CNA Certification in Michigan Eligibility Requirements

In 1987, federal legislation Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987 (OBRA-87) was passed by Congress to improve the nursing and nursing-related cares in nursing homes. The legislation requires nursing homes to employ nurse aides who are trained and evaluated through state Nurse Aide training and Evaluation Program (NATCEP). The federal requirements included 75 hours training program which contains classroom instruction, lab training and16 hour's clinical hands-on experience in an approved facility, and a Written/Oral Test and Skill Test. The training program also requires inclusion of minimum OBRA required education requirements. Nurse Aides meeting federal requisites are awarded a CNA Certification and registered with the state Nurse Aide Registry.

In the state of Michigan, the State Department of Community Health has been entrusted the responsibility to develop a state CNA program that includes minimum OBRA requirements and accordingly, Michigan Nurse Aide Training Curriculum, 1989, was designed to train nurse assistants in direct patient cares. The complete duration of state approved NATP is federal legislation required 75 hours, divided between 34 hours class/16.5 hours lab and 24.5 hours clinical training. The administration of the state training program is the responsibility of the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, Bureau of Health Professions.

The Department has assigned a nationally recognized test agency Prometric to develop, manage and administer state competency evaluation test (CEP) and maintain MI Nurse Aide Registry to list certified nurse assistants holding CNA Certification in Michigan.

Once the students have successfully completed nurse CNA Training program, they must appear and pass Witten Test and Clinical Test. The successful candidates are awarded a CNA Certification in Michigan by Prometric and listed with the state Nurse Aide Registry which also allows them to perform health-related tasks in Medicare and Medicaid approved facilities and long term care facilities.

The testing process requires completing a Michigan Competency Evaluation Registration Form and submitting it to Prometric with a copy of CNA program completion certificate. The applicant applying for a CEP must submit the documents within one year of completing his/her training program.

If the submitted documents meet the testing contractor's own requirements, the applicant is sent an Authorization to Test (ATT) and a list of MI testing sites. On receiving the ATT and testing site list, the candidate can call the testing center where he/she wants the test to be scheduled and fix an appointment to test. The ATT is applicable for one year and the candidate must pass the CEP during that period for a CNA Certification in Michigan. The examinees are offered three chances to pass the test and if they fail to pass in three attempts they will have to recomplete the training program once again.

The successful candidate is awarded a CNA Certification in Michigan, which is valid for two years and must be renewed before it expires.