CNA Requirements in West Virginia — Training, Exam & Registry

How to become a CNA in West Virginia: a 120-hour state training minimum — verified from official sources.

Source-verified

Requirements below are drawn from West Virginia Office of Health Facility Licensure and Certification (OHFLAC) — Nurse Aide Program (NAP). OHFLAC is now defined by rule as 'The West Virginia Office of Health Facility Licensure and Certification within the Office of Inspector General' (71 CSR 18-2.13), and the Nurse Aide Program is 'The program within the Office of Health Facility Licensure and Certification (OHFLAC) responsible for oversight of the nurse aide training and competency evaluation programs throughout the state and maintenance of the Nurse Aide registries including the Nurse Aide Abuse and Neglect Registry' (71 CSR 18-2.12). No board of nursing is involved: West Virginia's Board of Examiners for Registered Professional Nurses and its LPN board license nurses, while OHFLAC runs the aide registry, approves the training programs, contracts the testing vendor and decides abuse and neglect findings. Nurse Aide/AMAP Programs office: 1 Players Club Dr., Suite 301, Charleston, WV 25311; (304) 558-0050; [email protected]. (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: West Virginia REGISTERS nurse aides — there is no licence, no board certificate and no state-issued certification card. The status is the registry entry, and the registry is defined by what it contains: 'This registry includes identification of individuals who have successfully completed and passed the nurse aide training and/or completed competency evaluation program with a passing score' (OHFLAC Nurse Aide Program Policy Manual). Entry happens one of three ways, and OHFLAC lists them exactly: 'An individual can become eligible for inclusion on the registry by 1) successful completion of the competency evaluation; 2) RN/LPN challenge; or 3) by reciprocity from another state. All training must be done in the United States.' THE OPERATOR IS A HEALTH-FACILITY REGULATOR, NOT A NURSING BOARD. OHFLAC sits inside the Office of Inspector General, and the same rule that defines the abuse registry assigns enforcement: 'This rule is enforced by the Inspector General. The Inspector General designates the director of the Office of Health Facility Licensure and Certification to enforce the provisions of this rule' (71 CSR 18-1.7). The federal parentage is stated plainly: 'The NATCEP was established under the federal Omnibus Reconciliation Act (OBRA) of 1987, 1990, and 1999. This Act requires states to establish a NATCEP and maintain a long-term care nurse aide registry by coordinating the following activities: 1. Approve and monitor the nurse aide training programs; 2. Oversee the nurse aide competency evaluation program; 3. Manage the Nurse Aide Abuse and Neglect Registry; and 4. Authorize the renewal process for nurse aides.' TWO REGISTRIES, NOT ONE — West Virginia keeps the eligibility registry and the Nurse Aide Abuse and Neglect Registry as distinct lists with different rules, and being on the second one ends your career in a long list of settings (see lapse_rule).
Who runs the training program: Approved providers only, and the qualification rules are strict. 'All providers conducting nurse aide training programs must be approved by the OHFLAC-NAP', and 'All Medicare and/or Medicaid certified nursing facilities have the potential to serve as clinical sites and/or offer the instructional training program. Nursing homes that are not Medicare/Medicaid certified are not eligible.' Each program needs both a program director and a primary instructor, and 'The program director and the primary instructor cannot be the same person. The responsibilities related to the program are distinctively different.' The primary instructor 'shall be a registered nurse licensed to practice in West Virginia' with at least two years of experience. A substitute teacher cannot fill in: 'In the technical career center, a substitute teacher within the school system cannot teach the nurse aide class', and 'Only approved NATCEP instructors assigned to the training program can teach the minimum curriculum requirements.' FACILITY-BASED PROGRAMS CAN BE BARRED FOR TWO YEARS if the nursing home has been, among other things, subjected to an extended or partial extended survey, terminated from Medicare or Medicaid, denied payment, assessed a civil money penalty of more than $5,000, put under a temporary manager, operated under a waiver of the eight-hour registered nurse requirement, or closed with residents transferred. A waiver of that prohibition can be requested where the penalty was under $5,000 and 'the deficiency was not related to the "quality of care furnished to residents"' (42 U.S.C. 1396r(f)(2)).
Who pays for training and testing: Not the employee, when the employee is already hired or holds an offer. OHFLAC states the federal rule and then closes the loopholes: 'No nurse aide who is employed by, or who has an offer of employment from a facility on the date the nurse aide begins a NATCEP may be charged for any portion of the program (including any fees for textbooks or other required course materials).' And then: 'Facility-based programs cannot charge their employees, or those individuals offered employment, prior to the beginning of the NATCEP. Nor can the facility offer contingency plans prior to the start of the NATCEP class where the applicant must work for the company for a specified number of days, or enforce a stipulation where the applicant must pass the test in order to get a refund.' If the class is run by someone else, 'the facility, not the employee, must pay that fee.' HIRED AFTERWARDS? MEDICAID REIMBURSES: 'If an individual becomes employed by, or receives an offer of employment from, a facility within 12 months after completing a NATCEP, Medicaid will reimburse the first facility that employs the nurse aide on a pro rata basis during the period in which the individual is employed as a nurse aide.' Note the direction — the reimbursement runs to the FACILITY, not to the aide. One exception the facility may enforce: 'At the discretion of the nursing home sponsor, if an employee is classified as a "no show" by the vendor for testing, the facility may elect not to pay for any future testing for that individual', and the testing vendor is blunter still — a no-show reschedule fee 'is the same as a first time test taker. The facility where you work is not responsible for paying your "NO SHOW" reschedule fee.'
