CNA Requirements in Montana — Training, Exam & Registry

How to become a CNA in Montana: the Headmaster competency exam — verified from Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services (DPHHS).

Source-verified

Requirements below are drawn from Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services (DPHHS), Office of Inspector General — Certification Bureau, Montana Nurse Aide Registry (PO Box 202953, Helena MT 59620-2953; (406) 444-4980; [email protected]). NOT the Board of Nursing, and Montana's licensing department says so in its own words: 'The Montana Department of Labor & Industry's Professional Boards & Licensing Program does not regulate or issue certifications/licenses for Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs). CNAs in Montana are credentialed by the Montana Department of Health and Human Services (DPHHS).' The competency examination is contracted out — 'The Montana Department of Health and Human Services has approved Headmaster, LLP to provide tests and scoring services for Montana nurse aide testing' — and the certificate itself is issued by DPHHS after a separate application. (official site) and last verified August 16, 2026. Boards change fees and rules often — confirm before acting.

Requirements at a glance

What the credential is: MONTANA ISSUES A CERTIFICATE, AND A HEALTH DEPARTMENT — NOT A NURSING BOARD — ISSUES IT. The clearest statement comes from the agency that does NOT do it: 'The Montana Department of Labor & Industry's Professional Boards & Licensing Program does not regulate or issue certifications/licenses for Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs). CNAs in Montana are credentialed by the Montana Department of Health and Human Services (DPHHS). In order to be certified, nurse aides must pass a state competency evaluation and successfully perform all expected nurse aide duties in a training or employment capacity.' DPHHS runs it through the Certification Bureau in the Office of Inspector General as the Montana Nurse Aide Registry, and the state-linked candidate handbook draws the line between the two organisations sharply: the testing contractor 'does not issue certification', and 'Certification is issued by the Montana Department of Health and Human Services (DPHH) after you have completed all requirements.' WHAT YOU END UP WITH is a certificate with a number and an expiration date, findable in a public registry search by name or certificate number, under one of two licence types: 'Certified Nurse Aide' or 'CNA Home Health Aide Endorsement.'
Everything is filed online, and paper is dead: 'All Certified Nurse Aide Applications are now online through the BOUNDS portal. PDF and paper applications are no longer accepted' (DPHHS). The same applies to renewals: 'All renewals must now be completed online through the portal. Renewals will not be accepted by email.' The portal's own application list offers four reasons to apply — CNA by Montana Exam, CNA Interstate Endorsement (reciprocity), Montana Nursing Student, and Name Change for CNA. Accounts are individual: 'Accounts are unique for each CNA and require an individual email address per CNA.' To create one you need 'your name as listed on your certificate and your certificate number', and if you do not know the number DPHHS tells you to look it up in the public registry search first. DPHHS also warns that older routes no longer count — anyone who 'previously applied for Interstate Endorsement by email or using the access.gov form' and cannot find themselves in the online verification 'must reapply using the BOUNDS portal', and the same applies to nursing-student applicants and to anyone who tested and passed after May 5, 2022 but does not appear in the registry.
Training program approval: A Montana nurse aide training program is approved by the Certification Bureau on an application that includes the program coordinator, clinical instructor and any supplemental instructor applications, a copy of the curriculum or textbook, a class schedule, and a completed Core Curriculum Requirements Checklist on which the program must state 'the week the requirement will be taught and the corresponding chapter of the curriculum/textbook.' DPHHS gives itself time: 'The Certification Bureau has 90 days to respond to your application.' NOTE WHAT THE FORM DOES NOT DO: it asks the applicant to fill in 'Classroom Hours: ______ Clinical Hours: ______' rather than prescribing a number — see training_hours.
The 16 hours before resident contact: Montana's own Core Curriculum Requirements document ends with a standing instruction: 'Newly hired, uncertified nurse aides must receive 16 hours of classroom training prior to being assigned to resident care covering the following topics: a. Communication & interpersonal skills; b. Fostering independence; c. Residents' rights (including Montana law); d. Safety (fire, disaster, ambulation and transfer techniques); e. Basic infection control (hand washing/gloving, concept of clean vs dirty, linen handling, handling dishware/utensils, cleaning & disinfection, etc.).' The federal rule DPHHS publishes says the same thing in its own words at 42 C.F.R. 483.152(b)(1).
What the curriculum has to cover: DPHHS publishes a twelve-part Nurse Aide/Home Health Aide Core Curriculum Requirements list, and two of its items are Montana-specific rather than federal: residents' rights must include 'Montana residents' rights', and the abuse module must include the 'Montana Elder Abuse Act'. The twelve areas are the role and responsibility of the nurse aide in long term care; basic rights and needs; communication; the resident's physical environment; personal care of the resident; resident safety and emergency care; death and dying; nutrition and fluid balance; prevention and control of infection; personality and behavior; basic anatomy and physiology; and meeting the needs of special residents. CPR appears once, and as an option rather than a duty: 'CPR (recommended, not mandatory).'
Testing deadline after training: 'You have three (3) attempts to pass the competency exam's knowledge and skills test portions within six (6) months from your date of nurse aide training program completion. After six months, your training expires, and you are no longer eligible to test based on this training cycle' (state-linked candidate handbook). That six-month window is markedly shorter than the 24-month window several other states allow.
Challenging the exam without a training program: Montana allows it once and only once. 'Candidates who have not completed an MT DPHHS-approved training program may challenge the state exam one time without training. If the candidate passes the state exam, they qualify to apply for nurse aide certification.' Failing any part closes the route: 'If you are a challenge candidate who has challenged the state exam and failed any portion of the exam (knowledge or skills), you will not be allowed to retest until you have completed an MT DPHHS-approved training program.' DPHHS routes the request to the contractor — 'To challenge the CNA exams, please contact Headmaster at (406) 442-8656' — and the challenge application is filed in the testing system.

