Home Care Aide Certification Timeline Changes: What It Means for You
Senate Bill 5672 passed the legislature in 2025, providing an extended certification timeline for home care aides (HCAs). This timeline is temporary and will expire on December 31, 2027.
Effective August 25, 2025 anyone with a “pending” HCA on the Provider Credential Search webpage will have 365 days from their date of hire to obtain an HCA credential.
Likewise, anyone who applies for an HCA credential anytime between August 25, 2025 and December 31, 2027 will have 365 days to obtain their HCA credential.
A clarifying table is provided below:
| You are over 365-days since your date of hire and you are currently pending certification. | Your certification timeline may be re-set to 365-days if you submit a new Employment Verification Form to the department with valid re-hire date. |
| You are no longer able to work because you are over the original 200-day certification timeline and are currently pending certification. | Your certification timeline is re-set to 365-days from your date of hire, so you may continue working. |
| You apply for certification on or before December 31, 2027, with a hire date on or before December 31, 2027. | Your certification timeline will be 365-days from your date of hire. |
| You apply for certification after December 31, 2027, regardless of hire date. | Your certification timeline will be 200-days from your date of hire. |
This extension is welcomed and helpful to promote appropriate staffing levels in long term care settings including assisted living facilities. Please note, however, that in order for any home care aide in “pending” status to perform nurse delegated duties, s/he must work under the Uniform Disciplinary Act. That means having the following:
- Proof (a 75-hour certificate) of having completed the core basic training (home care aide training), and
- Proof (a 9-hour certificate) of having completed the core Nurse Delegation training; and
- If administering insulin, proof (a 3-hour certificate) of having completed the Focus on Diabetes delegation training class; and
- An active nursing assistant registration (NAR).
Once the pending status of a caregiver’s HCA credential moves to “active,” the individual can let the NAR credential expire.
If you have questions about home care aides, please email Vicki McNealley at the WHCA office.
