State regulations require Level I Medication Aides (LIMAs) to complete training every two years and submit documentation of the training to the Health Education Unit (HEU), in order to remain on the registry as an active LIMA. If biennial training documentation is not received, the individual’s certification is placed in “inactive” status. Individuals who have not completed the required biennial training and are inactive, are not eligible to be employed as a LIMA in a RCF or an ALF.
If an individual is off the active LIMA registry for more than five (5) years, the individual must retake the LIMA course, unless they meet the eligibility criteria to challenge the examination.
LIMA certificate holders who went inactive on or before September 30, 2012 have until November 1, 2019 to complete the biennial training update and submit the required documentation to HEU to become active. After November 1, 2019, individuals who went inactive on or before September 30, 2012 and who have not completed the required biennial training update, must complete a LIMA training program course, including a minimum of 16 hours of integrated formal instruction and practice sessions directly supervised by an approved instructor, and final written and practicum examinations.
Individuals who are inactive on the LIMA registry are also inactive for insulin certification. When biennial training updates are received by HEU to reinstate a LIMA to active status or in the case where an individual has to retake the entire course due to being off the active registry for more than five (5) years, insulin certification also becomes active.