Q/A CORNER: CE for Caregivers Working in Memory Care

WHCA recently received the following question from an administrator at a memory care assisted living:

I wanted to confirm about repeating the dementia continuing education training from last year [not within the same current year]. I believe we can but wanted to clarify. CareLearn (carelearnwa.com) removed a lot of information last year and is limited on dementia training, which we require a minimum of 6 hours of CEU. If you have any other websites that provide free CEUs please let me know.

ANSWER:

All caregivers require 12 hours of DSHS-approved continuing education each year, due on their birthday. Any facility with a Specialized Dementia Care Medicaid contract requires caregivers working in that unit/building to complete six hours of continuing education each year on topics focused on dementia.  Starting July 1, 2026, all memory care facilities/units must be certified with the state, and the same continuing education requirements will apply for caregivers working in those settings, too.

Of course, six of those DSHS-approved 12 hours can be focused on dementia-related topics.  But it’s more nuanced than that.

While DSHS does allow a caregiver to repeat continuing education courses (not in the same year), the intent of continuing education is to advance one’s knowledge in a particular topic.  It makes sense, then, that the caregiver discovers other options to fulfill the six hours of dementia-focused continuing education.

The 6 hours of CE can be part of the 12 hours of required CE, meaning it would need to be approved by DSHS for CE.  HOWEVER, the regulation says that those six hours MAY be part of the total 12 hours of continuing education required by WAC 388-112A.

This small word – MAY – opens options for additional, more advanced course work. So, if you find a different class or course that you’d like your staff to take, and those hours are NOT approved by DSHS for CE, they can still fulfill the dementia-focused CE requirement, provided the staff also have completed their 12 hours of DSHS-approved CE on different topics.

So, to be more specific, I’ll share a couple examples focused on caregivers working in a memory care unit:

• Staff A takes nurse delegation core (counts towards 9 hours of approved CE) and CPR and First Aid (counts towards 3 hours of CE). All these classes are approved by DSHS for CE.  Staff A still needs 6 hours of CE focused on dementia, and opts to take some of the National Center for Assisted Living’s online CARES dementia training.
• Staff B takes dementia specialty training (8 hours approved by DSHS) and 4 hours of miscellaneous classes on CareLearnWA (approved by DSHS).  The dementia specialty class fulfills the 6 hours of CE focused on dementia; Staff B is done for the year.
• Staff C takes 12 hours of CE on CareLearnWA; three of those hours are focused on dementia care.  Staff C needs three more hours of CE and opts to take three hours’ worth of training through the Alzheimer’s Association (not approved for CE, but still fulfills the requirement for dementia-focused continuing education).

DSHS will be training their licensors and complaint investigators on this, so that they will not automatically go looking for DSHS-approved CE – they’ll need to critically think through what’s available in the staff files and determine compliance that way.

Other dementia-focused training opportunities can be found at:

Online Caregiver Training | Dementia Society of America

Alzheimer’s & Dementia Training & Education Center

Webinars for Dementia Caregivers and Professionals

If you have questions about assisted living regulations, please email Vicki McNealley or call 360-352-3304 extension 107.