Arizona runs two nursing assistant credentials side by side, and the statute writes each definition to exclude the other. The same approved program and the same 2 competency examinations sit behind both, so which one you end up holding is settled by paperwork you file once the training is behind you.

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median$27.15/hr

90%$76.00/hr

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The step from registry to license

A certified nursing assistant here files the form the board prescribes, the one federal nursing home law authorizes, once the program and both examinations are done. A licensed nursing assistant clears the same program and the same examinations, then files an application, pays a fee and states whether they have a felony conviction, which brings them under the board's broader jurisdiction over unprofessional conduct. That choice reaches past the title. Being a licensed nursing assistant is written into the third of the 7 requirements the statute sets for anyone who wants to practice as a medication assistant, so the registry branch is a dead end for Arizona's medication tier until somebody crosses over.

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Your questions about healthcare jobs in Arizona, answered

What keeps each Arizona assistant credential alive?: Paid hours, and the two credentials are nowhere near each other on it. The board wants a minimum of 8 paid hours of nursing assistant work in the last 2 years to keep a name on the registry, and 160 in the same 2 years to renew the license. A certified medication assistant needs 160 hours of medication assistant duties and an active licensed nursing assistant credential underneath them, and the statute ties the two together at the far end as well, since the medication assistant certification expires at the same time as the license it sits on.
Will an Arizona posting say which of the two it wants?: Often it won't, because the board's rule on this binds the credential holder and not the employer. A licensed nursing assistant is asked to identify themselves as an LNA and a registry holder as a CNA, and the board treats the titles as mutually exclusive. Our own classifier doesn't split them either, so a posting written either way lands on the Arizona nursing assistant page. Asking which credential the job actually requires is a short question, and the two aren't interchangeable at the board.
Does Arizona certify home health aides?: No, and the board says so in as many words. What it issues in that space is the licensed health aide, and the statute keeps it narrow: a parent, guardian or family member of someone under 21 who qualifies for continuous skilled nursing or skilled nursing respite care. The board's own definition of family member runs to 10 relationships, from spouse and child through to legal guardian, and it warns that the Arizona license is not equivalent to an out-of-state home health aide credential. So the license reaches nothing on the adult side of an Arizona home health aide listing, whatever the posting calls the work.