The Texas CNA Registry is the official state-maintained database of every certified nurse aide eligible to work in a Texas nursing facility. If you trained in Texas, transferred your certification from another state, or you are an employer running a pre-hire check, the registry is the single source of truth. It tells you whether a CNA is on active status, when their certification expires, and whether any abuse, neglect, or misappropriation findings sit against their name. Without an active listing, no Medicaid- or Medicare-certified facility in Texas can legally put you on the schedule.
The registry lives under the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC). You may still see it called the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services (DADS) registry — DADS was folded into HHSC back in 2017, and the function moved with it. The public lookup tool runs at txnar.hhs.texas.gov, and it is free to use.
Anyone can search — a hiring manager, a worried family member, or you, checking your own status before a renewal deadline. This guide walks through every part of the registry: how to look someone up, how to land on it in the first place, how to renew, how to transfer in from another state, and what happens when something goes wrong.
If you are still in the certification phase, our broader CNA license guide and step-by-step how-to-get-licensed walkthrough sit alongside this Texas-specific deep dive. If you want to compare Texas to other states, the master CNA Registry state lookup hub covers every U.S. registry, and the registry verification guide explains national patterns. Texas does things a little differently than most states — bigger training hours, a separate medication aide pathway, and a strict abuse-finding list that follows you for life — so it pays to read the local rules carefully.
Think of the registry as Texas's permanent record of every nurse aide who ever passed the state competency exam and was placed in good standing. Federal law (OBRA 1987) requires each state to keep one, but states get to pick the training hour minimum (federal floor is 75 hours; Texas raised it to 100) and the renewal cycle (Texas runs on a strict 2-year clock). The HHSC Long-term Care Regulatory department manages it day to day.
The list is public for one reason: families putting a loved one into a nursing home, an assisted-living center, or hiring a private-duty aide deserve to know whether the caregiver in front of them is who they say they are.
Every entry on the registry pulls together five pieces of information: the CNA's full legal name (as it appeared on the exam application), the certification number issued by HHSC, the effective date of placement, the expiration date, and a status flag — Active, Expired/Lapsed, or Revoked. Alongside that sits a second layer most people don't realize exists: the Nurse Aide Registry Abuse/Neglect Findings list.
CNAs convicted (administratively or criminally) of patient abuse, neglect, or theft from a resident are marked here permanently. Once you are on the findings list, no Texas nursing facility may employ you in a CNA capacity. Period. No appeal after a certain point, no expungement, no expiration.
Texas also runs an adjacent registry called the Employee Misconduct Registry (EMR). The EMR covers unlicensed staff in all kinds of facilities (not just nursing homes), and findings on the EMR are also checked before hire. A serious finding can land you on both the Nurse Aide Registry abuse list and the EMR. Employers in long-term care must verify all three checks — Nurse Aide Registry status, abuse findings list, and EMR — before scheduling a single shift.
Go to txnar.hhs.texas.gov (or search 'Texas Nurse Aide Registry HHSC' if the URL changes). You will see two search options: search by name (last name plus first initial works) or by registry number if you have it. Hit search, and the system returns the CNA's full record: name as registered, expiration date, status, and any abuse or neglect findings.
If you forgot your own registry number, the lookup tool finds it for you — search by your legal name. Your employer's HR file usually has it too, and Pearson VUE Headmaster keeps your exam pass certificate which lists the number. The registry number stays with you forever; even if you let your certification lapse and re-test years later, the same identifier follows you. There is also a paid background check service for employers that bundles the registry, EMR, and OIG exclusion list in one report, but most hiring managers just run the free public search.
You cannot apply for the registry directly — you earn placement by completing training and passing the state exam. The path is:
Certification is good for two years from the date HHSC placed you on the registry. To renew, you must prove you performed at least 8 hours of paid nurse aide work in the previous 24 months. Volunteer work doesn't count — it has to be paid, supervised by a licensed nurse, at a Medicare- or Medicaid-certified facility, and documented on an employer letter or paystubs.
