CNA Certification in Idaho — Requirements & Fees

Idaho Department of Health and Welfare (IDHW) — Licensing and Certification, Bureau of Facility Standards, Idaho Nurse Aide Program (the CNA Registry and the Nurse Aide Training and Competency Evaluation Program) administers certified nursing assistant licensing in Idaho. Every figure below is verified against the board’s own official pages and dated. Who must personally hold a credential — the contractor, the business, or the individual worker — is set out under Requirements.

What it’s called

Idaho’s own term is CERTIFIED NURSE ASSISTANT — assistant, not aide — and that is how the Department titles its program page, its registry and its forms. It uses ’nurse aide’ in the same breath for the federal-facing machinery: the Idaho Nurse Aide Program, the Idaho Nurse Aide Registry, the Nurse Aide Training and Competency Evaluation Program, the Idaho Nurse Aide Renewal Form. ‘Certified nursing assistant’ is the common national phrasing and appears in the state curriculum’s own vocabulary list. ‘CNA’ is the abbreviation Idaho uses throughout. WHAT IDAHO ISSUES IS A CERTIFICATE, NOT A LICENCE, and the Department says so in terms — CNAs ‘are considered Unlicensed Assistive Personnel (UAPs) and are not formally licensed’ — so ‘Idaho CNA license’ is a folk term and the Board of Nursing, which does issue licences, is not the CNA regulator. UAP is a real Idaho term of art with a Board of Nursing definition, and it covers more people than CNAs. NATCEP (Nurse Aide Training and Competency Evaluation Program) and IDCTE (Idaho Division of Career Technical Education) are the two acronyms a candidate meets first. ‘STNA’ is Ohio’s term and ‘GNA’ is Maryland’s; neither is Idaho’s.

License types & fees

Who does NOT need this license — exemptions

Idaho’s exceptions are exam-side waivers rather than permission to work uncertified, and the Department has narrowed one of them since the candidate bulletin was written. THE CHALLENGE ROUTE, AS THE DEPARTMENT DESCRIBES IT TODAY: ‘Who can challenge a CNA course and just take the CNA exam? Only nursing students can challenge the CNA exam. Federal regulation and Idaho CNA Registry policy states that criteria for challenging the CNA test includes the successful completion of one (1) semester of an accredited nursing school program as evidenced by a transcript of required nursing courses (not prerequisites.)’ The evidence must be specific: ‘you must submit an accredited nursing school transcript which verifies the applicant has successfully completed a basic nursing course, such as Nursing 101. Courses such as English, nutrition, human anatomy and physiology, etc., will not meet the criteria to challenge the CNA exam.’ An approved challenger receives ‘an “Approval to Test Letter” which will allow you to take the CNA exam which includes a skills and written test.’ WHO IS EXPRESSLY SHUT OUT: ‘I am a paramedic, EMT, former military medic or medical assistant. Can I challenge the CNA course requirements and just take the skills and written test to become a CNA? No. These training courses do not meet the Omnibus Reconciliation Act (OBRA) criteria in Idaho for what must covered in a CNA class.’ The candidate bulletin lists the same three exclusions — military training such as medic, emergency medical technician, and medical assistant. A BROADER CHALLENGE LIST APPEARS IN THE BULLETIN AND IS RECORDED AS SUCH: it says the Department will grant permission to challenge where qualifications are met, ‘These include, but are not limited to: Successful completion of one semester of an accredited nursing school program…; Successful completion of an approved Nurse Aide Training Program; Verification of expired status on another state’s nurse aide registry’, and invites anyone outside those guidelines to ‘submit your request to the Idaho Nurse Registry for a determination of testing eligibility.’ The Department’s current page says only nursing students may challenge; both are quoted rather than reconciled. OUT-OF-STATE TRAINING WITHOUT OUT-OF-STATE TESTING is its own path: a person who ‘completed a training program in another state but did not complete that state’s testing program and were not placed in that state’s Registry’ may test in Idaho on evidence that the training meets Idaho’s federal criteria, and must still meet Idaho’s six-month skills and one-year written deadlines. NO PUBLISHED WINDOW FOR WORKING BEFORE CERTIFICATION was found in any Idaho source read for this record — no provision allowing an untrained or untested person to work as a nurse aide for a fixed number of days appears on the Department’s Certified Nurse Assistant Registry page, its Skilled Nursing Provider Resources page and NATCEP FAQ, the 2021 curriculum, or the state-approved candidate bulletin. What the curriculum does say is the opposite: a course completion certificate ‘means only that the learner has successfully completed the nursing assistant course of study’, and passing both state exams is what makes a person a CNA.