Background check — WV CARES, fingerprint-based: West Virginia screens through a dedicated statewide system rather than through the registry itself. 'WV Clearance for Access: Registry and Employment Screening is administered by the Department of Health and Human Resources and the WV State Police Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) in consultation with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the Department of Justice (DOJ), and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).' What it does: 'The program uses web-based technologies to provide employers a single portal for checking state and national abuse registries and the state and national sex offender registries. The web-based system also provides employers with access to Nurse Aide Registries for all 50 states and professional licensure registries where available', and then 'Through fingerprinting, this program provides a comprehensive search of federal and state criminal history records that was not available under the previous reliance on name-based records searches.' Two features worth knowing: the record is monitored, so 'The program relies on new technology to monitor criminal histories and alert officials when a subsequent criminal event occurs'; and it is portable, so 'A monitored criminal history record means the cost of re-fingerprinting is not required for employees who change employers in this industry (or apply for work at more than one employer) within the timeframe of a valid background check.' Authority: 'The laws governing this program are found in W.Va. Code 16-49-1 et seq. and 69CSR10' — this record does not quote those texts and states nothing about them beyond OHFLAC's own description above. Separately, an aide has a standing duty of 'Reporting any changes in their criminal history to the Nurse Aide Program' (71 CSR 18-3.5).
Duties the rule puts on the aide personally: 71 CSR 18-3 is unusual in listing obligations that run to the individual rather than to the employer. The aide is responsible for 'safeguarding residents' rights to a dignified existence, self-determination, and communication', and specifically for: 'Ensuring that residents are free from abuse, neglect, corporal punishment, involuntary seclusion and misappropriation of property'; 'Immediately report to facility administration all incidents of abuse, neglect, or misappropriation of property'; 'Maintaining current and accurate information with the Nurse Aide Program including name, address, phone number'; 'Maintaining current and accurate employment information with the Nurse Aide Program'; 'Reporting any changes in their criminal history to the Nurse Aide Program'; 'Maintaining a copy of this rule'; and 'Appearing as a witness, if subpoenaed, at the Administrative Hearing regarding an incident of abuse, neglect or misappropriation.' THE PENALTY FOR THE LAST TWO IS THE REGISTRY ITSELF: 'If the nurse aide fails to appear, the Nurse Aide Program may place the name of the nurse aide on the Nurse Aide Abuse and Neglect Registry for neglect' (71 CSR 18-3.7), and 'Failure of a nurse aide to report any incident of suspected abuse, neglect, or misappropriation of property will result in his or her placement on the Nurse Aide Abuse and Neglect Registry for neglect for one year' (71 CSR 18-4.1.2). The definition of neglect is written to match: 'Failure to report an incident or failure to appear in response to a subpoena, or both shall be considered neglect' (71 CSR 18-2.9). Facilities must hand the rule over: 'Facilities shall provide a copy of this rule to each nurse aide on their staff and to each nurse aide at the time of hiring and keep signed proof that each nurse aide has received a copy of the rule' (71 CSR 18-10).
Record-keeping the program owes the student: Every graduate leaves with two documents. The program 'must provide all students who successfully complete the training course with a certificate of completion. The certificate must have the student's full name, name of the program and program identification number, instructor's name and title, number of hours completed and the completion date.' And the skills log is the student's too: 'The primary instructor shall provide a copy of the skills performance record to the student at the conclusion of the training.' The program keeps its own copies for at least three years, including the student's legal name, Social Security number, attendance record with dates and hours, skills checklist, course evaluations and all training documents.
Distance learning: West Virginia allows the classroom half of training to be delivered remotely, and it is in the statute rather than in a policy: 'The director shall permit the nonclinical instruction portions of a nurse aide training program approved by the Office of Health Facility Licensure and Certification to be provided through distance learning technologies' (W. Va. Code 16B-4-5(d)). The clinical hours are not covered by that permission.

