Alert to SNF Providers: Interim Plans to Get NARs Tested and Credentialed

Alert to SNF Providers: Interim Plans to Get NARs Tested and Credentialed

WHCA and LeadingAge Washington have been working closely with DSHS, DOH, state senators and representatives, Washington members of Congress, and Governor Inslee’s office in a two-pronged approach to ensure NARs successfully complete credentialing by October 6: (1) a mass testing operation to get as many NARs as possible through the skills test, and (2) a CMS waiver to extend the certification timeline.

NOTE: All SNFs should be working to get NARs trained as quickly as possible. The written exam for NAC credentialing can now be done online; this portion of the exam can be done any time after the nursing assistant finishes training. The skills exam is of utmost concern and the focus of this article.

Skills Testing Solutions

Washington continues to take proactive steps to overcome these challenges to facilitate timely testing for all nursing assistants.

The nursing commission has just been granted special funding to implement a “mass examination plan” across Washington State. Contracts are currently being arranged with nursing schools across the state, using clinical faculty as test evaluators. Implementing this plan will allow the state to test ~5,000 nursing assistant students and get through the testing backlog much more efficiently.

Ongoing efforts to improve future testing timelines involve a larger-scale recruitment program to hire and retain RN evaluators. 

WHCA, LeadingAge, DSHS, and DOH are in communication with federal regulators at CMS regarding our state’s need for an extension of the 120-day rule waiver. Other states are in the same situation since this is a national issue, so CMS is hearing the same message consistently—that more time is needed to work through backlogs created by the COVID-19 pandemic.


INFORMATION NEEDED FROM YOU

Identifying NARs Needing Testing

To ensure that enough skills testing sites are created, and enough evaluators are available for mass skills testing events, information must be gathered from each SNF regarding the total number of NARs needing to complete the skills exam. Please click the link below to identify the name and contact information of the employee in your SNF that is responsible for knowing this information. A representative from the nursing commission or testing center will be in touch with this individual to learn details on the total number of NARs needing testing and help to arrange testing locations/times once they become available. This information is imperative to make the mass testing events successful and reach the ultimate goal of certifying nursing assistants working in your care center.

 

Click Here to Provide Contact Information

 


Questions?

Contact:

Laura Hofmann, MSN, RN – Director of Clinical and Nursing Facility Regulatory Services
c: 425-231-4804

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July 13, 2022