HHSC mails (and emails, if they have your address) a renewal reminder about 90 days before expiration. The renewal fee runs about $25. You submit the renewal form, your employment verification, and the fee online or by mail. There is no continuing education requirement for renewal — Texas relies on the work-hours minimum instead. If you renew on time, your status stays Active without interruption. If you miss the deadline, the clock starts on the lapsed-status rules described below.
If you are already a CNA in another state and want to work in Texas, you apply for endorsement (sometimes called reciprocity) through HHSC. Texas will accept your out-of-state certification if your training program met or exceeded Texas's 100-hour minimum and you are listed on your home state's registry in good standing — no abuse findings, no revocations.
The steps: pull a current verification letter from your home-state registry, complete the Texas endorsement application, submit it to HHSC with the fee, and wait for review. If your training was 75 hours (the federal minimum) and not 100, HHSC may require you to complete the gap hours, pass a challenge exam, or both. Once approved, you get a Texas registry number, and your name appears on txnar.hhs.texas.gov within days. Our CNA reciprocity guide covers state-by-state nuances, and the broader license verification walkthrough shows how to pull verification letters from any state.
Your registry number is the unique HHSC-assigned ID that follows you for life. You will need it for every renewal, every new job application, and every transfer request. Three reliable places to find it:
If you cannot find it anywhere, you can email HHSC's Nurse Aide Registry team. They will verify your identity (date of birth, last four of SSN, legal name) and email the number back. Don't pay any third-party service to look it up — the public lookup is free and instant. For a deeper walkthrough of looking up your record, see our CNA license lookup guide.
Enrol in a state-approved 100-hour training program. Options: community college, Red Cross chapter, or a nursing facility offering paid training in exchange for a work commitment. Check HHSC's NATCEP list to confirm approval.
60 hours of classroom and skills lab (vital signs, transfers, infection control, communication, residents' rights) plus 40 hours of supervised clinical at a long-term care facility.
Once you finish training, your program submits eligibility to Pearson VUE. You schedule both parts — written/oral plus 5-skill demonstration — at an approved test centre.
Score 75% or higher on the written portion and pass all five skill stations. Most candidates get same-day notification.
Pearson VUE transmits results to HHSC. You submit your application and fee. Within a few business days, your name appears on txnar.hhs.texas.gov with Active status.
Work at least 8 paid CNA hours in any 24-month window. Document each shift through paystubs or an employer letter.
HHSC sends reminders 90 days before expiration. Submit renewal form, employment verification, and $25 fee. Status stays Active without interruption if filed on time.
Texas raised the training minimum well above the federal floor. A 75-hour out-of-state program won't transfer in without gap hours or a challenge exam.
Renewal is based on documented paid CNA work (8 hours in 24 months), not continuing education credits. No CE class will save you if you didn't work.
There's the Nurse Aide Registry (certification status) and the separate Abuse/Neglect Findings list. A finding here is permanent and bars long-term care employment.
Not Prometric, not the state directly. Headmaster handles scheduling, scoring, and result transmission to HHSC for every Texas NACEP.
The Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services was absorbed into HHSC in 2017. Old web pages and forms may still reference DADS — same registry, new name.
The day after your expiration date, your registry status flips from Active to Expired or Lapsed. From that moment, you cannot legally work as a CNA in a Texas nursing facility. Here is what the recovery path looks like.
If you act fast — within two years of expiration — you can reinstate without retesting. You need to show that during your active certification you completed at least 8 hours of paid CNA work, submit a renewal application, and pay the renewal fee. HHSC will review, restore active status, and you can go back to work. This window is generous but unforgiving: miss it, and you start over.
If your certification has been lapsed for two full years or longer, you are treated as a new applicant. You must retake the NACEP (both written and skills) and pay the full exam fee. You do not need to redo the 100-hour training program if your original NATCEP completion is on file — but if HHSC cannot verify it, you may have to retrain too. The retest path is genuinely tough; many CNAs underestimate how much hands-on muscle memory fades after a couple of years out of the field.