Legal basis

Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services (DPHHS), Office of Inspector General — Certification Bureau, Montana Nurse Aide Registry (PO Box 202953, Helena MT 59620-2953; (406) 444-4980; [email protected] ). NOT the Board of Nursing, and Montana’s licensing department says so in its own words: ‘The Montana Department of Labor & Industry’s Professional Boards & Licensing Program does not regulate or issue certifications/licenses for Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs). CNAs in Montana are credentialed by the Montana Department of Health and Human Services (DPHHS).’ The competency examination is contracted out — ‘The Montana Department of Health and Human Services has approved Headmaster, LLP to provide tests and scoring services for Montana nurse aide testing’ — and the certificate itself is issued by DPHHS after a separate application. administers certified nursing assistant licensing in Montana. 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

MONTANA’S OWN TERM IS CERTIFIED NURSE AIDE, ABBREVIATED CNA, and that is the licence-type name in the public registry search and the phrase DPHHS uses throughout (‘Montana Certified Nurse Aide Registry’, ‘Montana CNA by Exam Application’). ‘Certified Nursing Assistant’ is used interchangeably by the Board of Nursing when disclaiming the credential, and ’nurse aide’ is DPHHS’s term for the training side (‘Nurse Aide Training Program’, ‘Montana Nurse Aide Registry’). WHAT MONTANA ISSUES IS A CERTIFICATE, NOT A LICENCE — and this is the one state where the distinction is settled by the licensing agency itself refusing ownership: the Department of Labor & Industry ‘does not regulate or issue certifications/licenses for Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs).’ THREE MONTANA-SPECIFIC NAMES TO KEEP APART: CNA HOME HEALTH AIDE ENDORSEMENT, a second licence type in the same registry, added to an existing Montana CNA and never endorsed in from another state; MEDICATION AIDE I and MEDICATION AIDE II, which the Montana Board of Nursing licenses in the Department of Labor & Industry, not DPHHS; and PAID FEEDING ASSISTANT, a facility-trained federal role with no registry entry. BOUNDS is the name of the DPHHS application and verification PORTAL, not of the credential; TMU (TestMaster Universe) is the testing contractor’s software; NATP means Nurse Aide Training Program — the school, not the worker. DPHHS also publishes the registry under the short address cna.mt.gov.