Legal basis

West Virginia Office of Health Facility Licensure and Certification (OHFLAC) — Nurse Aide Program (NAP). OHFLAC is now defined by rule as ‘The West Virginia Office of Health Facility Licensure and Certification within the Office of Inspector General’ (71 CSR 18-2.13), and the Nurse Aide Program is ‘The program within the Office of Health Facility Licensure and Certification (OHFLAC) responsible for oversight of the nurse aide training and competency evaluation programs throughout the state and maintenance of the Nurse Aide registries including the Nurse Aide Abuse and Neglect Registry’ (71 CSR 18-2.12). No board of nursing is involved: West Virginia’s Board of Examiners for Registered Professional Nurses and its LPN board license nurses, while OHFLAC runs the aide registry, approves the training programs, contracts the testing vendor and decides abuse and neglect findings. Nurse Aide/AMAP Programs office: 1 Players Club Dr., Suite 301, Charleston, WV 25311; (304) 558-0050; [email protected] . administers certified nursing assistant licensing in West Virginia. 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

West Virginia uses three names for one status and says two of them are the same thing: ‘The terms nurse aide and nursing assistant are considered interchangeable and have the same meaning’ (71 CSR 18-2.10). The third is RNA — and the state and its contractor do not expand the same three letters the same way. OHFLAC’s reciprocity page writes it out as REGISTERED NURSE AIDE, marking the abbreviation with that expansion in its own heading, ‘RNA RECIPROCITY’, and again in the sentence ‘a twenty-four (24) month lapse in paid RNA employment within the past three years.’ The state’s testing vendor writes it out as REGISTERED NURSING ASSISTANT: its handbook is titled ‘SPONSOR/CANDIDATE HANDBOOK Registered Nursing Assistant’ and its form is the ‘West Virginia Registered Nursing Assistant Evaluation Application (CNA Test Application)’ — the vendor’s own parenthesis showing that even the state’s contractor translates for the public. The credential is the same one either way; only the words behind the initials differ, and this record attributes each to the source that uses it. ‘CNA’ and ‘certified nursing assistant’ are what people search for; West Virginia certifies nobody under that title and issues no certificate. What you get is a REGISTRY ENTRY and a state-assigned registration number, and the document you can print is an ‘OFFICIAL VERIFICATION’ from the state’s lookup. Names to keep apart: NATCEP is the training-and-testing programme, not the credential; the NURSE AIDE REGISTRY (eligibility to work) and the NURSE AIDE ABUSE AND NEGLECT REGISTRY (a disciplinary list) are two different lists with different rules; AMAP — Approved Medication Assistive Personnel — is a separate West Virginia credential administered by the same OHFLAC office through the same testing vendor; and WV CARES is the fingerprint-based employment screening system, not the registry. Finally, note the agency history buried in the paperwork: OHFLAC now sits in the Office of Inspector General and its nurse aide rule was renumbered from 69CSR6 to 71CSR18 in 2025, so older material naming the Department of Health and Human Resources or citing 69CSR6 is describing the same programme under superseded labels.

License types & fees

Type	Notes	Who Its For
Nurse aide registration — the standard route, through an approved training program and the state competency test	West Virginia LISTS you on a registry — it does not issue a licence or a board certificate. The state's own definition ties the status to training plus testing: 'Nurse Aide or Nursing Assistant. Any individual who is not a licensed health care provider or registered dietitian or volunteer who provides nursing or nursing related services for hire to residents in a facility after successfully completing a state-approved training and competency evaluation program. The terms nurse aide and nursing assistant are considered interchangeable and have the same meaning' (71 CSR 18-2.10). What you receive is a state-assigned registration number and a registry entry, which the state's own verification page is designed to confirm. Note the vocabulary: the paperwork calls you an RNA, though the state and its contractor expand the abbreviation differently — OHFLAC's reciprocity page reads it as 'Registered Nurse Aide' while the testing vendor's handbook and application read it as 'Registered Nursing Assistant'.	A person who completes an OHFLAC-approved nurse aide training program and passes the state competency evaluation.
Test-eligible nurse aide — a four-month working status, not a credential	The rule creates the status and puts a hard clock on it: 'Test-eligible Nurse Aide. Any individual who is not a licensed health care provider or registered dietitian or volunteer, who provides nursing or nursing related services for hire to residents in a nursing home after successfully completing a state-approved nurse aide training program, but who has not yet successfully completed the state-approved competency test. An individual may not work as a nurse aide or nursing assistant on a full-time basis for more than four months, unless the individual has passed the state-approved competency test' (71 CSR 18-2.16). OHFLAC's policy manual states the same limit from the employer's side: 'A nursing facility shall not use any individual as a nurse aide for more than four months on a full time basis unless the individual: 1. Has completed a training and competency evaluation program, or a competency evaluation program approved by the state; and 2. Is competent to provide nursing or nursing-related services.' The status is also operational — the testing vendor requires candidates to submit 'the printed page from the OHFLAC web site stating that you are test eligible.'	Someone who has finished an approved training program but has not yet passed the competency test.
RN/LPN Challenge — registry entry without a nurse aide training program	West Virginia lets qualifying nursing students skip the aide training program and go straight to the competency evaluation. The conditions, in OHFLAC's own words: a student nurse may challenge the registry 'but he or she must first: 1. Be enrolled in an approved higher education nursing program; or 2. Successfully complete the fundamental of nursing within the last two (2) years with a "C" average, or higher and successfully complete a minimum of 32 hours of clinical experience in a certified Medicare/Medicaid nursing facility.' Three documents go to OHFLAC: a sealed certified transcript, a letter of recommendation from the instructor verifying the clinical minimum and naming each certified nursing facility where the clinical experience was obtained, and a letter from the student challenging the evaluation. THE TESTING WINDOW IS SHORTER on this route — six months rather than 24 (see exam). And a limit most summaries miss: 'Student nurses are NOT eligible to work as a nurse aide in a nursing home the four months prior to passing the competency evaluation.' The application is filed online through OHFLAC's RN/LPN Challenge form.	A nursing student or nursing graduate who can document the required coursework and clinical hours.
Registration by reciprocity — transfer from another state's registry	See reciprocity for the full conditions, including West Virginia's unusual three-year work test. The application is filed on OHFLAC's online Application by Reciprocity form, which asks for the out-of-state training program name and address, the date of training completion, the date of registration, and every state registry the applicant holds or has held with its registration number, plus a direct question: 'Are you currently on another state's nurse aide registry for abuse, neglect, or misappropriation of resident property?'	A nurse aide listed and in good standing on another state's registry whose requirements are substantially the same as West Virginia's.
Approved Medication Assistive Personnel (AMAP) — a SEPARATE West Virginia credential, not covered by this record	OHFLAC runs an AMAP program with its own page, and the same contractor handles both: 'Professional HealthCare Development (PHD) will be the contracted vendor for Nurse Aide and AMAP testing.' Questions about AMAP go to the same office line, 'OHFLAC Nurse Aide program at 304-558-0050, Option 1.' This record covers the nurse aide registry only.	Not covered here — named because OHFLAC administers it alongside the nurse aide registry and uses the same testing vendor.

