22 CCR 87406(a)(1) · CDSS Vendor #2000778

NHA to RCFE Administrator Bridge in California

If you hold a current California Nursing Home Administrator license, you do not have to sit the 80-hour Initial Certification Training Program, and you do not have to pass the state exam. Title 22 lets you certify as an RCFE administrator on twelve hours of training instead.

12 hours, not 80
No state exam
Written into Title 22
$150.00

Pick the session you will attend and you go straight to checkout. Not settled on dates yet? Choose the decide-later option and we will schedule you.

What the exemption actually says

California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 87406(a)(1) creates a separate route to the RCFE Administrator Certificate for people who already hold a valid Nursing Home Administrator license. It exempts you from the Initial Certification Training Program and from the written examination.

In their place the regulation asks for twelve hours of instruction in three named Core of Knowledge areas. That is the entire training obligation. Everything else about the certificate works exactly the way it does for everyone else: the application, the fee, the criminal record clearance.

The exemption exists because the state has already tested you once. An NHA license covers licensing law, resident assessment, staffing and facility administration in a skilled nursing setting. What it does not cover is the part of the job specific to residential care for the elderly, and that is precisely what the twelve hours fill in.

The twelve hours, broken down

Three subject areas, four hours each. The regulation names all three.

4hours

Laws, regulations and procedural standards

How Title 22 governs an RCFE day to day, and where it parts company with the skilled nursing rules you already work under. 22 CCR 87406(a)(1)(A).

4hours

Medication management

The use, misuse and interaction of drugs commonly used by the elderly, in a setting where residents largely self-administer. 22 CCR 87406(a)(1)(B).

4hours

Admission, retention and assessment

Who an RCFE may admit, who it may not, and the point at which a resident can no longer be retained. 22 CCR 87406(a)(1)(C).

How NCPI delivers the twelve hours

Laws & RegulationsFour hours live over Zoom, Day 1 of an NCPI initial course, 8:00am to 12:00pm.
Admissions & RetentionFour hours live over Zoom, Day 3 of the same course, 8:00am to 12:00pm.
Medication ManagementFour hours live over Zoom, Day 5 of the same course, 8:00am to 12:00pm.

All three are taught live. You attend those three mornings only, and you are not sitting the rest of the eighty-hour program.

Who this route is open to

The exemption is tied to the license, not to how long you have been doing the job.

You qualify if

You hold a current, valid Nursing Home Administrator license
You are at least 21 years old
You have a high school diploma or a GED
You can obtain a criminal record clearance through the Department of Justice

22 CCR 87405(d)(6) and (d)(7) set the age and education floor for every RCFE administrator, NHA or not.

Call us first if

Your NHA license has lapsed, or is suspended or revoked
Your NHA license was issued by another state
You already hold an RCFE certificate and are looking to renew, which is continuing education, not this course

And if you are not an NHA at all, the full 80-hour initial course plus the state exam is your route.

Bridge course vs. the full initial certification

The same certificate at the end. A very different road to it.

	NHA bridge	Standard route
Training required	12 hours	80 hours, at least 60 of them live
State exam	Not required	Required
Time in class	Three 4-hour mornings, all live	Six full days, 8:00am to 6:30pm
Prerequisite	A current NHA license	None beyond age 21 and a diploma or GED
Certificate you receive	RCFE Administrator Certificate	RCFE Administrator Certificate
Continuing education at renewal	20 hours every 2 years	40 hours every 2 years
Price	$150.00	$499.99

Upcoming live session dates

Your three live mornings sit inside our regular initial certification courses. Pick the session that suits you and register in one click.

