About Me

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Chico, CA, United States
Tom Cullen is the owner of Community Care Options, a California State approved vendor operated by a team of caring professionals with more than 30 years of experience in the field. Community Care Options is dedicated to providing continuing education to administrators of both Residential Care Facilities for the Elderly and Adult Residential Facilities and assist in keeping those facilities compliant with state regulations.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

ADMINISTRATOR RECERTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS

 
 I often encounter the question "Can I take all 40 hours of continuing education during one year of my 2-year certification period?"  My standard answer is no.  Many administrators do just that though.  They wait until a few months from expiring to do all 40 hours.  Here's why I discourage this method.

In Title 22, Administrator - Qualifications and Duties, Section 87405(g) it states:

All administrators shall be required to complete at least 20 clock hours of continuing education per year in areas related to aging and/or administration.  

The regulation sounds pretty clear to me.  At least 20 CEU's per year sounds like a duty and a requirement.  So why is their confusion about this? The confusion comes from another place in Title 22 entitled Administrator Recertification Requirements, Section 87407(a) which reads:

Administrators shall complete at least forty (40) classroom hours of continuing education during each two (2)-year certification period.  

What I focus on here is the word during.  "During each two year certification period" implies it should be a regular, ongoing practice.  When you consider these two sections together it becomes apparent that CEUs should be achieved each year of the 2-year certification period.  Besides, who really wants to jam that much training into a short period of time?  Trust me, you'll learn more and retain what you learn longer if you spread it out a little.