Who does NOT need this license — exemptions

West Virginia draws its boundary inside the DEFINITION of who a nurse aide is, and it excludes three groups by name. 71 CSR 18-2.10: ‘Nurse Aide or Nursing Assistant. Any individual who is not a licensed health care provider or registered dietitian or volunteer who provides nursing or nursing related services for hire to residents in a facility after successfully completing a state-approved training and competency evaluation program.’ So a licensed health care provider working within their own credential, a registered dietitian, and an unpaid volunteer are all outside the scheme. The policy manual repeats the same carve-out when describing what training is for — ‘individuals who provide nursing-related services to residents in the nursing home setting, and who are not licensed health professionals or volunteers who provide services without monetary compensation.’ THE FOUR-MONTH WINDOW is the only time-limited allowance, and it runs to the employer: ‘A nursing facility shall not use any individual as a nurse aide for more than four months on a full time basis unless the individual: 1. Has completed a training and competency evaluation program, or a competency evaluation program approved by the state; and 2. Is competent to provide nursing or nursing-related services.’ The rule states it as a bar on the individual too: ‘An individual may not work as a nurse aide or nursing assistant on a full-time basis for more than four months, unless the individual has passed the state-approved competency test.’ A NARROWER LIMIT ON NURSING STUDENTS, which is a restriction rather than an exemption: ‘A student nurse may be allowed to provide direct nursing-related duties for which the student nurse has been trained. The employer must ensure that the student nurse does not perform services for which he or she has not been trained and found competent to perform. The student nurse can only permitted to perform nurse aide duties.’ And then the sentence students most often miss: ‘Student nurses are NOT eligible to work as a nurse aide in a nursing home the four months prior to passing the competency evaluation.’ WHERE THE REQUIREMENT BITES: the rule’s own applicability clause reaches ’nurse aides, staff, and residents of facilities and anyone who provides services to a resident of a facility on a regular or intermittent basis’, with ‘Facility’ defined as ‘A nursing home as defined in W. Va. Code 16B-4-1, et seq., or an extended care facility operated in connection with a hospital as defined in W. Va. Code 16B-3-1, et seq.’ (71 CSR 18-1.6, 2.5). No West Virginia source read on 2026-08-16 states that registry listing is legally required to work as an aide in a hospital, home health agency or assisted living residence — though registry listing IS what those settings check, and an abuse-registry entry bars work in all of them. That distinction is left standing rather than collapsed.

Fees

WEST VIRGINIA PUBLISHES NO STATE FEE for nurse aide registration, renewal or reciprocity. The Nurse Aide Program Policy Manual contains no fee schedule, the online renewal, reciprocity and RN/LPN Challenge applications carry no payment step, and OHFLAC has RETIRED the nurse aide page that once answered this question: as of August 16, 2026 the ‘Associated Fees’ address returns ’not found’, seven of the eight pages listed beside it do the same, and the menu that linked them no longer appears on OHFLAC’s own nurse aide page at all. That is a section the agency has taken down, not a page that happened to be unavailable — so the absence of a state fee is not a hole in what could be read. Searched on 2026-08-16 across the policy manual in full, the three online application forms, the OHFLAC nurse aide program page and the third-party vendor page, and no state charge for a nurse aide appears in any of them. THE COST IS THE EXAMINATION, and it is paid to the state’s contracted vendor. Published fees: ‘Written and Skills $140.00; Oral Exam $180.00; Written Exam $55.00; Skills Performance $85.00; Oral $90.00.’ A first-time candidate takes both parts on the same day and pays for both — $140 for the written-plus-skills combination, or $180 if the oral version replaces the written. Retesting a single part costs that part’s fee. REFUNDS ARE NARROW: ‘Refunds will be charged a $35.00 processing fee and must be requested prior to 5 business days of testing date; no transfer of fees.’ A no-show pays again in full: the reschedule fee ‘is the same as a first time test taker’, and ‘The facility where you work is not responsible for paying your “NO SHOW” reschedule fee.’ PAYMENT METHOD: ‘facility check, money order, credit/debit Card. NO personal checks or cash will be accepted’, and ‘EXAM REGISTRATIONS WILL NOT BE PROCESSED UNLESS PAYMENT IS RECEIVED AT THE TIME OF APPLICATION.’ WHO ACTUALLY PAYS: for an employed candidate, the employer — federal law bars charging any portion of the training programme to a nurse aide who was employed by or held an offer from a facility when the programme began, and ‘If an employee is attending class at a non-facility-based program which charges a fee, the facility, not the employee, must pay that fee.’ TUITION is not set by the state and is not published by OHFLAC. NOTE THAT A REGISTRY-STATUS PRINTOUT IS FREE: the state’s own verification page produces the ‘OFFICIAL VERIFICATION’ and registration number that candidates and employers need, at no charge.

