Nurse Aide and Nontechnical Services Worker Registry

November 7, 2017

The standards for certification and employment of nurse aides are found in the Nursing Home Care Act, Title 63 O.S. §§ 1-1950.1 and 1-1951, and the Oklahoma Administrative Code, Title 310, Chapter 677, Nurse Aide Training And Certification.

The Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSDH), Nurse Aide Registry (NAR), will no longer print and mail certification cards for initial certification or renewal of nurse aide certification(s) in Long Term Care (LTC), Home Health Aide (HHA), Developmentally Disabled Direct Care Aide (DDCA), Residential Care Aide (RCA), Adult Day Care Aide (ADCA), and Certified Medication Aide (CMA) (including advanced CMA classifications).

Employers are required to verify the certification status and absence of a finding of abuse, neglect or misappropriation. This may be done through the OK-SCREEN employee screening web portal maintained by the Department, or through the agency's nurse aide registry website found on the agency web site at: https://www.phin.state.ok.us/NARSWBSearch/

You can print the detail page of this verification for your records if needed.

Certified Nurse Aides can click on "Verify a Nurse Aide is on the Registry" to verify and print certification status.  Employers are required to verify certified nurse aides status through the National Background Check Program and can also use "Verify a Nurse Aide is on the Registry" for their records.   You do not need to know the certification number to pull up your certification.   Enter your name to pull up your certifications.  Once your name has been pulled up, click on the view symbol on the far right of the name.  This will pull up all certifications in connection with your name.  If you pull up by certification number, it will only give you the one certification you entered.

Please contact our office at (405) 426-8150 if you are unable to verify a nurse aide certification or if you have questions about this practice.

The Registry was created through a federal mandate and regulations dated September 1991. The duties of the nurse aide registry include: (1) review and approve/disapprove nurse aide training program curriculum; (2) review and approve/disapprove nurse aide training programs; (3) review and approve/disapprove nurse aide testing; (4) develop and maintain the nurse aide and non-technical services worker registry (5) maintain the abuse registry; (6) certify nurse aides; (7) provide public education; and (8) develop rules, policies, procedures, applications and forms necessary to implement the program.

The Nurse Aide Registry serves unlicensed persons and employers of these persons, who provide nursing or nursing-related services to individuals receiving services in long term care facilities, home health agencies, intermediate care facilities for the cognitive or intellectual disability, residential care facilities, and adult day care centers.

"Nurse aide" means any person who provides, for compensation, nursing care or health-related services to residents in a nursing facility, a specialized facility, a residential care home, continuum of care facility, assisted living center or an adult day care center and who is not a licensed health professional. Such term also means any person who provides such services to individuals in their own homes as an employee or contract provider of a home health or home care agency, or as a contract provider of the Medicaid State Plan Personal Care Program [Title 63 O.S. Section 1-1950.1(A)].

Listed below are the six types of Certified Nurse Aides:

• Long Term Care Aide (LTC)
• Home Health Aide (HHA)
• Developmentally Disabled Direct Care Aide (DDCA)
• Residential Care Aide (RCA)
• Adult Day Care Aide (ADC)
• Certified Medication Aide (CMA)

The NTSW Abuse Registry is authorized under Title 63 of the Oklahoma Statutes at Section 1-1950.6 et seq. and identifies only those nontechnical services workers that have had an administrative finding of abuse, verbal abuse, or exploitation of a resident in a nursing facility. This registry is incorporated into the abuse registry for nurse aides.

"Nontechnical services worker" means a person employed by a nursing facility to provide, for compensation, nontechnical services in or upon the premises of a nursing facility. The term "nontechnical services worker" shall not include a nurse aide, or any person who is exempt from the criminal arrest check provisions of Section 1-1950.1 of this title; and

"Nontechnical services" means services that:

1. are performed in or on the premises of a nursing facility and that are predominantly physical or manual in nature, and
2. involve or may involve patient contact including, but not limited to, housekeeping, janitorial or maintenance services, food preparation and administrative services.
   

• Revised Barrier Offense for Nurse Aides Effective November 1, 2012 (PDF)                  
• Uniform Employment Application for Nurse Aide Staff, ODH Form 805 (PDF). The revised form reflects changes to the list of offenses that are barriers to employment.

Nurse Aide Training and Certification Rules, Chapter 677

Excerpt from Nursing Home Care Act, Sections 63-1-1950.1 and 63-1-1951.

The complete Nursing Home Care Act and Long Term Care Security Act, Title 63 O.S. § 1-1901 et seq.

• Approved Training and Competency Evaluation Programs

• Verify Nurse Aide and Non-technical Services Worker Information via the Internet
• Oklahoma National Background Check Program
• Change of Address Form