CMS SOM App. H, Tag V695

Patient care dialysis technicians

must— (4) Be certified under a State certification program or a national commercially

available certification program, as follows—

(i) For newly employed patient care technicians, within 18 months of being hired as a

dialysis patient care technician; or

(ii) For patient care technicians employed on October 14, 2008, within 18 months after such

date.

Interpretive Guidance § 494.140(e)(4)(i) and (ii):

PCT certification can occur under the aegis of either a national, commercially-available

program or a State program.

At the time of publication of these regulations (April 15, 2008, 73FR20369), there were three

national commercially-available certification programs: the Certified Clinical Hemodialysis

Technician (CCHT) examination offered by the Nephrology Nursing Certification Commission

(NNCC), the Board of Nephrology Examiners for Nursing and Technology (BONENT) exam, and

the National Nephrology Certification Organization (NNCO) exam. Additional national

certification programs may become available subsequent to the publication of this guidance.

These national, commercially-available certification programs require a patient care dialysis

technician to successfully pass a standardized certification examination in a proctored

environment, and maintain certification through current work experience and continuing

education.

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State certification programs which have a formal certification and competency program

(including standardized tests, which reflect the content listed in the regulation, administered in a

proctored environment by an independent examiner) that is specific to patient care dialysis

technicians can satisfy this requirement. A “standardized test” is one developed and tested to

validly and reliably measure the knowledge required to demonstrate competency in the area. If

the state requires certification by a national commercially-available certification program, this

regulation expects continued certification under the requirements of the national commercially-available program.

Patient care technicians hired after October 14, 2008 must be certified within 18 months of their

hire date as a patient care technician. If a patient care technician changes jobs from one dialysis

facility to another before becoming certified, the time they were employed in the first facility will

count toward the 18-month deadline for certification unless they had a gap in employment as a

patient care technician of more than 18 months.

A reuse technician or a water treatment technician who does not provide direct patient care does

not require certification as a patient care dialysis technician. The training curriculum for

persons performing hemodialyzer reprocessing is delineated under the Condition for reuse of

hemodialyzers and bloodlines at V308. The training for persons responsible for operating and

testing the water treatment and dialysate preparation systems is addressed under the Condition

for water and dialysate quality at V260. If a reprocessing technician or water treatment

technician changes positions to become a patient care technician, they must be certified in 18

months from the date they begin the new PCT position.