Exam

Two parts on the same day: a written (computer-based) examination and a skills performance evaluation. You must pass both. WRITTEN — ‘The exam consists of 100 multiple choice questions. You will have ninety (90) minutes to complete the exam once you have started’, with a paper-and-pencil fallback ‘If technical difficulties are encountered’. PASSING SCORES, from OHFLAC’s policy manual rather than the vendor: ‘The written portion has 100 points possible with a minimum passing score of 70 points. The skills portion has a possibility of 300 points with a minimum passing score of 225.’ SKILLS — ‘You have thirty (30) minutes to perform five (5) nursing assistant skills, initial steps, and completion steps. These skills are selected from the complete skills listed in the West Virginia NURSE AIDE PROGRAM POLICY MANUAL-Appendix:F’, rated by ‘A trained Registered Nurse, trained as an evaluator’. The ‘resident’ is played by an actor. You may correct yourself: ‘Tell the evaluator if you make a mistake and you will be allowed to go back and begin from where you feel you made the mistake.’ FOUR WAYS TO FAIL THE SKILLS OUTRIGHT, per the manual: you ‘Cannot perform any part of the skill’; you tell the rater you did not learn the skill; you do not perform the critical steps in one or more skills; or you ‘Put the resident at risk for injury.’ The vendor states the same rule from the candidate’s side: ‘If you refuse to perform a particular skill or state that you do not know how to perform a skill, you will fail the exam regardless of the number of points you have accumulated.’ ORAL VERSION — available on request and only on paper: ‘The oral test will be given in the English language by a reader or computer recording. Each question and answer will be read twice. The oral version also has 100 multiple choice questions and is the same written exam being administered to the other candidates.’ The manual adds that ‘The oral version shall include a written section to determine the ability of the candidate to read and understand job-related duties and information.’ OTHER LANGUAGES need the state’s permission, not the vendor’s: ‘For the test to be offer in any language other than English, you must submit a request to the West Virginia Nurse Aide Registry.’ ATTEMPTS AND WINDOWS — three attempts, then retrain: ‘Each candidate will have three (3) opportunities to pass the competency evaluation. If a candidate is unable to pass the competency evaluation after three (3) attempts, the candidate will be required to complete another full nurse aide training program. Upon completion, the candidate is eligible for three (3) more opportunities.’ The outer limit is two years: ‘All individuals must successfully complete the competency evaluation within 24 months of graduation from an approved education program, unless that individual challenges the training program (RN/LPN Challenge). In that instance, the individual has six (6) months to complete the competency evaluation.’ PRACTICALITIES that trip candidates up: applications and correct fees must reach the vendor at least two weeks before the requested test date; rescheduling requires notice ‘by noon at least five (5) business days before the examination date’; a no-show forfeits the fee and it cannot be transferred; candidates must bring the admission ticket, current photo ID and an original unaltered Social Security card, plus ‘A watch with a second hand, electronic watches not permitted’; and a candidate who is pregnant or has been excused from work by a physician must send a release ‘stating NO RESTRICTIONS’ in advance — ‘If you are too sick or injured to work, you are too sick or injured to take the exam.’ Preliminary results come the same day; ‘Final results will be posted on the PHD web site within one business day.’