Course session	Day 1 · Laws & Regulations	Day 3 · Admissions & Retention	Day 5 · Medication Management
Sep 19 – 24, 2026 Six consecutive days	Sat, Sep 19 8:00am – 12:00pm	Mon, Sep 21 8:00am – 12:00pm	Wed, Sep 23 8:00am – 12:00pm	Register
Sep 19 – Oct 4, 2026 Weekends only	Sat, Sep 19 8:00am – 12:00pm	Sat, Sep 26 8:00am – 12:00pm	Sat, Oct 3 8:00am – 12:00pm	Register
Oct 10 – 15, 2026 Six consecutive days	Sat, Oct 10 8:00am – 12:00pm	Mon, Oct 12 8:00am – 12:00pm	Wed, Oct 14 8:00am – 12:00pm	Register
Oct 10 – 25, 2026 Weekends only	Sat, Oct 10 8:00am – 12:00pm	Sat, Oct 17 8:00am – 12:00pm	Sat, Oct 24 8:00am – 12:00pm	Register
Nov 14 – 19, 2026 Six consecutive days	Sat, Nov 14 8:00am – 12:00pm	Mon, Nov 16 8:00am – 12:00pm	Wed, Nov 18 8:00am – 12:00pm	Register
Dec 5 – 10, 2026 Six consecutive days	Sat, Dec 5 8:00am – 12:00pm	Mon, Dec 7 8:00am – 12:00pm	Wed, Dec 9 8:00am – 12:00pm	Register
Dec 5 – 20, 2026 Weekends only	Sat, Dec 5 8:00am – 12:00pm	Sat, Dec 12 8:00am – 12:00pm	Sat, Dec 19 8:00am – 12:00pm	Register

How it works, start to finish

Three steps, and the training itself is three mornings inside a single course session.

1. Enroll

2. Attend three mornings

Day 1 for Laws & Regulations, Day 3 for Admissions & Retention and Day 5 for Medication Management, each 8:00am to 12:00pm, live over Zoom.

3. Send your paperwork

We issue your certificate of completion. You file the application with CDSS, and that is it.

The paperwork you send to CDSS

Section 87406(b)(3). Your application has to reach the CDSS Administrator Certification Bureau within 30 days of completing the training.

1step

LIC 9214

Application for Administrator Certification: your details, your licensing history, your care facility employment history, and any legal or administrative actions against you.

2step

LIC 508

Criminal Record Statement, as listed in 22 CCR 87406(b)(3). CDSS updates its packet checklist from time to time, so check the current one before you mail.

3step

LIC 9163

Request for Live Scan Service, or proof of a clearance you already hold. CDSS cannot issue the certificate until the Department of Justice reports a criminal record clearance, or an exemption under Health and Safety Code 1569.17.

4step

$140

Non-refundable processing fee payable to CDSS, separate from the course price and not something we collect. The regulation still prints $100; the fee has risen under Health and Safety Code 1569.616, so check the current figure before you pay.

5step

Your license

A copy of your current Nursing Home Administrator license, alongside the certificate of completion we issue you.

After you are certified

Your NHA license keeps paying off at renewal time.

Half the continuing education

Most RCFE administrators owe 40 classroom hours of continuing education every two-year certification period, from a CDSS-approved vendor
Holding a valid NHA license cuts that to 20 hours

22 CCR 87407(g).

The required topics do not shrink

8 hours on Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias
4 hours on laws, regulations and procedural standards
1 hour on LGBTQ cultural competency, if it was not part of your initial training

Those three sit inside your 20 hours, not on top of them.

Your NHA license renews separately, and not on our hours

RCFE certificate20 hours every two years, from a CDSS-approved vendor. Ours count.
NHA license40 hours every two years through the state Nursing Home Administrator Program, at least 10 of them in patient care or aging. Ours do not count.

On July 1, 2024 the state stopped approving NHA continuing education itself and moved to NCERS, the registry run by NAB. NCPI is a CDSS-approved vendor, not an NCERS provider, so budget your NHA hours separately from your RCFE ones.

Questions we get from NHAs

The short answers. Call us for the long ones.

Do I really not have to take the state exam?

Correct. 22 CCR 87406(a)(1) exempts a valid Nursing Home Administrator license holder from both the Initial Certification Training Program and the written examination, so long as you complete the twelve hours.

Is the certificate any different from the one an 80-hour graduate gets?

No. It is the same RCFE Administrator Certificate, issued by the same CDSS bureau, with the same renewal cycle. Nothing on it says which route you took.

Do I have to sit through the whole six-day class?

No. You attend Day 1, Day 3 and Day 5 from 8:00am to 12:00pm and nothing else. The afternoons and the other three days are for the eighty-hour students, not for you.

Do these hours count toward renewing my NHA license?

No. Our courses are approved by CDSS for RCFE administrators, which is what your RCFE certificate renewal needs. Your NHA license renews through the state Nursing Home Administrator Program on 40 hours from an NCERS provider, and since July 1, 2024 that approval comes from NAB rather than the state. Two credentials, two sets of hours.

How quickly can I be done?

Your three mornings all sit inside one course session, so you finish the training in the same week you start it. The dates above show which sessions are coming up.