Fees

THE STATE CHARGES NOTHING FOR THE CREDENTIAL ITSELF. The Department answers the question directly: ‘Is there a charge to renew my certification? No, at this time, there are no fees to process any forms or certifications with the Idaho Certified Nurse Aide Registry’, and the renewal form repeats it in capitals: ‘There is NO fee required to renew your CNA certification.’ The one Department-side charge found is for replacing paper: a duplicate certificate or replacement card is requested on the CNA Change Request Form and ‘There is a $15 processing fee for these actions.’ WHAT THE WRITTEN EXAM COSTS, AND A CONFLICT BETWEEN TWO VENDOR DOCUMENTS: the candidate bulletin lists ‘Written Exam $34 + testing site fees’ and ‘Oral Exam $34 + testing site fees’, while the Idaho Nurse Aide Testing Application prices them separately at ‘Written Exam $29’ and ‘Oral Exam $39’. Both are recorded and attributed; the application is the form the candidate completes at the test site and the bulletin is the older document. EITHER WAY THERE IS A SECOND CHARGE THE STATE DOES NOT SET: ‘There may be additional test administration fees charged by the training program’, and the bulletin says the same thing twice — ‘+ testing site fees’ and ‘Additional fees paid directly to the testing site will be required.’ Those amounts are set by each college or facility and are not published by the Department or the vendor. RESCHEDULING — ‘No fee if you reschedule up to five full working days before your test’ and ‘A full exam fee if you reschedule on the fourth business day or less prior to your appointment date’; a missed or late appointment costs the fee again. ‘Exam fees are nonrefundable and nontransferable. Fees will only be returned to candidates who are determined to be ineligible to test.’ Payment for the written exam is by Visa, American Express or MasterCard entered directly into the testing system. MANUAL SKILLS TEST FEES ARE NOT PUBLISHED ANYWHERE THIS RECORD COULD READ — the skills test is administered by the colleges rather than by the vendor, and neither the Department’s pages nor the vendor’s Idaho documents state what a college charges for it. NO RECIPROCITY FEE is stated on the Department’s reciprocity form or its FAQ, consistent with the Department’s blanket ’no fees to process any forms or certifications’ statement. OPTIONAL PRACTICE MATERIAL, required by nobody: the Nurse Aide Practice Exam ‘contains 50 questions. The fee for each practice exam is $10.’ TRAINING TUITION is set by the college, high school or facility running the program and is not published by the Department.

Exam

TWO TESTS, TAKEN IN A FIXED ORDER, WITH TWO DIFFERENT DEADLINES. MANUAL SKILLS TEST — administered by one of the six regional career-technical colleges or an approved registry-contractor site, using ‘approved procedures and testing scenarios’ from the current Rater Guidelines. Every graduate of a state-approved program ‘is allowed three (3) opportunities to pass the manual skills test’ and ‘is allowed six (6) months from program completion to pass the manual skills test.’ Identity is checked on the day ’through a visual check of a valid government issued picture ID at the testing site, by the exam rater.’ Fail three times and the course must be repeated: ‘If the manual skills test candidate is unsuccessful after three (3) attempts at the examination, he or she must successfully complete another nursing assistant program and successfully pass state testing to be placed on the Idaho Registry.’ An extension is possible but only for the skills side: ‘If the candidate has not exhausted all three (3) opportunities to test at six (6) months, he or she may request an extension from IDHW… The extension will not apply to the written exam.’ WRITTEN (KNOWLEDGE) TEST — computer-delivered at the training program, with a tutorial first and no computer experience needed. ‘The Written (Knowledge) exam consists of 60 multiple-choice questions that test your overall knowledge of information required as a nurse aide caring for nursing home residents. You will have 90 minutes to complete the exam.’ The score report prints immediately, pass or fail, and the pass rule is a total rather than a per-domain one: ‘To pass the Written or Oral exam, you must get an overall number of questions correct. It is not necessary to pass each content area. This makes it possible to have a fail in several of the content areas on the exam and still have an overall result of pass.’ No numeric passing score is published in any Idaho source read for this record. Three attempts, one year from program completion, and an extension available from the Department for cause. ORAL FORM — ‘The Written (Knowledge) exam may also be taken in an oral format. During an oral test, you will hear the questions read to you while reading and answering questions on the computer. You may replay questions as many times as needed’, and the state curriculum makes it a program obligation rather than a favour: ‘All students are provided an oral option for testing.’ The candidate selects it on the application. LANGUAGE — the examination is offered only in English; ‘Translators are not permitted and translation dictionaries may not be used during the exam administration’, with the oral format offered as the alternative for candidates with a reading disability, limited reading skills or English as a second language. IDENTIFICATION — a current government-issued photo identification plus a Social Security card or a Social Security Administration letter; the number is used as the primary identifier in the registry database. WHERE — testing is arranged with the training program, not with the vendor: ‘Your exam will be scheduled at your training program or the program assigned to you by Idaho Department of Health and Welfare. It is your responsibility to set up a test date and time directly with the training program’, and the application is brought to the test site rather than mailed: ‘Do not send this application to Prometric or the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare.’ ACCOMMODATIONS — requested in writing with the testing application and supporting documentation such as a physician’s or specialist’s letter on official letterhead, with ‘Fifteen days’ advance notice’ required and ’no additional charge for these accommodations.’ APPEALS — in writing within 60 days of the exam date, answered within 10 business days; ‘Faxed appeals will not be accepted because an original signature is required.’

