- CHM at a Glance: The Numbers to Memorize
- Eligibility Snapshot
- Fees and Registration Mechanics
- 2026 Testing Windows and Deadlines
- The Seven-Domain Blueprint at a Glance
- Domain 7 Quick Review: HR Practices and Law
- Domains 3 and 5: Management Skills and Hospice Regulations
- Leadership, Finance, Customer Service, and Marketing
- Question Style and Test-Day Rules
- Renewal Cheat Sheet
- A Domain-Weighted Final-Week Plan
- FAQ
- The Certified Hospice Manager exam runs 80-100 single-answer questions in a 2-hour limit, closed book, with no guessing penalty.
- Human Resource Basic Practices and Law is the largest domain at 30%; Management Skills and Regulatory Processes each carry 20%.
- Initial certification costs US$598: a US$99 application plus a US$499 examination fee.
- Certification lasts 4 years; renewal needs 50 points, including at least 36 continuing-education contact hours.
CHM at a Glance: The Numbers to Memorize
The Certified Hospice Manager (CHM) credential is awarded by the National Board for Home Care and Hospice Certification (NBHHC) and targets hospice supervisors and managers. If you are brand new to the credential, start with What Is CHM Certification?; this page assumes you already know the basics and want a single scannable reference you can review the night before your exam.
Professional Testing (PTI) coordinates administration. Computer-based exams are delivered at Pearson VUE test centers, and approved onsite paper testing is also available. Here is the core fact sheet:
| Item | What to Know |
|---|---|
| Certifying body | NBHHC (administration coordinated by Professional Testing) |
| Question count | 80-100 questions (per the candidate handbook) |
| Time limit | 2 hours |
| Format | Single-answer selected response; closed book |
| Scoring | Pass/fail reporting; no penalty for guessing |
| Delivery | Pearson VUE computer-based centers; approved onsite paper testing |
| Initial cost | US$99 application + US$499 exam = US$598 |
| Certification term | 4 years |
| Content basis | Official seven-domain CHM blueprint and 2024 candidate handbook |
Eligibility Snapshot
Eligibility is built around hospice supervisory or management experience paired with education. The three pathways are:
- Bachelor's or master's degree plus 1 year of qualifying experience
- Associate degree plus 2 years of qualifying experience
- High-school diploma or a health-related professional license plus 3 years of qualifying experience
On top of the pathway, applicants need relevant management or leadership employment for at least 12 of the last 48 months. You must also submit education and work-history evidence and provide 3 healthcare-industry references, listing your current employer first when applicable. Experience is prorated for management-duty time, so a role that is only partly managerial does not count at full value. For a deeper walkthrough, see CHM Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify.
Fees and Registration Mechanics
Cost is straightforward: a US$99 application fee plus a US$499 examination fee, totaling US$598. The optional CAHSAH hospice manager course has separate tuition and is not part of that total. A full cost comparison, including renewal and optional training, is in CHM Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown.
The registration sequence matters:
- Submit your application with the fee and supporting evidence by the deadline for your target window.
- Wait for approval. An approved application stays valid for 12 months.
- Obtain your Authorization to Test.
- Only then schedule your seat with Pearson VUE (or arrange approved onsite paper testing).
Trying to schedule before you hold the Authorization to Test is the classic sequencing mistake. Treat the 12-month approval window as a hard clock: if you miss it, you risk paying again.
2026 Testing Windows and Application Deadlines
Computer-based testing is offered in four windows during 2026. Note that each application deadline falls well before its window opens.
| Testing Window | Application Deadline |
|---|---|
| February 1-28 | January 20 |
| April 14-May 12 | April 7 |
| August 1-31 | July 21 |
| November 1-30 | October 20 |
The April window is the only one that spans two calendar months, running April 14 through May 12. Plan backward from your window: you need time for application review, approval, the Authorization to Test, and a Pearson VUE seat. More scheduling detail lives in CHM Exam Dates 2026: Testing Windows, Deadlines & Scheduling.
The Seven-Domain Blueprint at a Glance
Everything on the exam maps to seven domains. Memorize the weights, because they tell you where your study hours pay off most.
| Domain | Weight |
|---|---|
| Domain 1: Leadership Skills | 10% |
| Domain 2: Customer Service | 5% |
| Domain 3: Management Skills | 20% |
| Domain 4: Marketing and Sales | 5% |
| Domain 5: Regulatory Processes for Hospices | 20% |
| Domain 6: Financial Management and Budgeting | 10% |
| Domain 7: Human Resource Basic Practices and Law | 30% |
Three domains (HR, Management Skills, Regulatory Processes) together account for 70% of the blueprint. The other four share the remaining 30%. A full breakdown of each area is available in CHM Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 7 Content Areas.
Domain 7 Quick Review: HR Practices and Law
At 30%, this is the single most valuable domain to master. Expect scenario-driven questions where you play the manager facing a staffing or personnel problem and must choose the best next step.
Human Resource Basic Practices and Law (30%)
Think in terms of the full employee lifecycle, from hiring through separation, and the legal guardrails around each step.
- Hiring: structured, job-related interviewing; consistent screening; documentation of hiring decisions
- Coaching: timely, specific feedback; documenting coaching conversations
- Discipline: progressive, consistent, documented; apply policy evenly across staff
- Staffing: matching coverage to patient needs while respecting scheduling rules
- Documentation: factual, contemporaneous, and objective records of performance and conduct
- Employment law: anti-discrimination, wage-and-hour, leave, and workplace safety fundamentals
The recurring exam logic: the best answer is usually the one that is fair, consistent, documented, and legally defensible, not the fastest or most informal. When two options both sound reasonable, prefer the one that creates a clear record and treats employees consistently. For practice on this domain specifically, run targeted sets on the CHM practice test site.