Revocation is different — it usually follows an abuse, neglect, or theft finding and may be permanent. We cover this in detail in the disciplinary actions section below.
The Texas CNA Registry isn't just an administrative list — it's a public-protection tool. When HHSC's Long-term Care Regulatory team investigates a complaint at a nursing facility, they can issue a substantiated finding against an individual nurse aide.
The most common reasons for revocation or an abuse-list finding include theft or financial exploitation of a resident (taking cash, jewellery, prescription medications, or fraudulently using a resident's bank card or identity), physical abuse (hitting, rough handling, inappropriate restraint, or sexually inappropriate contact), neglect (failure to provide food, hydration, hygiene, repositioning, or to respond to a call light, where harm or serious risk results), drug or alcohol impairment on shift (especially where it directly affects resident care), and fraudulent documentation (falsifying charts, signing for care that wasn't given, or forging credentials).
The investigation is administrative, not criminal — though criminal charges often run in parallel. HHSC sends a notice of intent, you have the right to an administrative hearing (formal due process through the State Office of Administrative Hearings, or SOAH), and you can present evidence, call witnesses, and have legal representation. If the finding is sustained after the hearing, your name goes on the Nurse Aide Registry Abuse/Neglect Findings list. From that day forward, no Texas nursing facility may employ you in a CNA role — and most other state registries will reciprocate the bar.
A finding on the abuse list is, in practice, permanent for serious offences. There is a narrow appeal window after the SOAH decision, and in some less-severe neglect cases involving first-time aides, there is a process to request removal after a period of years — but it is rare and case-specific. The takeaway: take any complaint seriously, get legal advice early, and don't ignore HHSC notices.
Must be Active, not Lapsed or Revoked. Lookup at txnar.hhs.texas.gov.
Same HHSC lookup shows any sustained abuse, neglect, or misappropriation findings.
Separate Texas database covering unlicensed staff across many facility types.
Fingerprint-based criminal history check submitted via MorphoTrust/IdentoGO.
List of Excluded Individuals/Entities — Medicare/Medicaid exclusion check.
Texas DPS public sex offender list check completes the pre-hire screening stack.
The fingerprint-based Texas DPS check covers convictions and pending charges across Texas and (via FBI cross-reference) nationally. Certain convictions are automatic bars — patient abuse, child or elder abuse, controlled-substance offences related to healthcare delivery, theft over a threshold from a healthcare provider, and any felony where the victim was vulnerable. Other convictions trigger a case-by-case review with HHSC. Self-reporting any criminal history on your registry application is mandatory — concealing it is grounds for revocation if discovered later.
A federal LEIE listing is the most serious flag. If your name appears on the OIG exclusion list, you cannot work at any facility that bills Medicare or Medicaid — which is essentially every Texas nursing home. LEIE listings can follow you for years and require a formal reinstatement application to the federal Office of Inspector General. Don't try to hide it; employers cross-check this list weekly.
If you trained and certified in another state — California, Florida, North Carolina, Arizona, anywhere — you can transfer your certification to Texas through the endorsement process. It is faster than starting from scratch but not automatic. HHSC needs three things from you: proof your training met or exceeded Texas's 100-hour minimum, current active status on your home-state registry with no abuse findings, and a clean background check.
The most common snag is training hours. Federal minimum is 75 hours, and many states (including California and Florida) sit between 75 and 120 hours. If your program was under 100 hours, HHSC may require completion of gap hours through a Texas-approved supplemental program, a successful challenge exam (pass the Texas NACEP without redoing the training), or both, depending on how short your hours were and how long ago you certified.
Compare programs across states using our California CNA programs guide and Florida CNA classes guide. If your home state has a shorter training program and you are moving for work, contact HHSC before you relocate — the gap hours can take weeks to complete, and you cannot work in Texas during that window.
