HCA to CNA Bridge Near Richland, WA: 40-Hour Weekday and Weekend Options

The shortest route from an active Washington Home Care Aide credential to Nursing Assistant-Certified (NA-C) status for a Richland resident is a 40-clock-hour bridge, and the closest program offering it in both weekday and weekend patterns is Huduma CNA Programs in Federal Way: $800 tuition, about $105 in books and supplies, 17 hours of theory, 13 of lab, 6 of clinical in a licensed nursing facility, and 4 of mock testing, followed by the $100 skills test on site and the $55 Credentia knowledge test. Richland is about 230 miles east of Federal Way, which turns the choice between patterns into a choice between one five-night stay and three weekend round trips. The payoff at home is access to Kadlec Regional Medical Center and the Tri-Cities' skilled nursing facilities, where Indeed's August 2026 Richland posting average is about $22.32 per hour, approximate.

Pattern decision for a Richland HCA

Choose the weekday cohort unless your employer cannot release you for a week. Upcoming dates for each pattern are listed on the schedules page.

Why Richland does not have a bridge of its own

Richland is the Tri-City with the college nursing assistant program inside its borders: Columbia Basin College's Health Science Center at 891 Northgate Drive, per the college's campus map, runs the certificate fall, winter, and spring quarters according to the 2026-27 application packet. That program is designed for a beginner. It requires placement scores, a current BLS CPR and First Aid card at application, a reference letter, and a national background check after acceptance, and it delivers roughly 100 lecture hours plus clinical across a quarter. It gives no credit for the 75-hour DSHS Home Care Aide curriculum. A Richland HCA who enrolls repeats personal care, infection control, and client rights before reaching the facility-specific content a bridge teaches in 40 hours. The Department of Health (DOH) recognizes bridge graduates under eligibility route E6; the college's graduates apply under E1. Both take the same exam.

Check these three things first

1. HCA credential is active on the DOH Provider Credential Search. It renews on your birthday each year. If it expired within the reactivation window, renew before enrolling. If you finished HCA training but never passed the HCA exam, you are not eligible; the 108-hour CNA Traditional program is the route.
2. Diploma or GED in hand, or an equivalency evaluation for a foreign secondary credential.
3. Background check submitted the day you enroll. The DOH runs a name-based statewide check, and a Richland HCA who lived in Oregon or Idaho recently, or who worked at Hanford under a separate federal clearance, may still be asked for fingerprints for this credential. The check must clear before the clinical block.

The route letters are explained in Washington CNA eligibility routes E1 to E9.

What the bridge teaches that HCA training did not

Home care training covers care in a client's home. The bridge adds the nursing facility and the state examiner's scoring sheet:

• Charting in a resident record and reporting through a charge nurse rather than a case manager.
• Vital signs measured, timed, and recorded to the tolerances the examiner accepts.
• Gait-belt transfers, ambulation, positioning, and range of motion as scored step sequences.
• Catheter care, perineal care, and elimination tasks.
• Indirect-care steps scored on every skill: explanation, hand hygiene, privacy, call light within reach, safety check.
• Four hours of mock testing in the Part 1 format, which is the single best predictor of a first-attempt pass.

The bridge runs 40 hours rather than the DOH's 24-hour minimum because the skills test is the same test a traditional graduate takes. How mock testing works is in mock skills testing for the CNA exam in Washington.

Travel from Richland

• Driving: about 230 miles via I-182, I-82 west through Yakima, I-90 over Snoqualmie Pass, then I-405 or SR 18; roughly 3.5 to 4 hours when the pass is clear. Federal Way Downtown Station's garage is next to the school.
• Bus: Ben Franklin Transit connector routes 123 or 170 from Richland's Knight Street Transit Center to Pasco's 22nd Avenue Transit Center, then Greyhound from the Pasco intermodal station to Seattle (two daily departures, about 4 hours 50 minutes, per Greyhound), then the 1 Line south to Federal Way Downtown.
• Carpooling: Richland, Kennewick, and Pasco HCAs enrolling in the same weekday cohort can share one car and one lodging booking, which is the cheapest way to do the trip.

Cost table

The tuition gap is $300; the lodging gap is three weeks. Basic Food Employment and Training and WorkSource Columbia Basin, which serves Benton County, sometimes fund approved training; see WorkSource, WIOA, and Basic Food Employment and Training.

What changes when you come home

Kadlec Regional Medical Center on Swift Boulevard, the largest acute care provider in the Benton-Franklin planning area per its 2019 certificate of need filing with the DOH, hires nursing assistants, not Home Care Aides. So do Lourdes Counseling Center in Richland, Trios Southridge in Kennewick, Lourdes Medical Center in Pasco, and every skilled nursing facility in the three cities. Indeed's Richland figure of about $22.32 per hour (August 28, 2026, 33 salaries) compares with HCA rates near the $17.13 state minimum; Kennewick's figure is about $20.98. All are approximate. You keep the HCA credential, so agency and adult family home shifts stay open. Employers by setting are in CNA jobs in Richland, WA.

Frequently asked questions

Is there an HCA to CNA bridge in Richland or the Tri-Cities? No. Columbia Basin College's Richland program is the full nursing assistant certificate. The nearest bridge with weekday and weekend patterns is the 40-hour course in Federal Way.

Which pattern should a Richland HCA choose? The weekday week, unless a week of leave is impossible. The weekend pattern means three round trips of about 460 miles each.

Can I do it without a car? Yes, with the weekday pattern: Ben Franklin Transit to Pasco station, Greyhound to Seattle, the 1 Line to Federal Way Downtown.

Will Kadlec hire me straight after the bridge? Once the NA-C is on the DOH registry, you can apply. Hospital unit roles often prefer experience; float pools and skilled nursing are the usual first step.

Do I have to return to Federal Way for the knowledge test? No. Register with Credentia after the skills pass is recorded and take it online from Richland.

Is the exam different for bridge graduates than for traditional graduates? No. Both groups take the same $100 skills test and $55 knowledge test; only the DOH route letter differs.

Enrollment steps are on the HCA to CNA bridge program page, and both Huduma paths are compared in CNA Traditional vs HCA-CNA Bridge.