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Free CNA training: what the federal rule says
487 of the 3,730 programs on the seven state nurse aide lists we load are run by nursing facilities for their own hires, and 848 list sponsors match a Medicare or Medicaid certified nursing home.
The rule
Federal rules say a nursing home that employs you, or has offered you a job, when your training starts cannot charge you for state-approved nurse aide training or its textbooks (42 CFR 483.152(c)(1)).
If you pay for training yourself and a nursing home hires you within 12 months of finishing, your state must provide for paying part of the cost back, pro rata for the time you work there (42 CFR 483.152(c)(2)). The duty is the state's, and states run it differently: ask the nursing home that hires you and your state's nurse aide program office how to claim it.
Free classes elsewhere come from WIOA (if you meet its rules, through your local workforce board), from some community colleges and high school programs, and from employers that are not nursing homes, each on its own terms.
Facility-run and nursing-home programs by state
| State | Programs on the list | Facility programs (list says so) | Sponsor is a certified nursing home |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 603 | 87 | 87 |
| Florida | 201 | List does not say | 4 |
| Illinois | 396 | List does not say | 25 |
| Maryland | 166 | List does not say | 34 |
| Missouri | 191 | 135 | 83 |
| New York | 159 | 159 | 153 |
| North Carolina | 237 | List does not say | 0 |
| Ohio | 406 | List does not say | 77 |
| Oklahoma | 195 | List does not say | 18 |
| Pennsylvania | 182 | 106 | 99 |
| Texas | 824 | List does not say | 238 |
| Washington | 170 | List does not say | 30 |
California, New York, Pennsylvania and Missouri mark facility programs on their lists. A sponsor counts as a certified nursing home when its phone number, or its ZIP code and name, matches a home in the CMS Care Compare file. Facility programs train the facility's own hires and are not open enrolment.
Questions
Can a nursing home make me pay for CNA training?
A nursing home that employs you, or has offered you a job, when your training starts cannot charge you for state-approved nurse aide training or its textbooks. If you pay and are hired by a nursing home within 12 months, your state must provide for paying part of it back. (42 CFR 483.152(c))