where and when you worked. A new employer may need that history to show you have not gone 24 months without paid work.

4. Keep your own dated copy

   Save the record showing the new expiry date. It is what you show a new employer if anything about your record is ever in question.

How to Reinstate a Lapsed Washington CNA License

A Washington certification lapses when it is not renewed in time, however much you have worked. Nursing facility eligibility lapses separately, after 24 consecutive months without paid nursing or nursing-related work. What it takes to come back depends on which of these you are.

How to Get on the Washington CNA Registry

In Washington 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 WABON rather than assuming it comes last.

1. Meet the basic requirements

   Washington 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 108-hour course

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

3. Pass the written and skills tests

   An online knowledge test through Credentia, which you may take in writing or orally, and an in-person skills test, usually given by your training program. 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 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 exams are charged separately, so ask what they cost 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 wahelms.my.site.com before you contact the registry.

Washington CNA Registry Contact Information

Washington CNA Requirements at a Glance

Transferring a CNA License To or From Washington (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.

Washington CNA Training Programs

The steps above are the whole route onto the registry. The one thing that comes before them is an approved 108-hour program, because you cannot sit the exam without completing one.

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.

Washington 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.