Health Facilities

Certified medication aides provide services in assisted living facilities, comprehensive personal care homes, dementia care homes and assisted living programs.

To be eligible for certification as a medication aide, you must be currently certified in New Jersey as a nurse aide, home health aide or personal care assistant. In addition, you must comply with the following:

• Successfully complete a medication aide training program approved by the New Jersey Department of Health (NJDOH) before registering for the exam
• Register for an exam within 3 months of completing of the training program
• Pass the exam
• Undergo a Criminal Background Investigation (CBI)

If you do not pass the exam within six months of completing the training program, you will be required to retrain. To take the exam, you must provide proof that you have an active certification as a CNA, HHHA or PCA. Please bring your certificate with you to the exam.

All Certified Medication Aide schools must be registered through the NJ DOL and NJ DOE and can be  found thorugh the website listed below:

http://njtopps.org/

**Please note that a Certified Medication Aide IS NOT the same as a Certified Medical Assistant.

New Jersey does NOT reciprocate with ANY OTHER state’s medication aide program.

To recertify, you must be currently certified in New Jersey as a CNA, or a CHHA. Additionally, you must:

• Complete 10 hours of continuing education, seminars or in-service training every two years certification period
• Complete five hours of review of the fundamental principles, skills and knowledge for the task of medication administration.
• Complete five hours of training on topics of current drug use relevant to the elderly.
• Section 2 of your renewal form will need to be filled out by your employer to attest to your 10 hours of continuing education

The facility in which you work will keep records of your continuing education hours for at least one renewal period (two years). Medication aides should request copies of their continuing education records from facilities in the event that employment changes.

N.J.A.C. 8:36-9.2(d) states:

At least once every two years, on a schedule to be determined by the Department, a medication aide shall file an application for renewal of current certification. In order to be eligible to renew a current certification, the medication aide shall have completed at least 10 hours of continuing education, seminars, or in-service training every two-year certification period.

**Please note that the continuing education required for maintaining your Certified Medication Aide certificate is obtained through your employer. If you are not actively employed as a C.M.A., we cannot grant an extension for a lapsed certificate.

If your certification has lapsed, please email DOH-CMA@doh.nj.gov. In the email, include:

• Your name
• Your C.M.A. Certification Number
• An explanation why your certification lapsed
• Your phone number

Call PSI toll-free number at 1-877-774-4243.

To provide a Medication Aide Training Course, you must:

• Be currently licensed as a New Jersey Registered Professional Nurse in good standing.
• Have at least 24 months of clinical experience including medication administration responsibilities, or at least two years’ experience teaching nursing courses, within the past five years.
• Provide consultation/collaboration with a registered pharmacist.
• Have completed the one-day orientation course “Train-the-Trainer” Workshop for NJ Registered Pharmacist and Professional Nurse within the past 5 years.
• Submit all documentation of required credentials and professional experience to the New Jersey Department of Health, Assisted Living Program

Please note that Train the Trainer courses are given by HCANJ. To find out when the next course is being offered please go to: https://www.hcanj.org/