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Licensing information - applications and forms, fees, licensing requirements and additional information
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Home Care Aides and COVID-19
- Senate Concurrent Resolution 8402 (PDF) was signed by the House and Senate leaders on January 18, 2021, extending the prior suspension of deadlines for training and certification until the end of the state of emergency due to COVID-19. Applicants are encouraged to submit their application to the Department of Health and complete both training and the certification exam at the first opportunity due to limited site capacity due to COVID safety measures.
- Prometric suspended home care aide testing on March 13, 2020, and resumed testing on July 15, 2020. Applicants who had a test date cancelled due to COVID and have not been contacted by Prometric should call Prometric to schedule a new test date. Applicants must wear a mask throughout the entire knowledge and skills exam, which has been modified so the applicant playing the client will keep their mask on the entire skills exam. Applicants who receive a scheduled test date and want to reschedule, or wait to take the certification exam, should call Prometric immediately; this allows another applicant to be scheduled in their place. Due to the backlog of applicants waiting for an exam date and limited seats at test sites due to COVID safety measures, there is a longer wait for a test date after DOH authorizes someone to take the exam. Prometric's call center in Baltimore has re-opened and operates on Eastern Time Zone (EST), three hours ahead.
Information for providers whose credentials have been affected by a drug conviction
- Beginning January 1, 2021, health care professionals (excluding physicians) who are offering telemedicine services to patients, are required to complete telemedicine training. Please see the Department of Health policy statement with additional information related to this requirement (PDF) for more information.
To learn more about the different training options available and access additional resources, please visit the Washington State Telehealth Collaborative Training page. To complete the free and publicly available telemedicine training, please select enroll and create a Canvas account to access the Washington State Medical Professional Telemedicine Training.
Additional resources - See our Resources webpage for links to a list of continuing education classes, nursing assistant bridge training programs, the DSHS background check process and a checklist for new long-term caregivers.
Interpreters available for the written examination - The Department of Health offers the home care aide examination in the following languages: Amharic, Arabic, Chinese, English, Khmer, Korean, Laotian, Russian, Samoan, Spanish, Somali, Tagalog, Ukrainian and Vietnamese. When requested, the department provides an interpreter to read the home care aide examination to accommodate other languages not listed above. More information is on our Individual Interpreter Project webpage.
New test site open in Yakima - A new testing site opened in Yakima on April 10, 2017. Candidates wishing to test at this site may find the test site code on the Prometric website: Washington Home Care Aide Regional Test Site Locations webpage. Candidates who have already been scheduled at another testing site and wish to change to the Yakima test site should contact Prometric at 1-800-324-4689. Changing the test site may mean a delay in the testing date.