License types & fees

Type	Notes	Who Its For
Certified Nurse Aide (CNA) — by Montana examination	Passing the exam is not the finish line — the certificate takes a separate application. DPHHS: 'Those that have completed an approved Montana Nurse Aide Training Program and successfully passed the Montana Certified Nurse Aide exams or those that have challenged and successfully passed the Montana Certified Nurse Aide exams, administered by D&S Diversified Technologies (Headmaster), must complete an online BOUNDS Montana CNA by Exam Application... Once the Certification Bureau receives your passing results from D&S Diversified Technologies, the application will be processed and you will be placed on the Montana Certified Nurse Aide Registry.' The state-linked candidate handbook makes the division of labour explicit: results go to DPHHS electronically, but 'Certification is issued by the Montana Department of Health and Human Services (DPHH) after you have completed all requirements', and a certification number appears 'approximately 10-14 days after successfully submitting your Certified Nurse Aide Application.'	A person who has completed a DPHHS-approved Montana nurse aide training program and passed both parts of the Montana competency exam, or who has challenged and passed those exams without a training program.
Certified Nurse Aide — by interstate endorsement	'Those with a current Certified Nurse Aide (CNA) registration in at least one US State or Territory can apply for Interstate Endorsement in Montana' (DPHHS). It is filed in the BOUNDS portal and DPHHS describes it as 'a two step process' — create and activate the portal account from the emailed link, then complete the endorsement application — and 'You must enter at least one, current Certified Nurse Aide (CNA) number.'	Anyone holding a current CNA registration in at least one US state or territory.
Certified Nurse Aide — Montana nursing student route	'Those students attending a Montana University or College in the Nursing Program that have completed the required course listed below may apply as a CNA. A copy of the official transcript sent from the school must also be received.' DPHHS publishes the qualifying course school by school — for example NRSG130 Fundamentals of Nursing at Aaniih Nakoda College, NU201 Fundamentals & Health Promotion at Carroll College, NRSG234 Adult Nursing I at Miles Community College, NRSG116 Introduction to Professional Nursing or NRSG327/NRSG328 Foundations of Nursing Care and Lab at Montana State Bozeman, NRSG210 Foundations of Professional Nursing at Montana Tech, NSGD221 Foundation of Nursing or NURS305 Nursing Theory at Salish Kootenai, and NSRG313 Nursing Practice Fundamentals at the University of Providence. Transcripts go to [email protected].	A student in a nursing program at a Montana university or college who has completed the specific course DPHHS names for that school.
CNA Home Health Aide Endorsement — an add-on to the Montana CNA, and it cannot be endorsed in from another state	DPHHS is unusually blunt about the closed door: 'The Montana Nurse Aide Registry does not accept Home Health Aide Interstate Endorsements. In order to receive a Home Health Aide Endorsement, you must first have a Montana Certified Nurse Aide Certificate and then take the additional Home Health Aide training through a Montana Home Health provider. Upon completion of the training, the Home Health provider will email the Montana Home Health Aide Endorsement Application and Montana Home Health Aide Skills Competency Checklist to [email protected].' The endorsement is a separate licence type in the public registry search. Montana's Nurse Aide/Home Health Aide core curriculum adds five home-specific topics: use of ambulation equipment in the home, home transfer and ambulation techniques, home safety measures, care and disposal of contaminated supplies in the home, and home management and homemaking.	A Montana CNA who has completed additional home health aide training through a Montana home health provider.
Paid feeding assistant — a separate, facility-approved role, not covered by this record	'The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services has determined that paid feeding assistants may be used to supplement the services of certified nurse aides under certain conditions... Feeding assistants must successfully complete a state approved training program to work under the supervision of a registered or licensed practical nurse.' Facilities submit their curriculum, instructors and testing materials to the Certification Bureau at [email protected], and after approval train against a DPHHS-published Feeding Assistant Skills Competency Checklist, with 'Verification of competency must be filed in the trainee's personnel or training file.' The federal minimum is 8 hours.	Named because DPHHS approves the programs from the same Certification Bureau page.
Medication Aide I and Medication Aide II — licensed by a different Montana agency	The Montana Board of Nursing, inside the Department of Labor & Industry, licenses Medication Aide I and Medication Aide II and lists them alongside LPN, RN and APRN — while stating on the same site that it does not certify CNAs. So in Montana the nurse aide credential and the medication aide credential come from different departments. This record documents the CNA only.	Named because Montana splits these credentials across two agencies, which is the single most confusing thing about the state's system.