Renewal & continuing education

Every two years, and the test is a very small amount of PAID work — eight hours. OHFLAC’s policy manual states both: ‘Re-registration of the nurse aide status on the registry is required every two (2) years’ and ‘The minimum amount of paid employment as a nurse aide is eight hours within the previous two year period.’ That eight-hour floor is among the lowest in the country; several states require 200 hours or more for the same 24-month cycle. WHAT COUNTS: ‘Paid employment as a nurse aide under RN supervision in a direct care setting can be reported to renew the nurse aide’s employment status on the Nurse Aide Registry. Only direct care settings that provide RN supervision are acceptable.’ The listed settings are clinics; community-based residential facilities; emergency centers (immediate care centers, trauma centers); home health agencies; hospitals; intermediate care facilities for individuals with intellectual disabilities; and nursing homes. ‘Other supervised paid nursing-related services may be considered on a case-by-case basis.’ WHAT DOES NOT COUNT: ‘Independent private duty work is not considered reportable employment.’ EXTRA PAPERWORK FOR AGENCY AND NON-FACILITY EMPLOYERS: ‘Nurse aides who work for a staffing agency must submit a letter from their employer validating eight hours of employment as a nurse aide or performing nurse aide-related duties with their renewal application’, and for staffing agencies or in-home care ’the nurse aide must complete the renewal application and have the non-facility based employer verify the nurse aide worked at least eight hours performing paid nurse aide duties within the two years since the last renewal.’ NOTICE AND PROCESS: ‘At least 60 days before the nurse aide’s registration expiration date, the OHFLAC-NAP will send either an electronic notice or a reregistration application with instructions to the nurse aide through the U.S. mail to his or her last known address’, the aide returns the application ‘prior to the expiration date’, and ‘When all requirements are met, the OHFLAC-NAP will send a letter to the nurse aide informing him or her of renewal for another two years.’ The duty is personal: ‘Completion of the re-registration application is the responsibility of the applicant and not the facility or employer.’ The online renewal form opens on the registration number and collects employment dates, employer name and address, job title and the specific duties performed, alongside a direct question about other states’ abuse registries. Address and name changes go to OHFLAC in writing, with a photocopy of the legal document for a name change; OHFLAC also asks employers to ‘validate the nurse aide’s status on line using the OHFLAC web site prior to hiring.’ NONE, and West Virginia says so in a single sentence: ‘There are no in-service or continuing education requirements related to maintaining an aide’s status on the Nurse Aide Registry.’ The renewal condition is eight hours of paid nurse aide work in the previous two years, and nothing else. THE 12-HOUR ANNUAL IN-SERVICE OBLIGATION THAT PEOPLE HEAR ABOUT IS THE FACILITY’S, NOT YOURS, and OHFLAC keeps the two apart explicitly: ‘However, facilities and agencies that employ nurse aides must comply with any applicable in-service requirements under federal regulations. Facilities are required to provide and document at least 12 hours of completed nurse aide in-service per year. In-service requirements are not tracked by the Registry, but are enforced through the OHFLAC Nursing Home Program.’ So a nurse aide’s registry status is unaffected by whether the employer meets its in-service duty, and vice versa. Tiers searched on 2026-08-16: the OHFLAC Nurse Aide Program Policy Manual in full (62 pages), 71 CSR 18 in full, the OHFLAC nurse aide program page, the online renewal application and the contracted vendor’s Sponsor/Candidate Handbook. THE ONE PLACE EDUCATION RE-ENTERS is remedial rather than periodic: a refresher course of at least 16 hours is required of aides returning after a gap, mandated to retrain, or issued an alternative sanction — see lapse_rule.

How to apply

Applications are handled by West Virginia Office of Health Facility Licensure and Certification (OHFLAC) — Nurse Aide Program (NAP). OHFLAC is now defined by rule as ‘The West Virginia Office of Health Facility Licensure and Certification within the Office of Inspector General’ (71 CSR 18-2.13), and the Nurse Aide Program is ‘The program within the Office of Health Facility Licensure and Certification (OHFLAC) responsible for oversight of the nurse aide training and competency evaluation programs throughout the state and maintenance of the Nurse Aide registries including the Nurse Aide Abuse and Neglect Registry’ (71 CSR 18-2.12). No board of nursing is involved: West Virginia’s Board of Examiners for Registered Professional Nurses and its LPN board license nurses, while OHFLAC runs the aide registry, approves the training programs, contracts the testing vendor and decides abuse and neglect findings. Nurse Aide/AMAP Programs office: 1 Players Club Dr., Suite 301, Charleston, WV 25311; (304) 558-0050; [email protected] .. Start at the official application page .

Verify a license in West Virginia

West Virginia Office of Health Facility Licensure and Certification, Nurse Aide Program publishes a public license search , searchable by registration number, first name or last name. It covers West Virginia nurse aide registry entries. OHFLAC states the purpose and the two methods itself: ‘The Online Verification of Nurse Aide page is provided to assist employers and the public in expediting the verification of the status of a nurse aide in the state of West Virginia. We have provided two means of searching the database. You can search by entering the name of the nurse aide or by entering the nurse aide’s state assigned registration number.’ The three input fields above were read from the live form’s own controls on 2026-08-16, not from a description of the tool. THIS LOOKUP DOES REAL WORK IN THE PROCESS, not just verification after the fact. The state’s contracted testing vendor requires candidates to submit ’the printed page from the OHFLAC web site stating that you are test eligible’ with the examination application, printed from this exact address, and tells successful candidates to come back to it: ‘You may access the Nursing Assistant web site at [the OHFLAC lookup] to obtain your “OFFICIAL VERIFICATION” and registration number. You may print that page from the web site for your records.’ OHFLAC likewise tells employers that they ‘are encouraged to validate the nurse aide’s status on line using the OHFLAC web site prior to hiring.’ Two things to expect. First, a search runs as a form submission, so a result has no web address of its own — you cannot bookmark, email or cite one, and anyone watching this address from outside sees only the empty search screen. Second, the abuse and neglect information is a separate matter: this lookup shows registry status, while employers screening against abuse registries nationally are directed to the WV CARES system, which is an employer portal rather than a public page. No are-you-a-person challenge was presented when the form was opened on 2026-08-16.

Records come from West Virginia Office of Health Facility Licensure and Certification, Nurse Aide Program’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

Is a West Virginia CNA licensed, certified, or just registered?

