Iowa Health Care Training Courses

For those direct care workers or health facility employees who are interested in or required to take ongoing training, you will find some helpful information and links for some of that training here.

OASIS stands for “Outcome and Assessment Information Set” as a group of data elements. Medicare and Medicaid use OASIS data sets as an important piece in assessments for adult home care patients and to help measure patient outcomes. Over many years and pieces of clinical research, the OASIS system has been refined to help health providers accurately assess and measure outcomes for their patients.

If you are interested in learning more, OASIS 101 classes provide a basic review of CMS guidance on how to complete OASIS data required by Medicare and Medicaid. If you work in the home health care field in any capacity, this training would be beneficial. In Iowa, only the staff of home health agencies are offered OASIS training.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, all scheduled OASIS training will be held virtually via Google Meet until further notice.

Register for an OASIS Training

The OASIS course is geared toward home health clinicians new to OASIS, or as a refresher course for anyone working with OASIS. The one-day training will go over the clinical aspects of OASIS and review CMS OASIS and CoP guidance related to OASIS and comprehensive assessments. There is no cost for the class.

Several training sessions have been scheduled for 2021. All classes are scheduled to run 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (course is one day only). More specific training details will be sent to contacts or participants prior to the session.

June 22
June 24
July 27
July 29
Aug. 24
Aug. 26
Sept. 21
Sept. 23
Oct. 19
Oct. 21
Nov. 16
Nov. 18

To register, please send an email containing the date of the training you would like to attend, your name, title, place of work and email address to Iowa.OASIS@dia.iowa.gov.

Your name will be added to the class roster. Closer to the training date you will receive two emails from Maribeth Freland, OASIS education coordinator, one inviting you to the Google meeting and the second giving you information related to the training with handouts needed for the training.

Please note that if you have not received an email back regarding registration of staff DO NOT assume your staff are registered. If you don’t receive an email confirming registration within a week you will need to send a follow up email to Iowa.OASIS@dia.iowa.gov to confirm registration.

Cancellation requirements: If you need to cancel the registration for any of your participants please notify Iowa.OASIS@dia.iowa.gov immediately so those spots may be opened up to other participants.

For questions regarding OASIS training, including questions about course content and future scheduling requests, please contact Maribeth Freland, OASIS education coordinator, at 515.669.6236 or Iowa.OASIS@dia.iowa.gov.

In 2019, HF 731 modified the requirements for mandatory reporter training for child and dependent adult abuse. The Iowa Department of Human Services now provides online training for free. The AEA provides the same trainings online for a fee. Visit the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners website for more information.

Iowa's community colleges offer training for individuals interested in becoming certified nursing assistants (CNAs). The colleges offer both classroom studies and hands-on clinical training. Written and skills tests also are provided by the schools for anyone interested. Contact information as well as links for the course and testing information for each community college are provided below by the Iowa Association of Community College Trustees. If testing availability does not suit a potential CNA's schedule, they may contact their nearest community college for other options.

Successful completion of both tests is required to be placed on the Iowa Direct Care Worker Registry (DCW). If a potential CNA does not pass either one of the tests in three attempts, the 75-hour course and tests must be retaken.

Click the name of the school to be linked to the college's CNA program information.