Who does NOT need this license — exemptions

MONTANA PUBLISHES ROUTES AROUND THE TRAINING PROGRAM RATHER THAN EXEMPTIONS FROM THE CREDENTIAL. (1) THE CHALLENGE ROUTE waives training but not the examination, and it is a single use: ‘Candidates who have not completed an MT DPHHS-approved training program may challenge the state exam one time without training. If the candidate passes the state exam, they qualify to apply for nurse aide certification.’ Fail any part and ‘you will not be allowed to retest until you have completed an MT DPHHS-approved training program.’ (2) THE MONTANA NURSING STUDENT ROUTE waives both training and, on its face, the examination: a student in a nursing program at a named Montana college or university who has completed that school’s listed fundamentals-of-nursing course ‘may apply as a CNA’ on submission of an official transcript sent by the school to [email protected] . (3) INTERSTATE ENDORSEMENT waives Montana training and testing for anyone with a current CNA registration in at least one US state or territory. (4) NEWLY HIRED, UNCERTIFIED NURSE AIDES may work before certification, but not before training begins: Montana’s core curriculum document requires 16 hours of classroom training ‘prior to being assigned to resident care’, and the federal rule DPHHS publishes gives a facility four months from the date of employment to have the aide complete an approved program. (5) PAID FEEDING ASSISTANTS are outside the credential entirely — a facility-trained role under 42 C.F.R. 483.160 with an 8-hour minimum course, working under the supervision of a registered or licensed practical nurse. WHAT IS NOT WAIVABLE: a finding of abuse, neglect or misappropriation entered by the state survey agency, which under the federal rules DPHHS publishes ‘must remain in the registry permanently’ subject only to error, acquittal or death. SCOPE — no Montana source read on 2026-08-16 states a general statutory prohibition on unlisted persons doing aide work outside Medicare- and Medicaid-certified long-term care facilities, and this record claims none. The Administrative Rules of Montana, which is where such a provision would live, could not be read at any address on that date.

Fees

MONTANA’S PUBLISHED CANDIDATE COSTS ARE EXAMINATION FEES, CHARGED BY DPHHS’S TESTING CONTRACTOR. The state-linked candidate handbook publishes the table: ‘Knowledge Exam or Retake $20; Audio Knowledge Exam or Retake $31; Skill Exam or Retake $77’ — so a candidate taking both parts pays $97, which is the total the handbook’s own worked example shows (‘20.00 / 77.00 / $97.00’). Payment is by Visa or MasterCard inside the testing system, and ‘Testing fees must be paid before you can schedule a test date’; some training programs prepay for their graduates. A retake is charged again at the same rate. NO DPHHS FEE IS PUBLISHED for the certificate itself, for interstate endorsement, for the nursing-student route, for a name change, or for renewal: the Montana Nurse Aide Registry page describes every one of those as an online application with no charge stated, and the federal rule the registry is built on forbids charging for the registration — ‘The State may not impose any charges related to registration on individuals listed in the registry’ (42 C.F.R. 483.156(b)(4)), a provision DPHHS reproduces in its own Federal and State Regulations for CNAs document. TRAINING TUITION is not a state price and DPHHS publishes none; the approved-program list is published as a spreadsheet of programs, not of prices. A test review request and an RN Test Observer application exist in the testing system as separate paid items on the contractor’s side; neither is a cost of becoming certified. THE HONEST LIMIT OF THIS FIELD: DPHHS publishes no fee schedule of its own on any page read on 2026-08-16, so the absence of a state fee is inferred from the absence of any published charge plus the federal prohibition, not from a Montana sentence saying ’no fee’.