Registered. West Virginia issues no licence and no certificate — what you get is an entry on the state Nurse Aide Registry and a state-assigned registration number, maintained by the Office of Health Facility Licensure and Certification rather than by a board of nursing. The state’s own rule treats the two common names as one: ‘The terms nurse aide and nursing assistant are considered interchangeable and have the same meaning.’ On the paperwork you will also meet a third name, RNA — which OHFLAC’s reciprocity page expands as ‘Registered Nurse Aide’ and the state’s testing vendor expands as ‘Registered Nursing Assistant’. ‘CNA’ is what people search for; nothing in West Virginia is certified under that title.

How many training hours does West Virginia require?

120 clock hours, with at least 55 of them instructor-supervised clinical practice — and the course must run at least four weeks. OHFLAC’s policy manual states all three: ‘The minimum time required for a nurse aide training program is 120 clock hours. At least 55 of the 120 hours must be instructor supervised clinical practice. The remaining hours must be classroom instruction and skills development in the classroom laboratory. The length of a training course must be, at a minimum, four weeks.’ Two things stand out nationally: 55 clinical hours is nearly half the programme, well above what most states require in proportion; and a minimum COURSE LENGTH is a rule most states simply do not have, so a West Virginia programme cannot compress the hours into a fortnight. The classroom portion may be delivered remotely — state law requires OHFLAC to permit ’the nonclinical instruction portions’ to be provided through distance learning technologies.

Who gives the West Virginia nurse aide exam, and what is on it?

Professional Healthcare Development, LLC, of Ona, West Virginia — the state’s contracted vendor for nurse aide and AMAP testing, named by OHFLAC on its own vendor page. West Virginia does not use a national exam, so there is no NNAAP, Credentia or Prometric form here. Two parts, taken the same day. The written exam is computer-based with 100 multiple-choice questions and 90 minutes; you need 70 of 100 points. The skills evaluation gives you 30 minutes to perform five skills drawn from the state’s own published task list, scored out of 300 points with 225 to pass, rated by a registered nurse evaluator, with an actor playing the resident. An oral version of the written exam is available on request — same 100 questions, read twice, 90 minutes — for an extra fee. Four things fail the skills outright regardless of points: being unable to perform any part of a skill, telling the rater you did not learn it, missing the critical steps, or putting the resident at risk of injury.

What does it cost to become a nurse aide in West Virginia?

The state charges nothing that this page could find — no registration fee, no renewal fee and no reciprocity fee appears in OHFLAC’s policy manual or on any of its online applications. The cost is the examination, paid to the state’s contracted vendor: $140 for the written and skills together, which is what a first-time candidate takes, or $180 if the oral version replaces the written. Retesting one part is $55 written, $85 skills, $90 oral. Refunds carry a $35 processing fee and must be requested more than five business days before the test date, and fees cannot be transferred. In many cases you should not be paying at all: no aide who was employed by or held an offer from a facility when the training began may be charged for any part of it, textbooks included, and where the class is run by someone else ’the facility, not the employee, must pay that fee.’ If you are hired within 12 months of finishing, Medicaid reimburses the first employing facility.

How often do you renew, and is there continuing education?

Every two years, and there is no continuing education at all — ‘There are no in-service or continuing education requirements related to maintaining an aide’s status on the Nurse Aide Registry.’ What West Virginia asks for is remarkably little work: ‘The minimum amount of paid employment as a nurse aide is eight hours within the previous two year period.’ It must be paid, under RN supervision, in a direct care setting — clinics, community-based residential facilities, emergency centres, home health agencies, hospitals, intermediate care facilities for individuals with intellectual disabilities, and nursing homes all count; ‘Independent private duty work is not considered reportable employment.’ If you work for a staffing agency or in home care you need a letter from the employer verifying the eight hours. OHFLAC mails or emails a re-registration notice at least 60 days before expiry, but ‘Completion of the re-registration application is the responsibility of the applicant and not the facility or employer.’ The 12 hours of annual in-service you may hear about is the facility’s obligation, tracked by a different OHFLAC programme, and it has no effect on your registry status.

What happens if a West Virginia nurse aide stops working?

The registry drops you after two years without qualifying work — ‘The registry will remove entries for individuals who have performed no nurse aide duties or nursing related services for a period of 24 consecutive months’ — and how you get back depends on the length of the gap. With no reportable work history ‘between two to four years’, you take a refresher course of at least 16 hours and then the competency evaluation, with all testing attempts completed within six months of finishing the class. With ’no reportable paid work in nurse aide-related employment in the past five years’, you take the full course again. The refresher route is also open to aides who failed to re-register in time, who lost registry status for not meeting federal requirements, or who have been ordered to retrain or issued an alternative sanction — and those last two carry a 120-day deadline from the date of OHFLAC’s letter, with the retraining ‘solely the responsibility of the nurse aide’ to pay for.

Can you work as a nurse aide in West Virginia before passing the test?

