Nebraska CNA Registry: Status, Transfers, and Findings

To work as a nurse aide in Nebraska, your name has to appear with Active status on the Nebraska CNA registry maintained by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). You get there by finishing a DHHS-approved 75-hour training program and passing the state competency evaluation, and you stay there by working at least one paid nurse aide shift every 24 months. Fall outside those lines and you lose eligibility to work.

How to Get on the Registry

Before you can even start training, you need to be at least 16 years old, able to communicate in English or in a language understood by a substantial number of the facility’s residents, and free of any conviction for a crime involving moral turpitude.¹

The training itself is a DHHS-approved program of at least 75 clock hours, including a minimum of 16 hours of supervised practical training. Every approved program must also include at least one hour of instruction on your duty to report suspected abuse or neglect, and a licensed registered nurse must administer the training. Nursing homes can run their own approved programs in-house, but they are not allowed to administer the competency evaluation portion.¹²

If you have already started working at a facility, you have 120 days from your first day of employment to finish an approved course.¹ Miss that window and you cannot keep working in the role.

One narrower track exists: nurse aides in intermediate care facilities for individuals with intellectual disabilities train for a 20-hour minimum rather than 75 hours.² If you plan to work in a nursing home, assume 75.

Passing the Competency Exam

After training, you take the Nebraska Nurse Aide Competency Evaluation. It has two parts: a written (or oral) test and a hands-on skills demonstration. You need a passing score on both.³

The written questions are pulled from a larger pool, so no two exams look the same. The skills portion is evaluated by a registered nurse with at least one year of experience caring for elderly or chronically ill people, in a setting that mirrors real working conditions. Results come back within five calendar days, and the testing entity reports your scores to the registry within 14 days.³

You get three attempts to pass. Fail either portion three times and you have to retake the full 75-hour training course before testing again.⁴ That is weeks of lost time, so take each attempt seriously.

Fees shift from time to time. Recent figures list the written exam at $50 and the clinical skills exam at $50, for a total of $100. The exam administrator sets these prices rather than statute, so confirm current costs when you register.

Checking Your Status

Once you pass both parts, the testing entity sends your results to DHHS, which places you on the registry with Active status. Nebraska does not mail out a physical license card; employers verify you through the online registry.⁴⁵

A note on background checks: the statute does not require fingerprinting as a standalone step for initial registry placement, but you cannot be placed on the registry at all if you have been convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude.¹ Many employers run their own background checks before hiring, and facilities that participate in Medicare or Medicaid may be subject to the federal National Background Check Program for direct patient access employees.⁶

Keeping Your Status Active

To stay Active, you have to have worked as a nurse aide in a paid position within the past 24 months.⁴ If two full years pass without paid nurse aide work, your status flips to Lapsed and you lose eligibility to work in the role.

Getting back on takes retesting. You pass the competency evaluation again and you are reactivated. Fail three times and you are back to the full 75-hour training course.⁴

Nebraska does not require continuing education hours to keep your registry status. Employers typically expect you to stay current on infection control, facility protocols, and best practices anyway.

Transferring From Another State

If you hold an active nurse aide certification somewhere else, you can apply by interstate endorsement rather than starting over. To qualify, all of the following have to be true:

Your certification in the other state is current and in good standing.
You completed a training program of at least 75 hours.
You have passing results on both written and clinical competency evaluations.
You have worked as a nurse aide within the last 24 months, unless you tested within that same window.

Every nurse aide coming into Nebraska by endorsement also has to complete a one-hour in-service on reporting abuse and neglect under Nebraska law. You can get this through your first Nebraska employer, through some community colleges, or online. DHHS will not activate you until that in-service is done. Processing takes up to 30 days after DHHS receives a complete application.⁵

One important catch. If you were ever on the Nebraska registry before, you cannot use interstate endorsement. You go through Nebraska’s standard reactivation or retesting pathway instead.⁵

What Can Put a Finding on Your Record

The most serious thing that can appear on your registry entry is a finding of abuse, neglect, or misappropriation of resident property. When an allegation is substantiated, the finding is recorded within ten working days and stays on the registry permanently. The only exceptions are a finding made in error, a not-guilty verdict in court, or notification of the individual’s death.⁷

Once a finding is on your record, every facility that checks the registry sees it, and no Medicare- or Medicaid-certified facility is permitted to hire you with an active finding of abuse, neglect, or misappropriation. DHHS sends written notice to you, the administrator of the facility where the incident happened, and the administrator of any facility currently employing you.⁷

Convictions for crimes involving moral turpitude are documented separately as a finding of conviction. You can petition DHHS to have a finding of conviction removed, but only after at least one year has passed since it was placed on the registry.¹ As part of that review, DHHS examines criminal background records for any history of violence, domestic abuse, or restraining orders.⁷

Your Hearing Rights

If someone alleges abuse, neglect, or misappropriation against you, you have the right to a hearing before any finding is placed on the registry. A finding is recorded only if the evidence supports the allegation or if you waive the hearing.⁷

Do not waive casually. The finding is permanent in almost all circumstances once recorded, and the hearing is your main chance to challenge it with evidence. If you receive notice of a proposed finding, talking with an attorney before you respond is worth the cost given what it can do to your career.

Federal Exclusion Beyond the State Registry

A substantiated finding can also land you on the federal List of Excluded Individuals and Entities (LEIE), kept by the Office of Inspector General at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Exclusion bars you from receiving payment through any federal healthcare program, which covers nearly every nursing home and home health agency in the country.⁸

Employers who hire someone on the LEIE face civil monetary penalties, so facilities routinely check the list before hiring and periodically throughout employment.⁸ Federal exclusion can effectively end a healthcare career regardless of what any single state registry says.

Nurses and Nurse Aides: Two Traps to Know

Two provisions in Nebraska law catch people off guard. If your RN or LPN license has been revoked, suspended, or voluntarily surrendered to avoid discipline, you cannot work as a nurse aide. The statute treats this as absolute; no facility can waive it.¹

The reverse also has a sting. If you are on the Nurse Aide Registry and then become licensed as an RN or LPN, your nurse aide registration automatically becomes void on the date of your nursing licensure.¹ If your nursing license later lapses, you would start the nurse aide process from the beginning to return to that role.

Where to Verify Status or File a Complaint

Employers and the public verify nurse aide status through the online registry maintained by DHHS. To report concerns about a nurse aide or facility, contact DHHS Health Care Facilities and Services Complaints at (402) 471-0316.⁴

1
Nebraska Legislature. Nebraska Code 71-6039 – Nurse Aide; Qualifications; Training Requirements; Department; Duties; Licensure as Nurse; Effect
2
Legal Information Institute. 172 Neb. Admin. Code, ch. 108, 004 – Nurse Aide Training Program
3
Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. 172 NAC 108 – Approval of Training Programs and Qualifications for Nursing Assistants in Nursing Homes
4
Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. Nurse Aide
5
Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. Application for Nebraska Nurse Aide Registry by Interstate Endorsement
6
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. CMS National Background Check Program
7
Legal Information Institute. 471 Neb. Admin. Code, ch. 12, 012 – Nurse Aides in Nursing Facilities
8
Office of Inspector General. Exclusions Program