Exam

TWO PARTS, BOTH REQUIRED: ‘There are two parts to the nurse aide competency examination— a multiple-choice, knowledge/oral test, and a skill test. Exam candidates must be registered, complete approved training, pass both parts of the exam, and meet all other Montana Department of Health and Human Services requirements.’ KNOWLEDGE — ‘You will have a maximum of ninety (90) minutes to complete the 72-question multiple-choice Knowledge/Audio Exam’, with a warning at fifteen minutes remaining, and ‘You must have a 75% or better score to pass the knowledge portion of the exam.’ The published Montana blueprint distributes those 72 questions as: Basic Nursing Skills 11, Infection Control 11, Safety 8, Personal Care 7, Communication 6, Care Impaired 5, Disease Process 5, Resident Rights 5, Role and Responsibility 5, Mental Health 4, Data Collection 3, Older Adult Growth & Development 2. An AUDIO version is available for an extra fee, and for a knowledge RETAKE only Montana offers a remotely proctored option taken from home. SKILLS — ‘You will be allowed a maximum of thirty-five (35) minutes to complete your tasks. After 20 minutes have elapsed, you will be alerted that fifteen (15) minutes remain.’ Three or four tasks are assigned, each introduced by a scenario read aloud by the RN Test Observer, and the personal care tasks noted in the handbook are demonstrated on a manikin. The pass rule is two-part and strict: ‘You must correctly perform all of the key (critical) steps and 80% of all non-key steps on each task assigned to pass the Skill Test’, restated as ‘You must score 80% or better on each task without missing any key (critical) steps.’ A candidate who realises they have made a mistake may say so and redo the step within the time allowed. ATTEMPTS — three, inside a six-month window from training completion; after six months ‘your training expires, and you are no longer eligible to test based on this training cycle.’ A challenge candidate gets one attempt at the whole exam and, on failing any part, must complete an approved training program before retesting. RESULTS — ‘Official test results will be available by signing in to your TMU© account after 6:00PM (MT) the business day after your test event.’ A retake must be paid for again before a new date can be scheduled.

