Training Agencies

CNA Training Agency -- CMT Training Agency -- TABE Information

Certified Nurse Assistant (CNA) Training Agency

A CNA training agency is the organization that sponsors the approved CNA training program. The Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) must give approval for an organization to become a training agency.

Organizations eligible to be an approved CNA training agency are:

  • Vocational-technical school
  • Comprehensive high schools offering health service occupation programs
  • Community college
  • Private schools approved by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education or Department of Higher Education (Leslie Winter, Missouri Department of Higher Education & Workforce Development, Office: Leslie.Winter@dhewd.mo.gov
  • Hospital
  • Licensed nursing home (Skilled or Intermediate Care level)
  • MO Veterans Home

An organization must file an application with the DHSS requesting approval to be a CNA Training Agency. In order to be approved, the agency must meet these requirements:

  • Classroom space sufficient for fifteen (15) students.
  • Appropriate equipment as needed to teach the course.
  • Approved instructors and clinical super visors.
  • Provide a manual for each student.
  • Pass an on-site evaluation every approval period.
  • The approval period is for two years.

The training agency should submit a new application by email to cnaregistry@health.mo.gov for approval thirty (30) days prior to the expiration of the approval. Submit your application to the DHSS address listed on the right bar.

Certified Medication Technician (CMT) Educational Training Agency

Missouri rules for training CMTs may be found at 19 CSR 30-84.020.

A CMT educational training agency is the organization that sponsors the approved CMT training program. The Department of Health and Senior Services, Health Education Unit (HEU) must give approval for an organization to become a training agency. 

Organizations eligible to be an approved training agency are:

  • Vocational-technical schools;
  • Comprehensive high schools offering health service occupation programs;
  • Community colleges;
  • Approved four (4)-year institutions of higher learning.

A school must complete and submit an application. The training agency must provide a copy of a signed agreement with all cooperating nursing facilities where clinical practice and testing will be conducted.

The signed agreement between the sponsoring educational training agency and the cooperating ICF/SNF must specify the rules, responsibilities and liabilities of each party.

The agreement must outline who is responsible for confirming receipt of a high school diploma, confirming six months of employment as a CNA, providing all required background checks (including but not limited to criminal background checks, an employee disqualification checks, and federal marker checks), providing clinical supervision for all students, and tracking of unexcused student absences.

The cooperating ICF/SNF shall allow students, instructors and examiners access to the medication room, supervised access to residents and access to the medication recording area.

In order to be approved, the training agency must also meet these requirements:

  • Classrooms shall contain sufficient space;
  • Appropriate equipment as needed for teaching the course;
  • Approved instructors; and
  • Provide a manual for each student.

TABE Information

Effective April 1, 2019, due to the difficulty in administering the TABE 9/10 test, DHSS educational training agencies will no longer be required to ensure compliance with the TABE test requirement at 19 CSR 30-84.020(6)(2), (3)(A), or (10)(A). Some schools may choose to continue to administer the TABE test, however DHSS will not require the TABE test in order to enroll in CMT training.