Renewal & continuing education

Every 24 months, free, and renewed on documented paid work — with an Idaho twist that catches people out: THE NEW EXPIRY DATE IS MEASURED FROM THE LAST DAY WORKED, NOT FROM THE OLD EXPIRY DATE. The Department explains it with its own worked example: ‘Certificate expiration dates are based on your last day worked as a CNA, and calculated 24 months from that date. Federal regulations state CNAs must have performed eight (8) hours of paid nursing or nursing-related services during a 24 consecutive month period. For example, if the CNA’s certificate showed an expiration date of June 2026 and their last day worked was in June 2025, their renewed certificate would show an expiration date of June 2027 (24 months after the last day worked), not June 2028 (2 years after the expiration date).’ THE WORK TEST: ‘You must have worked a minimum of 8 hours as a paid CNA or in nursing-related services. Employment dates need to be prior to your CNA certification lapsing’, and the renewal form is blunt about what does not count: ‘Volunteer hours DO NOT count as hours towards renewing your certification.’ WHEN TO FILE: ‘You should renew during the month of your certification expiring. We recommend that you submit your renewal request at the beginning of the month it expires’, and the form’s own instruction is ‘Send your renewal form in the SAME month of expiration date.’ The candidate bulletin adds that ‘A renewal reminder will be mailed to you approximately 45 days prior to the expiration of your certification.’ HOW IT IS FILED: the aide completes the Idaho Nurse Aide Renewal Form and signs it ’to authorize your employer to release employment information to the Idaho Nurse Aide Registry’; the ‘CURRENT or MOST RECENT CNA, Home Health Aide, or Personal Care services EMPLOYER’ completes the verification block with start and end dates and signs. Personal-care work needs extra proof: ‘If you provided personal care services you MUST include proof of payment for your work (checks or paystubs) in addition to the employer signature.’ If the old employer will not sign, the Department accepts substitutes: ‘You must submit a copy of your W-2 or pay stub(s) with your employer’s information for the timeframe you are stating you worked as a CNA or performed nurse aide related work.’ Completed forms go by fax to (208) 334-6629, by email to [email protected] , or by post to the Idaho Nurse Aide Registry, Licensing and Certification–Bureau of Facility Standards, P.O. Box 83720, PTC 6th Floor, Boise ID 83720-0009. Employers may renew online through the vendor’s Employer Renewal Form. Confirmation depends on the channel: ‘If you emailed your renewal to the Idaho Nurse Aide Program, you will receive an email stating your renewal has been processed. If you submitted your renewal by fax or US mail, you will not receive confirmation of processing, however, you can check your status online at the CNA registry website.’ A CERTIFICATE CARRYING AN ABUSE FINDING CAN STILL BE RENEWED, but marked: ‘If a nurse aide with a substantiated complaint of abuse, neglect, or misappropriation of resident’s property applies for renewal of their certification, such certification may be processed. The new Idaho Nurse Aide Registry card for such a nurse aide shall be noted with the following: Prohibited to Work in a Medicare/Medicaid Facility under 42 CFR 483.156.’ IDAHO REQUIRES NO CONTINUING EDUCATION to renew a CNA certificate. Renewal turns on documented paid work and nothing else: the Department’s renewal instructions and its renewal form set out one condition — at least eight hours of paid CNA or nursing-related work in the 24-month period, verified by the employer — and no Idaho source read for this record adds a course, an in-service requirement or an hour count for the individual aide. Tiers searched on 2026-08-16: the Department’s Certified Nurse Assistant Registry page including its full renewal, reciprocity and testing FAQs; the Idaho Nurse Aide Renewal Form (revised 9.7.2023); the Idaho Reciprocity Form (revised 9.07.2023); the Department’s Skilled Nursing Provider Resources page and its NATCEP FAQ; the Idaho Nursing Assistant 2021 Curriculum in full, including its ‘IDAHO CNA RE-CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS’ section — which contains no hour requirement at all and simply directs instructors and students to contact the Idaho CNA Registry; and the state-approved candidate bulletin. THE ONE RECURRING EDUCATION DUTY FOUND IN THESE SOURCES FALLS ON INSTRUCTORS, NOT ON AIDES, and it is a recommendation rather than a rule: ‘IDCTE recommends that the regional career-technical college/university offer eight (8) hours of annual continuing education related to nursing assistant education or practice for instructors needing to maintain a CTE occupational specialist teaching certificate’, and manual skills raters ‘must meet Primary Instructor requirements and attend annual training.’ Nothing in this record claims that Idaho employers are free of the separate federal in-service obligations that apply to nursing facilities; those bind the facility rather than the certificate, and no Idaho source read addresses them.

