Tennessee Assisted Living Administrator License: Eligibility, Fees, and Renewal

To work as an administrator of an assisted-care living facility in Tennessee, you need a Tennessee assisted living administrator license — formally, an ACLF administrator certification — issued by the Health Facilities Commission (HFC). There is no exam and no supervised training period. You submit an application, prove you meet three basic eligibility rules, pay $180, and pass a criminal background check.

Who Needs This Certification

Anyone who manages an assisted-care living facility in Tennessee must hold the ACLF administrator certification. One exception: if you already hold an active Tennessee nursing home administrator license, you do not need a separate ACLF certification.¹

Eligibility Requirements

Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 0720-26-.03 sets out three requirements, and that is the full list:

You must be at least 21 years old.
You must hold a high school diploma or GED. No college degree is required.
You must submit a criminal background check showing you have not been convicted of a criminal offense involving the abuse or intentional neglect of an elderly or vulnerable person.

Unlike the nursing home administrator license — which requires a college degree, an Administrator-in-Training program, and the NAB national exam — the ACLF certification has no exam and no supervised training period.²

How to Apply

Download the initial application, form PH-3203-RHA-ACLF_ADMIN, from the HFC website. Submit it with proof of age, proof of education, your background check results, and the nonrefundable application fee.³

Mail the completed packet to the Health Facilities Commission, Andrew Jackson State Building, 502 Deaderick Street, 9th Floor, Nashville, Tennessee 37243.³

Fees

The nonrefundable application fee is $180, and the same $180 applies at every two-year renewal.⁴ The rules do not set a separate background-check fee; you pay the background-check vendor directly for that service.

Background Check

Criminal background checks for Tennessee healthcare licensing go through the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. If you live out of state and cannot visit an electronic fingerprinting location in person, you can use IdentoGo’s card-scan service. That service converts an ink fingerprint card (the standard FBI FD-258 form) into an electronic record and submits it to TBI.⁵ If you mail a card in, allow at least three business days after IdentoGo receives it before checking status.

Renewal and Continuing Education

Certifications renew every two years, with a standing deadline of June 30. To renew, submit form PH-4000 from the HFC website, the $180 renewal fee, and proof of at least 24 classroom hours of approved continuing education completed in the preceding two years.¹

Those hours must cover state rules and regulations for ACLFs, healthcare management, nutrition and food service, financial management, and healthy lifestyles. Courses sponsored by the National Association of Boards of Examiners for Nursing Home Administrators (NAB) and by state or national associations focused on geriatric care are automatically approved.²

If you receive your first certification between January 1 and June 30, your initial expiration date is extended to two years plus the remaining months of that fiscal year, so you are not forced to renew almost immediately.¹

If Your Certification Lapses

A lapsed certification cannot simply be reinstated. You must submit a new application and then complete the full 24 hours of continuing education within six months of that new application.² There is no separate reinstatement pathway or reduced-hour option.

No Reciprocity for Out-of-State Administrators

Tennessee does not offer reciprocity or endorsement for ACLF administrator certification. If you hold an equivalent credential in another state, you still apply as a new applicant and meet the same requirements as anyone else.¹ A reciprocity process does exist for nursing home administrators under a separate set of rules, but it does not extend to ACLF certification.⁶

What Can Get Your Certification Disciplined

The commission retains broad authority over ACLF certifications. Grounds for discipline across Tennessee healthcare administrator certifications generally include failure to meet continuing education requirements, allowing resident abuse or neglect, habitual intoxication or drug misuse, practicing on a lapsed certification, and making false statements to obtain a license.⁷

Enforcement actions range from private censure for minor infractions to probation, suspension, revocation, and civil penalties. Willful violations posing an imminent threat carry fines of $500 to $1,000 per day; indirect violations may result in fines of $50 to $100 per day.⁷ An administrator whose certification has been revoked may petition for reinstatement after at least one year.

1
Cornell Law Institute. Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 0720-26-.03
2
Tennessee Secretary of State. Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. Chapter 0720-26
3
Tennessee Health Facilities Commission. RHA/ACLF Administrator Applications
4
Justia. Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 0720-26-.04
5
IdentoGo. Non-Resident Card Scan Instructions for Tennessee
6
Tennessee Department of Health. Board of Examiners for Nursing Home Administrators Online Application
7
Cornell Law Institute. Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 1020-01-.15