Nursing home administrator license requirements in Missouri.

Board

Board of Nursing Home Administrators (Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services) Board source · checked 2026-07-29

Education floor

Highschool Missouri's floor is unusually low: a high school diploma or equivalent plus a minimum of three years of full-time-equivalent experience in health-care administration (management responsibility over at least three staff in a licensed long-term care, acute-care, or inpatient mental health facility) satisfies the requirement with no college degree at all. Degree-based routes exist but are not required: an associate degree in health-care administration (21+ semester hours directly in the field), a bachelor's in health-care administration/gerontology/nursing, or a master's or beyond in the same fields, each optionally paired with a shorter experience requirement (19 CSR 73-2.020). Board source · checked 2025-11-01

Administrator-in-Training hours

0 hours

• 0 hours: Missouri has no universal, fixed-hour Administrator-in-Training pathway. A candidate who meets one of the education/experience routes in 19 CSR 73-2.020 (for example a high school diploma plus three years of health-care-administration experience, or a qualifying degree) proceeds directly to the board examinations with no separate internship requirement.
• 0 hours: An applicant found not qualified for direct examination, or who fails an examination three times, is instead prescribed an individualized Administrator-in-Training internship under a board-approved preceptor (19 CSR 73-2.031). Its length is set case by case by the board and is not published as a fixed statewide hour figure, so no number is shown here rather than guessed.

Board source · checked 2026-01-21

National NAB exams

Required (CORE of Knowledge + Nursing Home Administrator) Missouri requires the national NAB examination as one of the board's examinations under Section 344.030, RSMo. Board source · checked 2026-07-29

Separate state exam

Required Section 344.030.2(3), RSMo refers to the applicant passing "the examinations" (plural) administered by the board, and NAB's own state-by-state licensure summary confirms Missouri administers its own state examination in addition to the national NAB exam. Missouri's own application materials do not publish the state exam's name. Board source · checked 2026-07-29

Initial license fee

$150 $150 non-refundable application fee for initial licensure (NHA Criteria and Checklist). Board source · checked 2025-11-01

Renewal fee

$100 $100 non-refundable fee for a standard two-year renewal ($50 for a one-year probated license). Board source · checked 2025-11-01

Continuing education

40 hours per biennial cycle 40 total continuing-education clock hours per biennial renewal, with at least 10 of those hours in patient care (administrators licensed under two years complete a prorated amount). Board source · checked 2025-11-01

Reciprocity / endorsement

endorsement available Missouri licenses by reciprocity to an applicant who is NAB Health Services Executive (HSE) qualified, or who holds a passing NAB scaled score of 113 and has held a current administrator license from another state, a branch of the military, or DC in good standing for at least one year. The $150 reciprocity fee is the same as the initial application fee. Board source · checked 2026-01-21

Assisted living / RCAL administrator license

Licensed separately Missouri's Board of Nursing Home Administrators separately licenses Residential Care/Assisted Living (RCAL) administrators alongside the NHA license, with its own application and renewal tracks run by the same board. Board source · checked 2026-07-29

Statutes and rules: Chapter 344, RSMo; 19 CSR 73-2 (Board of Nursing Home Administrators). Figures change on the board's own schedule. Confirm against the board before you apply or pay.

1. Get your checklist. The requirements wizard resolves Missouri's requirements for your exact degree.
2. Plan your hours. The AIT-hours tracker turns Missouri's hour target into a finish date.
3. Moving here from another state? The reciprocity checker reads Missouri's endorsement rule.
4. Also want assisted living? Read holding both a nursing home and an assisted living administrator license for how Missouri's two credentials relate.