How to apply

Applications are handled by Idaho Department of Health and Welfare (IDHW) — Licensing and Certification, Bureau of Facility Standards, Idaho Nurse Aide Program (the CNA Registry and the Nurse Aide Training and Competency Evaluation Program). Start at the official application page .

Verify a license in Idaho

Prometric, as the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare’s registry contractor — the state curriculum defines the role as ‘an independent vendor contracted to oversee the operation and management of the Idaho Nurse Aid Registry’ publishes a public license search , searchable by Social Security number with date of birth (both required together), Certificate number, Name — first name, middle name and last name, with date of birth (MM/DD/YYYY) or Employer Code (optional, and only for registered employers: ‘If you are an employer, you should enter your employer identifier in order to receive credit for the search’). It covers Idaho CNA registry status. The Department links it from its own Certified Nurse Assistant Registry page as the ‘Idaho State Nurse Aide Registry’ and tells aides to use it to check renewal status and expiry: ‘you can check your status online at the CNA registry website.’ The registry ‘contains information on whether an individual has a current CNA certificate’, and ‘Employers are required to verify currency of a CNA’s certificate at the time of employment and upon renewal.’ It is also where a substantiated abuse, neglect or misappropriation finding shows, and where the notation ‘Prohibited to Work in a Medicare/Medicaid Facility under 42 CFR 483.156’ would appear on a renewed certificate. THE DEPARTMENT CHANGED HOW THE LOOKUP WORKS AND SAYS SO ON ITS OWN PAGE: ‘Changes to use of CNA verification activities: Social Security numbers are masked upon entry for search; Date of birth is now required when requesting a search by Social Security number; Captcha is now required.’ PRACTICAL LIMITS: that security check has to be completed by hand before the search boxes unlock, so the lookup cannot be checked automatically and must be used in a normal web browser, and results come from submitting the form, so a result cannot be bookmarked or linked to. The field list above was read from the live search form’s own inputs as of August 16, 2026. Idaho is the only state in this cluster whose lookup offers a Social Security number search at all, which is why the date-of-birth pairing and the masking matter.

Records come from Prometric, as the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare’s registry contractor — the state curriculum defines the role as ‘an independent vendor contracted to oversee the operation and management of the Idaho Nurse Aid Registry’’s own system. LicensingAtlas does not hold license records and cannot confirm any individual’s status — the date on this page refers to the requirements described above, not to anyone’s credential.