Renewal & continuing education

RENEWAL IS ONLINE ONLY, MAY BE FILED FROM 90 DAYS BEFORE EXPIRY, AND IS PROCESSED WITHOUT HUMAN REVIEW. DPHHS: ‘All renewals must now be completed online through the portal. Renewals will not be accepted by email. Certificates are able to renewed starting 90 days prior to expiration. Renewals completed through the BOUNDS portal are processed automatically. To verify your renewal, use the online verification.’ Getting into the portal is itself a step: ‘To renew your current Montana certificate you will need to create a BOUNDS portal account. Accounts are unique for each CNA and require an individual email address per CNA. If an email address was previously on file, an email invite to the portal has been sent. If you did not get an email, please go to the CNA Portal Registry Form’, which asks for first name, last name, date of birth and registry number and then finds the profile. Creating the account requires ‘your name as listed on your certificate and your certificate number’, and DPHHS points anyone who does not know the number to the public registry search. WHAT DPHHS DOES NOT PUBLISH, AND THIS RECORD WILL NOT INVENT: the length of the certificate term and the work requirement that has to be met to renew are not stated on the Montana Nurse Aide Registry page, in the Core Curriculum Requirements, in the Nurse Aide Training Program Application, or in the Montana Nurse Aide Candidate Handbook, which is a testing document and does not address renewal at all — all read on 2026-08-16. The Administrative Rules of Montana, where such a rule would sit, could not be read at any address on that date. WHAT IS CERTAIN IS THE FEDERAL FRAME, which DPHHS itself publishes: a state ‘must determine which individuals… do not qualify to remain on the registry because they have performed no nursing or nursing-related services for a period of 24 consecutive months’, and ‘The registry must remove entries for individuals who have performed no nursing or nursing-related services for a period of 24 consecutive months, unless the individual’s registry entry includes documented findings of abuse, neglect, or misappropriation of property’ (42 C.F.R. 483.156(b)(3), (c)(2)). Anyone renewing in Montana should confirm the current term and work requirement with the Nurse Aide Registry at (406) 444-4980 or [email protected] before relying on a figure from anywhere else. NO CONTINUING-EDUCATION REQUIREMENT FOR THE MONTANA CNA CERTIFICATE WAS FOUND IN ANY MONTANA SOURCE READ ON 2026-08-16, and this record therefore states none rather than guessing at one. The tiers searched: the DPHHS Montana Nurse Aide Registry page including its renewal section; the DPHHS CNA/HHA Training Program Core Curriculum Requirements; the DPHHS Nurse Aide Training Program Application; the DPHHS Federal and State Regulations for CNAs document in full; the Montana Nurse Aide Candidate Handbook (February 2025, version 6) in full; the Montana Board of Nursing’s CNA page; and the BOUNDS portal’s own application and renewal pages. The federal frame the registry sits inside conditions continued listing on paid nursing work rather than on education. NOTE THE ONE MONTANA CONTEXT WHERE CONTINUING EDUCATION IS REAL AND IS NOT THIS: the Montana Board of Nursing runs a continuing-education scheme for the credentials it does issue — LPN, RN, APRN and the two Medication Aide licences — and publishes its own continuing-education guidance. That has no bearing on the DPHHS-issued CNA certificate. The Administrative Rules of Montana could not be read at any address on 2026-08-16, so this is a searched-and-not-found rather than an exhaustive negative; a reader who needs certainty should ask the Nurse Aide Registry directly.

How to apply

Applications are handled by Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services (DPHHS), Office of Inspector General — Certification Bureau, Montana Nurse Aide Registry (PO Box 202953, Helena MT 59620-2953; (406) 444-4980; [email protected] ). NOT the Board of Nursing, and Montana’s licensing department says so in its own words: ‘The Montana Department of Labor & Industry’s Professional Boards & Licensing Program does not regulate or issue certifications/licenses for Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs). CNAs in Montana are credentialed by the Montana Department of Health and Human Services (DPHHS).’ The competency examination is contracted out — ‘The Montana Department of Health and Human Services has approved Headmaster, LLP to provide tests and scoring services for Montana nurse aide testing’ — and the certificate itself is issued by DPHHS after a separate application.. Start at the official application page .