The endorsement application packet typically includes: a verification letter from your home-state registry (mailed directly from that state to HHSC), your training certificate, your exam pass certificate, the endorsement application form, a fingerprint-based Texas DPS background check, and the application fee. Approval timing varies but usually runs 4–8 weeks from a complete packet. Our CNA reciprocity guide covers state-by-state quirks in more depth.
If you served as a military medic, corpsman, or healthcare specialist, Texas recognises that you already have far more clinical experience than a civilian CNA needs. There is a streamlined path: HHSC reviews your military training records (DD-214 plus military training transcripts), compares them against the Texas NATCEP curriculum, and identifies any gap content. Most military medics need a short gap-training module covering Texas-specific resident rights, long-term care protocols, and abuse-reporting requirements — content the military didn't formally cover.
Once gap training is done, you sit the Pearson VUE Headmaster NACEP just like any other candidate. HHSC waives some fees for veterans, and several Texas community colleges and nursing-home-based programs offer free or reduced-tuition gap modules specifically for military-to-civilian transitions. The transition can be completed in a few weeks rather than a few months — far quicker than the full 100-hour pathway. If you are leaving service and considering CNA work as a stepping stone toward an RN or LPN credential, this is one of the fastest civilian healthcare credentials available.
This trips people up constantly. The Texas Board of Nursing (TX BON) licenses Registered Nurses (RNs), Licensed Vocational Nurses (LVNs, what other states call LPNs), and Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs). The BON does not license CNAs. The Texas CNA Registry, run by HHSC, is the only authority for certified nurse aides. If a website tells you to check the BON for a CNA license, it is wrong — that lookup will return nothing.
Where it gets a bit more interesting: Medication Aides. Texas has a separate Medication Aide certification administered by HHSC (not the BON) that lets a current CNA give medications in a long-term care setting. The Medication Aide Training Program is a 100-hour add-on (60 classroom + 40 clinical) on top of your CNA certification. You take a separate state exam, and once certified, you appear on a separate Medication Aide registry. It is a useful career step — medication aides earn meaningfully more than standard CNAs and are in high demand in Texas long-term care.
For a sense of how CNA pay scales across roles, our CNA hourly pay guide breaks down standard CNA, medication aide, hospital CNA, and travel CNA wages — the gap between baseline and medication-aide pay is often $3–6 per hour in Texas.
Where: txnar.hhs.texas.gov (HHSC Nurse Aide Registry)
Who runs it: Texas Health and Human Services Commission (formerly DADS)
Training: 100 hours (60 theory + 40 clinical)
Exam: Pearson VUE Headmaster NACEP (written/oral + 5-skill demo)
Renewal cycle: Every 2 years, requires 8+ paid CNA hours in past 24 months
Renewal fee: ~$25
Lapsed under 24 months: Reinstate with proof of work + fee
Lapsed 24+ months: Full retest required
Abuse findings: Permanent bar from Texas long-term care employment
If HHSC issues a notice of intent to make a finding against you — abuse, neglect, or misappropriation — you have a defined window (usually 30 days from the notice date) to request an administrative hearing. Skip the deadline, and the finding goes onto your record by default.
The process runs in seven stages. A Notice of Intent arrives by certified mail (read every line, note the deadline, and don't sign anything yet). You request the hearing in writing before the deadline, which preserves your due-process rights at SOAH. Get legal advice from a healthcare-licensing attorney or legal-aid organisation.
From there, complete discovery and evidence prep — request all HHSC investigation records, witness statements, and any video or documentary evidence; you can call your own witnesses. Then attend the hearing day where an administrative law judge hears both sides, review the Proposal for Decision (PFD) written by the judge, and finally receive the final order from HHSC's decision-maker.
If the finding is sustained, it goes on the registry. If reversed, no finding is recorded. You can appeal a sustained final order to a Texas district court, but the appeals window is short. Whatever you do, do not ignore the notice. The cost of fighting a wrongful finding is high, but the cost of losing one without a fight is your career.