Domains 3 and 5: Management Skills and Hospice Regulations
Together these two domains make up 40% of the exam, each at 20%. They pair naturally, because day-to-day hospice management is constrained by regulation.
Management Skills (20%)
Operational management of a hospice team and program.
- Delegation, prioritization, and supervising interdisciplinary staff
- Planning and organizing workflow and coverage
- Problem solving, conflict resolution, and decision making
- Performance monitoring and accountability
- Communication up, down, and across the organization
Regulatory Processes for Hospices (20%)
The compliance side of running a hospice program.
- Hospice regulations and conditions that govern operations
- Quality improvement processes and how they connect to compliance
- Documentation requirements and survey readiness
- Responding to deficiencies with corrective action
Quality improvement is a bridge topic: it can appear as a regulatory question, a management question, or both. Be ready to identify the manager's role in monitoring, analyzing, and acting on quality data rather than just describing it.
Key Takeaway
Pair your Domain 3 and Domain 5 study. When you review a regulation, ask "what would a manager actually do about this on Monday morning?" That framing matches how the exam is written.
Leadership, Finance, Customer Service, and Marketing
Do not skip the smaller domains. Together they are 30% of the exam, which is as large as HR alone.
Leadership Skills (10%)
- Vision, mission, and values alignment
- Motivating and developing staff
- Leading change and modeling professional behavior
Financial Management and Budgeting (10%)
- Budget development and variance monitoring
- Understanding revenue, expenses, and staffing cost drivers
- Using financial data to make operational decisions
Customer Service (5%) and Marketing and Sales (5%)
- Responding to patient, family, and referral-source concerns
- Service recovery and handling complaints professionally
- Community outreach, referral relationships, and communicating the hospice's value
The two 5% domains are the easiest place to pick up points quickly, since the content is more intuitive for working managers. Finance rewards a little extra drill if budgets are not part of your current role.
Question Style and Test-Day Rules
Every item is single-answer selected response: one best answer from the options provided. The word "best" is doing real work. Several choices may be defensible; you are choosing the strongest management response.
- Closed book: no reference materials during the exam
- 2-hour limit: with 80-100 questions, you have roughly a minute or so per item on average, so avoid lingering on any one question
- Pass/fail reporting: you receive an outcome rather than a detailed numeric breakdown
- No guessing penalty: answer everything
For what the pass/fail standard means in practice, see CHM Passing Score 2026: Exactly What You Need to Pass, and for context on difficulty, How Hard Is the CHM Exam? Complete Difficulty Guide 2026. If you want to understand what the available data does and does not show, read CHM Pass Rate 2026: What the Data Shows.
Renewal Cheat Sheet
Earning the credential is only the first cycle. Certification lasts 4 years, and renewal is points-based.
| Renewal Item | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Total points | 50 |
| Continuing-education contact hours | At least 36 |
| Other points | No more than 14 |
| Work requirement | Relevant management/leadership work for 12 of the preceding 48 months |
| Renewal cost | US$99 application + US$299 renewal = US$398 |
| Late renewal | Adds US$99 if completed within the permitted 1-year period |
Start logging continuing-education hours early in your 4-year cycle rather than scrambling at the end. Because "other points" are capped at 14, you cannot lean on them to make up a shortfall in contact hours. See the full overview of how certification fits your career in Is the CHM Certification Worth It? Complete ROI Analysis 2026.
A Domain-Weighted Final-Week Plan
If your exam is a week away and you are using this cheat sheet as a final pass, allocate time in proportion to the blueprint rather than evenly. For a longer-horizon approach, the full plan is in CHM Study Guide 2026: How to Pass on Your First Attempt.
Human Resources (30%)
- Walk the hiring-to-discipline lifecycle with a documentation lens
- Drill employment law and staffing scenarios
Management Skills and Regulatory Processes (20% each)
- Review delegation, prioritization, and conflict resolution
- Connect hospice regulations and quality improvement to manager actions
Leadership, Finance, Customer Service, Marketing
- Quick pass through budgeting and variance concepts
- Skim service recovery and referral-relationship topics
Light Review and Logistics
- Confirm your Authorization to Test and Pearson VUE appointment
- Rest; do a short timed set at most
Finish with a timed set from the CHM practice test so you rehearse the 2-hour pacing under realistic conditions.
FAQ
The NBHHC candidate handbook gives a range of 80-100 questions with a 2-hour time limit. Questions are single-answer selected response, the exam is closed book, and there is no penalty for guessing.
Human Resource Basic Practices and Law is the largest at 30%. Management Skills and Regulatory Processes for Hospices each carry 20%, and the remaining four domains share the rest.
Initial certification is US$99 for the application plus US$499 for the examination, totaling US$598. The optional CAHSAH hospice manager course has separate tuition. Renewal is US$99 plus US$299, or US$398 total.
You need an approved application, which stays valid for 12 months, and an Authorization to Test. Only after you hold the authorization should you schedule with Pearson VUE. Make sure you also meet the education-plus-experience pathway and the 12-of-48-months management work requirement.
Earn 50 renewal points, including at least 36 continuing-education contact hours and no more than 14 other points, and show relevant management or leadership work for 12 of the preceding 48 months. Late renewal within the permitted 1-year period adds US$99.
Keep this sheet handy, weight your review toward Human Resources, Management Skills, and Regulatory Processes, and use the related guides above to go deeper wherever a fact feels shaky. If you are weighing the credential's career impact, the CHM Salary Guide 2026: Complete Earnings Analysis is a useful next read.