Verify a license in Montana

Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services — the BOUNDS portal, built by Jump Technology Services. DPHHS links it from its own registry page as ‘Nurse Aide Registry Online Verification’ and ‘BOUNDS Provider Search’, and the Montana Board of Nursing points to the same address for checking a CNA. publishes a public license search , searchable by first name (required), middle name, last name (required), city, ZIP code, certificate number, licence type — Certified Nurse Aide or CNA Home Health Aide Endorsement or a ‘I am not a robot’ check the searcher must clear before the form will submit. It covers Montana Certified Nurse Aide certificates and CNA Home Health Aide Endorsements. The field list above was read from the live search form itself rather than from a description of it, and the licence-type menu is what distinguishes the two Montana credentials in one lookup. DPHHS treats this search as the answer to several questions at once: it is how a candidate finds the certificate number needed to create a portal account (‘If you do you not know your certificate number, search the Montana Registry’), how a renewal is confirmed (‘To verify your renewal, use the online verification’), and how anyone who applied through an older channel checks whether they were ever actually listed. A LIMITATION READERS SHOULD KNOW: first and last name are required fields, so the tool cannot be browsed by city or by certificate number alone; the search sits behind an automated-traffic check that a person has to clear before the form will submit; and results are returned by submitting the form rather than at their own web address, so an individual record cannot be linked to or bookmarked. Between the two, no automated check can reach this lookup at all - a person in a browser is unaffected. The portal is hosted on a vendor address rather than a Montana state one, though DPHHS is the operator of record.

Records come from Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services — the BOUNDS portal, built by Jump Technology Services. DPHHS links it from its own registry page as ‘Nurse Aide Registry Online Verification’ and ‘BOUNDS Provider Search’, and the Montana Board of Nursing points to the same address for checking a CNA.’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.

Frequently asked questions

Who issues the CNA certificate in Montana — the Board of Nursing or the health department?

The health department, and Montana’s licensing department says so itself: ‘The Montana Department of Labor & Industry’s Professional Boards & Licensing Program does not regulate or issue certifications/licenses for Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs). CNAs in Montana are credentialed by the Montana Department of Health and Human Services (DPHHS).’ The Certification Bureau inside the DPHHS Office of Inspector General runs the Montana Nurse Aide Registry. The Board of Nursing does license Medication Aide I and Medication Aide II, which is why the two get confused — in Montana those are a different credential from a different department.

How many training hours does Montana require for a CNA?

Montana does not publish a number of its own — its Nurse Aide Training Program Application asks each program to fill in its own classroom and clinical hours rather than giving it a target. What applies is the federal floor, which DPHHS publishes itself in its ‘Federal and State Regulations for CNAs’ document: a program must ‘Consist of no less than 75 clock hours of training’ and ‘Include at least 16 hours of supervised practical training.’ Montana adds content requirements instead of hour requirements: a twelve-part core curriculum that must include Montana residents’ rights and the Montana Elder Abuse Act, plus 16 hours of classroom training that a newly hired, uncertified aide must have before being assigned to resident care. Ask the specific program for its hour count.

What is on the Montana CNA exam?

Two parts. The knowledge exam is 72 multiple-choice questions with ‘a maximum of ninety (90) minutes to complete’, and ‘You must have a 75% or better score to pass.’ Items come from a DPHHS-approved Montana test plan, weighted most heavily toward basic nursing skills and infection control (11 questions each) and safety (8). The skills test runs a maximum of 35 minutes over three or four tasks, each introduced by a scenario read aloud, and the pass rule is strict on both counts: ‘You must correctly perform all of the key (critical) steps and 80% of all non-key steps on each task assigned.’ An audio version of the knowledge exam is available, and a knowledge retake can be taken remotely proctored from home.

What does the Montana CNA exam cost?

$97 for both parts. The state-linked candidate handbook publishes the components: ‘Knowledge Exam or Retake $20; Audio Knowledge Exam or Retake $31; Skill Exam or Retake $77.’ Fees are paid by card before you can schedule a date, and a retake must be paid for again. DPHHS itself publishes no fee for the certificate, for interstate endorsement, for the nursing-student route or for renewal — and the federal rule the registry runs under provides that ‘The State may not impose any charges related to registration on individuals listed in the registry.’

How many times can you take the Montana CNA exam?

Three, and the window is only six months. ‘You have three (3) attempts to pass the competency exam’s knowledge and skills test portions within six (6) months from your date of nurse aide training program completion. After six months, your training expires, and you are no longer eligible to test based on this training cycle.’ That is much tighter than the 24 months several other states allow. Challenge candidates are different again — one attempt at the whole exam, and failing any part means completing an approved training program before retesting.