Yes, for four months. West Virginia’s rule creates a ’test-eligible nurse aide’ status for someone who has finished an approved training programme but not yet passed the competency test, and caps it: ‘An individual may not work as a nurse aide or nursing assistant on a full-time basis for more than four months, unless the individual has passed the state-approved competency test.’ The same limit binds the employer — ‘A nursing facility shall not use any individual as a nurse aide for more than four months on a full time basis’ unless the individual has completed training and testing and is competent. The status is also a document: the testing vendor will not process an application without ’the printed page from the OHFLAC web site stating that you are test eligible.’ Nursing students have their own, tighter rule — they ‘are NOT eligible to work as a nurse aide in a nursing home the four months prior to passing the competency evaluation.’

I am a CNA in another state — can I transfer to West Virginia?

Yes, by reciprocity, but read the second condition carefully. OHFLAC applies an equivalence test and a work test: ‘Individuals who are listed on the registries of other states which have requirements substantially the same as the West Virginia requirements for education and competency evaluation may apply for inclusion in the West Virginia Nurse Aide Registry. The listing of the individual on the West Virginia registry will depend upon the individual’s acceptable standing on the registry of the other state and if there is not a twenty-four (24) month lapse in paid RNA employment within the past three years.’ That look-back is three years, and any 24-month gap inside it disqualifies you — a different shape from the simple ‘currently active’ test most states use. There is also a flat rule on where you trained: ‘All training must be done in the United States.’ You apply on OHFLAC’s online reciprocity form, listing every state registry you hold or have held, and OHFLAC requests the verification from the other state rather than making you chase it.

Can a nursing student skip the nurse aide course in West Virginia?

Yes, through the RN/LPN Challenge. You must either be enrolled in an approved higher education nursing programme, or have ‘successfully complete[d] the fundamental of nursing within the last two (2) years with a “C” average, or higher and successfully complete[d] a minimum of 32 hours of clinical experience in a certified Medicare/Medicaid nursing facility.’ Three documents go to OHFLAC: a sealed certified transcript, a letter of recommendation from your instructor verifying the clinical hours and naming each certified nursing facility where you did them, and your own letter challenging the evaluation. The catch is the clock: challengers get six months to pass the competency evaluation, not the 24 months a training-programme graduate gets.

How do I check whether someone is on the West Virginia nurse aide registry?

Use OHFLAC’s Nurse Aide Verification page, which the state describes as being ‘provided to assist employers and the public in expediting the verification of the status of a nurse aide in the state of West Virginia.’ You can search by the aide’s first and last name or by the state-assigned registration number. It is the same page an aide uses to print their own ‘OFFICIAL VERIFICATION’ and registration number, and the same page a candidate prints their test-eligible status from. OHFLAC tells employers they ‘are encouraged to validate the nurse aide’s status on line using the OHFLAC web site prior to hiring.’ One limit: a search result has no address of its own, so you cannot bookmark or forward one. Employers screening against abuse registries nationally use a separate system, WV CARES, which is an employer portal rather than a public page.

What is the Nurse Aide Abuse and Neglect Registry, and how long does a finding last?

It is a second, separate list, and it is the most consequential thing in West Virginia’s nurse aide system. Placement for abuse is permanent — the rule says so in one line: ‘Placement on the Nurse Aide Registry for any type of abuse is permanent.’ Placement for neglect runs one calendar year, after which you may write asking to be removed — but if you kept working ‘in long term care, assisted living, behavioral health or hospice’ after being notified, that time is added on so a full year is actually served. The reach goes far beyond nursing homes: someone listed is ’no longer eligible to work in skilled nursing facilities, nursing facilities, home health agencies, hospice care providers, long-term care hospitals, personal care services providers, adult day care providers, assisted living facilities, intermediate care facilities for individuals with intellectual disabilities, and certain other health care facilities.’ You get 30 days from a certified-mail notice to request a hearing before the Board of Review, which must be scheduled within 120 days; OHFLAC bears the burden of proof by a preponderance of the evidence; you pay for your own lawyer and transcript; and you may appeal within 30 days to the West Virginia Intermediate Court of Appeals. Two things also land you there automatically: a placement on another state’s registry, and a court finding of abuse, neglect or misappropriation involving a minor or an incapacitated adult.

Can failing to report abuse put a West Virginia nurse aide on the abuse registry?

Yes, and this is the West Virginia rule people are most likely to be caught by. The state defines neglect to include inaction: ‘Failure to report an incident or failure to appear in response to a subpoena, or both shall be considered neglect.’ The consequence is stated as automatic: ‘Failure of a nurse aide to report any incident of suspected abuse, neglect, or misappropriation of property will result in his or her placement on the Nurse Aide Abuse and Neglect Registry for neglect for one year.’ The same applies to ignoring a subpoena in someone else’s case — ‘A nurse aide who fails to appear as a witness at an administrative hearing, after receiving a subpoena to appear, may be placed on the Nurse Aide Abuse and Neglect registry for neglect.’ The counterweight is a protection: a facility ‘shall not discharge, discriminate or retaliate in any manner against any employee who in good faith reports suspected abuse, neglect or misappropriation of residents’ property.’ Every aide is supposed to have the rule in hand — facilities must give each one a copy at hiring and keep signed proof of it.

See every license and certification LicensingAtlas covers in West Virginia.

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.