CMS surveyors will ask for evidence that you verified each CNA's registry status, abuse-findings status, EMR, OIG LEIE, and DPS fingerprint check before their first shift. Print or save PDFs of every result; date and initial them.
Best practice is to recheck the registry quarterly. A staff member can pick up a sustained finding between hire and renewal, and you are responsible for catching it.
CNAs sometimes go by nicknames, married names, or shortened versions. Match the registry record to a government photo ID, not just a self-reported name.
If a new hire just transferred in, pull both the Texas record (via endorsement) and a verification letter from their home state.
If you turn down a candidate based on a registry finding, document the reason and follow your written hiring policy — this protects you against discrimination claims.
If you are hiring across state lines and want a sense of how Texas compares to neighbouring markets, our CNA jobs in Florida guide and CNA jobs in California guide cover regional pay, hiring norms, and which facilities tend to recruit aggressively. Texas demand is strong year-round, particularly in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio, and Austin metros. Long-term care facilities, hospitals' nursing assistant pools, home health agencies, and hospice providers all compete for the same workforce, and signing bonuses for newly certified Texas CNAs are now common in metro areas.
A common worry is whether you can afford the certification at all. The HHSC fees themselves are modest — roughly $25 application plus $30 exam fee, around $55 total. The bigger cost line is training tuition. Community college NATCEP programs in Texas typically run $500–$1,500. Private vocational schools can run $1,000–$2,500. Red Cross chapters run free or reduced-cost programs in some cities. Many nursing facilities offer tuition-paid training in exchange for a 6–12 month work commitment after certification — you train for free, they get a known new hire, you exit with no debt.
For ways to lower or eliminate the cost, our free CNA classes guide covers the Red Cross, employer-sponsored training, workforce-development grants through Texas Workforce Commission, and several no-cost online-plus-clinical hybrid options. Don't pay full tuition without exhausting the free routes first.
Sometimes the registry shows incorrect data — wrong expiration date, misspelled name, missing renewal credit, or even a status that doesn't match what HHSC told you. Don't panic, but do act. Start by documenting what's wrong: screenshot the registry record and note the date and time. Then gather your proof — your exam pass certificate, renewal confirmation receipt, employer verification letter, and any HHSC correspondence.
Email or call HHSC's Nurse Aide Registry team using the contact info on the txnar.hhs.texas.gov site, and include your registry number, the error you see, and the supporting documents. Allow 7–14 business days for correction, and follow up if you don't hear back — clerical updates aren't always automatic.
If the issue is more serious — a wrongful lapsed flag, an abuse-finding that shouldn't be there, a confused identity — request an administrative review in writing. This is a formal process and you may want legal advice. An incorrect listing is more than a paperwork annoyance. Employers won't schedule shifts against a record that shows lapsed or revoked status, and they won't usually wait for HHSC to fix it. Catch errors fast and document everything.
The Texas CNA Registry is the backbone of the state's long-term care workforce. Get on it, stay on it, and protect your standing. The basics: complete the 100-hour state-approved training, pass the Pearson VUE Headmaster NACEP, pay your fees, and watch your name appear at txnar.hhs.texas.gov.
After that, the rules are simple — work at least 8 paid CNA hours every two years, renew on time, keep your contact info updated, and never give HHSC a reason to open an investigation. Treat the registry as your professional credential, not a piece of paperwork, and it will carry you through a long Texas healthcare career.
For broader CNA career planning across all states, our Certified Nursing Assistant hub is the starting point. For pay benchmarks, see the CNA hourly pay guide. For how Texas stacks up against other big states, compare our Florida CNA market and California CNA market guides. And if you are looking up someone else's certification — yours, an employee's, a parent's caregiver — bookmark txnar.hhs.texas.gov and the master CNA Registry hub. The information is free, the lookup is instant, and using it is the single most important habit anyone in Texas long-term care should build.