Do you get your Montana certificate automatically when you pass?

No, and this catches people out. The testing contractor sends your results to DPHHS electronically, but ‘D&SDT-Headmaster does not issue certification.’ You must file a separate Montana CNA by Exam Application in the state’s BOUNDS portal; then ‘Certification is issued by the Montana Department of Health and Human Services (DPHH) after you have completed all requirements’, with a certification number appearing ‘approximately 10-14 days after successfully submitting your Certified Nurse Aide Application.’ DPHHS specifically warns anyone who tested and passed after May 5, 2022 and cannot find themselves in the registry that they still need to complete the application.

How do you renew a Montana CNA certificate?

Online, and only online. ‘All renewals must now be completed online through the portal. Renewals will not be accepted by email. Certificates are able to renewed starting 90 days prior to expiration. Renewals completed through the BOUNDS portal are processed automatically.’ You need a portal account, one per person with its own email address, created using your name as it appears on the certificate plus your certificate number — which you can look up in the public registry search if you do not have it. DPHHS does not publish the certificate term or the work requirement for renewal on any of its nurse aide pages, so confirm those with the Nurse Aide Registry at (406) 444-4980 or [email protected] rather than relying on a figure from elsewhere.

Can you transfer a CNA certification to Montana from another state?

Yes, through interstate endorsement, and the entry condition is broad: ‘Those with a current Certified Nurse Aide (CNA) registration in at least one US State or Territory can apply for Interstate Endorsement in Montana.’ It is a two-step online filing — create the portal account, activate it from the emailed link, then complete the endorsement application — and ‘You must enter at least one, current Certified Nurse Aide (CNA) number.’ No fee is published. If you applied by email or through the old access.gov form and cannot find yourself in the online verification, DPHHS says you must reapply through the portal.

Can a home health aide from another state transfer to Montana?

Not as a home health aide. Montana is explicit: ‘The Montana Nurse Aide Registry does not accept Home Health Aide Interstate Endorsements.’ The route is to obtain a Montana Certified Nurse Aide certificate first, then take additional home health aide training through a Montana home health provider — after which the provider, not the aide, emails the Home Health Aide Endorsement Application and the Skills Competency Checklist to DPHHS. The endorsement then appears as its own licence type in the public registry.

Can a Montana nursing student become a CNA without the course?

Yes, if the school and the course are on Montana’s list. ‘Those students attending a Montana University or College in the Nursing Program that have completed the required course listed below may apply as a CNA’, with an official transcript sent by the school to [email protected] . DPHHS publishes the qualifying course for each institution — for instance NRSG130 Fundamentals of Nursing at Aaniih Nakoda College and Flathead Valley Community College, NU201 at Carroll College, NRSG234 Adult Nursing I at Miles Community College, NRSG210 Foundations of Professional Nursing at Montana Tech, and NSRG313 Nursing Practice Fundamentals at the University of Providence. Applicants who used the older email or access.gov route and do not appear in the registry must reapply through the portal.

Can you take the Montana CNA exam without taking a course?

Once. ‘Candidates who have not completed an MT DPHHS-approved training program may challenge the state exam one time without training. If the candidate passes the state exam, they qualify to apply for nurse aide certification.’ Failing any portion ends that option: ‘you will not be allowed to retest until you have completed an MT DPHHS-approved training program.’ DPHHS directs challenge requests to the testing contractor at (406) 442-8656.

See every license and certification LicensingAtlas covers in Montana.

Sources & verification

Last verified against these sources: August 16, 2026.

We re-fetch every cited source on a weekly schedule: see what changed at the agencies, or every correction we have ever made.

LicensingAtlas states licensing and certification requirements categorically from official sources. It is a reference, not legal or career advice, and requirements change frequently — confirm details with the issuing board before you act.