About OSBELTCA

MISSION STATEMENT: OSBELTCA ensures that Oklahoma’s Long Term Care Administrators are suitable and qualified to serve and continue to serve in this profession.

OSBELTCA’s primary role is to protect the public, accomplished by:

• Establishing standards to qualify for a license,
• Administering examinations,
• Providing training and approving training offered by other entities,
• Enforcement of standards for licensed administrators throughout the state.

And in doing all of these things, we do our best to use the least restrictive means, and we are ever-evolving and getting better all the time.

Establishing Licensure Standards

• OSBELTCA is tasked to establish standards by statute (see Title 63, Chapter 12, Section 330.57), wherein this Board, acts as experts with the “sole and exclusive authority to determine the qualifications, skill and fitness of any person to serve as a long-term care administrator.”
• Board members are mostly appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate, along with representatives from the Departments of Health (OSDH), Human Services (DHS), and Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (ODMHSAS).
• Standards set for licensure include a set of “General” standards, applicable to all licensure types, and specific standards for each license type.
• OSBELTCA established qualification standards in its Rules (OAC 490, Chapters 1, 10 and 15). Persons who have decided to become an administrator must first meet or exceed those standards. Then, such interested persons would enroll in an appropriate training program for the license sought, either the Board’s in-house “Administrator University” (AU) for our Nursing Home Administrator (NHA) candidates, or through a Board approved program to become either a Residential Care (RC) or Residential Care/Assisted Living (RCAL) Administrator, or through the Board’s in-house class which prepares one to become an Adult Day Care Administrator. NHA candidates who have a properly accredited (NAB) degree (NAB is the National Association of Long Term Care Administrator Boards) may be permitted to bypass the AU requirement.       At present, some colleges/universities in Oklahoma have expressed interest in attaining the approved accreditation for that purpose.
• Administrator candidates are required to start the application process for the particular license desired and complete training prior to sitting for an examination. The Board will also examine their qualifications (i.e., education, character references, experience, background check, etc.) before licensure.

Administering Examinations

• All of the State Examinations include questions about the Board’s rules, specific to being a licensed administrator, and also include questions about Health Department statutes and rules that govern the type of facility(s) their particular administrator’s license would be valid for. For instance, the scope of practice for a NHA includes all of the facility types, and so does their examination. The NHA applicant would also be required to complete an AIT (Administrator-In-Training) program which is essentially an internship with a licensed administrator.
• Once applicants pass the State examination and have met all other requirements, applicants can be cleared to sit for the NAB Examinations (not all licenses currently require a NAB Examination), which are considered entry level examinations.
• NAB is an association of Boards from around the country, just like OSBELTCA, with the same role in other states. The association has a battery of examinations, prepared by representatives from all over the United States over a number of years, with four different examination types and a number of different exam forms. The “Core” examination covers “core administrator” knowledge items in the Domains of Practice, and there are 3 different “Line of Service” or “LOS” examination modules available for Board use, one each for NHA, RCAL and HCBS (Home and Community Based Services) license types.

Providing and Approving Training

• Concerning the ongoing concern of a licensees’ continued competency, the Board oversees “continuing education.”
• OSBELTCA has determined a minimum number of continuing education units (CEU’s) an administrator is required to attend each year to be able to maintain competency, the number of hours differing by license type.
• The Board audits licensed administrators (annually and at random) to assure that continuing education is being accomplished.
• OSBELTCA approves local programs for CEU’s and accepts programs approved through NAB’s rigid review process as well.

Enforcing Standards

• One of the most critical OSBELTCA committees is the Probable Cause Committee (PCC), addressing licensed administrators who are allegedly not performing up to standards. The Board may make the determination that an administrators’ leadership/management practices are such that they should no longer have a license (revoking a license) or they could fine the licensee and/or prescribe additional continuing  education to address a shortfall of knowledge. 
• Most often the Board finds an administrator may need more education, perhaps in a certain area, rather than have their license revoked or suspended. The Board is not necessarily a “punitive” body but rather would prefer to make corrections where necessary.
• Administrators also frequently contact the OSBELTCA office to seek advice and guidance.
• Ultimately, as the goal of the administrator should be to protect the residents in his/her care, that parallels this Board’s role in protecting the public in a more broad sense.

OSBELTCA and NAB

    OSBELTCA’s participation as a member of NAB ensures the association is providing what this Board, and others like it in other states, need and desire. The NAB performs an integral role in OSBELTCA’s examination process, the continuing education process, the training of our AITs and Preceptors and, through the NAB Foundation, relevant research projects are funded. OSBELTCA contributes to those processes at the national level. By pooling our resources with other small (unfunded/non-appropriated) agencies like ours around the country, we are able to utilize products and services offered by NAB – where this synergy makes all of our Boards better than we could be on our own. Our members contribute as item writers for the various examinations, review/approve continuing education programs, and have contributed significantly to the improvement of the exam study guide, the AIT and Preceptor tools NAB provides to all state Boards and AITs around the nation.

More details regarding HOW OSBELTCA fulfills its mission can be provided by contacting OSBELTCA staff or Board member.

OSBELTCA takes its role of protecting the public seriously and ensures that Oklahoma’s Long Term Care Administrators are suitable and qualified to serve and continue to serve in this profession.

It would be difficult to imagine the level of care one might see in our state’s long-term care facilities if there was not a body such as this, working together with our licensed administrators to protect the public.

OSBELTCA’s role IS essential to the health, safety and welfare of vulnerable Oklahoma citizens.