CHA Certification

What the Certified Hospice Administrator Credential Actually Is

The Certified Hospice Administrator credential is a professional certification awarded by the National Board for Home Care and Hospice Certification (NBHHC). It is designed for people who run hospice organizations or hold management and leadership responsibility within them. Unlike clinical credentials that test bedside skills, this certification tests whether you understand how a hospice operates as a business, a regulated healthcare provider, and a community resource.

If you are still orienting yourself, our explainers on what CHA certification is and what CHA stands for cover the basics. This article goes deeper into the mechanics: who qualifies, what it costs, when you can test, and what the exam content demands. Because the acronym is shared by other unrelated credentials, it is worth confirming that everything you read about "CHA" refers to the hospice administrator certification. Everything in this guide does.

Administration of the exam is coordinated by Professional Testing (PTI), with computer-based delivery at Pearson VUE test centers and approved onsite paper testing for certain situations. The content is built from the official CHA blueprint and the 2024 candidate handbook, which are the two documents every candidate should read before doing anything else.

Eligibility Routes: Education Plus Management Experience

Eligibility is not a single threshold. The hospice route works as a sliding scale: the less formal education you hold, the more management experience you need. Experience can be counted either as years as a supervisor/manager or as a shorter number of years as an administrator.

A health-related professional license also supports the 3-year administrator route. That matters for nurses, social workers, and other licensed clinicians who moved into leadership without a business degree.

Recency and prorating rules

Beyond the totals, applicants need relevant management or leadership work for at least 12 of the last 48 months. In other words, a long-ago management career does not carry you if you have been away from leadership recently. Management experience is also prorated for the time you actually spent on management duties. If you split your week between patient care and supervising staff, expect the credited portion to reflect that split rather than your full-time status.

Application, Fees, and the Authorization to Test

The fee structure is straightforward. Initial certification costs US$99 for the application and US$499 for the examination, for a total of US$598. The optional CAHSAH administrator course is a separate tuition cost and is not required to sit for the exam. Our CHA certification cost breakdown compares these line items against typical prep spending.

1. Confirm your route. Match your degree and experience to one of the eligibility rows above.
2. Submit the application with evidence. Include education proof, experience documentation, and your three references.
3. Receive approval. Application approval lasts 12 months, which gives you flexibility to choose a testing window within that period.
4. Obtain your Authorization to Test. Pearson VUE appointments require this authorization, so you cannot simply book a seat on approval alone.
5. Schedule within a window. Testing happens in defined windows, not on demand.

The 12-month approval period is a useful planning tool. If your application is approved but you are not ready, you can target a later window without reapplying, as long as you stay inside the approval period.

2026 Testing Windows and Deadlines

Computer-based testing is offered in four windows in 2026. Application deadlines fall before each window opens, so work backward from your target date.

Notice how tight the deadlines are relative to the windows. The April deadline sits just one week before the window opens, and the February deadline lands only about ten days ahead. If you wait until the last day, any documentation hiccup, such as a reference who has not responded, can push you into the next window. See our CHA exam dates and scheduling guide for planning tips.

Exam Format: What the Handbook Says About the Test

The NBHHC candidate handbook describes the exam as a range of 80 to 100 questions with a 2-hour limit. Questions are single-answer selected response: you read a scenario or prompt and choose one best answer. The test is closed book, results are reported as pass/fail, and there is no guessing penalty. That last point has a direct tactical consequence: never leave a question blank. If you are unsure, eliminate what you can and choose.

Two hours for up to 100 questions averages out to roughly a minute and a bit per item, which is comfortable for recall questions but tighter for scenario-based finance items that require you to work through a calculation or apply a regulatory rule. Practice under timed conditions, and use our CHA practice test to build a feel for pacing before test day.

Because results are pass/fail, you will not receive a domain-by-domain scorecard that tells you exactly where to improve. That makes self-diagnosis during preparation more important. For more on how the cut score concept works, read about the CHA passing score and what the data suggests in our CHA pass rate analysis.

Inside the Four Blueprint Domains

The blueprint divides the content into four domains. The weights tell you where your study hours should go, but the specific topics tell you what to actually study. For a complete treatment, see our guide to all four CHA exam domains.

Notice the overlap. QAPI appears as both an operations and a compliance concern, and the levels of care touch both operations and finance. Candidates who study these topics as connected ideas, rather than memorizing them in separate silos, tend to handle scenario questions better.

Finance Topics That Separate Passing from Failing

Because Finance carries 31% of the exam, it deserves its own focused attention. Two themes deserve special emphasis: the hospice cap and cost reports.

Hospice cap concepts

The hospice cap is a limit on aggregate payments to a hospice, and understanding the concept is essential. The key idea is that a hospice's utilization patterns, particularly length of stay and census mix, influence its exposure to the cap. That is why utilization and length of stay appear in both the operations and finance conversations. When you practice hospice cap practice questions, focus on reasoning through cause and effect: what operational decisions or patient-mix shifts increase risk, and what monitoring would catch it early?

Cost reports

Cost reports are the formal financial reporting vehicle a hospice uses to document its costs. For the exam, you should understand their purpose, who relies on them, and why accuracy matters. You are unlikely to be asked to prepare one from scratch, but you should be able to interpret what a scenario implies about reporting responsibilities.

A Domain-Weighted Study Sequence

General study methodology matters less than allocating time according to the blueprint. Here is one way to sequence an eight-week plan around the actual domain weights. For a broader approach, see our CHA study guide.

Operations and Finance come first and take the most time because together they make up 65% of the exam. A one-page CHA cheat sheet can help in the final days, and our overview of how hard the CHA exam is can help you calibrate expectations.

CHA vs CHM: Choosing the Right Credential

Candidates often ask about CHA vs CHM. Both are NBHHC credentials and both sit within the home care and hospice management space, but they are aimed at different settings. The Certified Hospice Administrator credential targets leadership in hospice organizations, while CHM refers to a related certification track in the same family. Before you commit, check the current NBHHC materials to confirm which credential matches your organization type and role, because the eligibility routes and blueprint emphasis differ. If your daily work is centered on hospice operations, finance, and compliance, the hospice administrator credential described in this article is the match.

Where the Credential Fits in a Hospice Career

The people who benefit most from this certification are those already in or moving toward senior hospice leadership: administrators, executive directors, directors of operations, and managers who oversee multiple functions. Employers include freestanding hospices, hospital-affiliated programs, and organizations that combine home health and hospice services. Our pages on CHA jobs and the CHA salary guide explore the career side, and our ROI analysis walks through how to weigh the investment.

Rather than quoting generic earnings, the best approach is to look at actual postings in your region and compare roles that list or prefer the credential against those that do not. Compensation varies widely by organization size, geography, and scope of responsibility, so local data beats national averages.

Renewal: Keeping the Credential for the Long Term

Certification lasts 4 years, and renewal is point-based. You need 50 points, with at least 36 continuing-education contact hours and no more than 14 other points. You also must show relevant management or leadership employment for 12 of the preceding 48 months.

Start logging continuing education early in your cycle rather than scrambling in year four. Because the 36-hour floor is a hard minimum, you cannot make up a shortfall with "other" points, which are capped at 14. Plan your CE around the same domains you studied for the exam so your learning stays relevant to your job.

Frequently Asked Questions