- The 2026 Certified Hospice Manager Testing Windows
- How the Window-and-Deadline System Works
- The 12-Month Approval Clock and Authorization to Test
- Eligibility Paperwork: What Takes the Longest
- Choosing the Right Window for Your Situation
- Planning Backward From Your Test Date
- Scheduling With Pearson VUE or Onsite Paper Testing
- What You Will Face Once the Date Arrives
- Fees and Timing: What You Pay and When
- After the Exam: Certification Term and Renewal Dates
- Frequently Asked Questions
- CHM testing runs in four 2026 windows: February, April-May, August, and November, each with an earlier application deadline.
- Your application deadline falls roughly one to two weeks before each window opens, so the real cutoff is earlier than you think.
- Approval lasts 12 months, and you need an Authorization to Test before booking with Pearson VUE.
- Initial certification totals US$598: a US$99 application plus a US$499 examination fee.
The 2026 Certified Hospice Manager Testing Windows
Unlike certifications that offer on-demand testing every day of the year, the Certified Hospice Manager (CHM) credential from the National Board for Home Care and Hospice Certification (NBHHC) is administered in defined computer-based testing windows. If you are planning your path to the credential, the calendar is the first thing to lock down, because it determines when you can realistically sit for the exam and when your paperwork must be finished.
Here are the four 2026 computer-based testing windows and the application deadline that goes with each one:
| Testing Window | Application Deadline | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| February 1-28, 2026 | January 20, 2026 | Candidates whose documentation is already assembled |
| April 14-May 12, 2026 | April 7, 2026 | Spring candidates; the longest window of the year |
| August 1-31, 2026 | July 21, 2026 | Candidates using a spring or early-summer study runway |
| November 1-30, 2026 | October 20, 2026 | Year-end candidates; last chance before 2027 |
Notice that the April-May window is the longest at roughly four weeks, while the others each span a single calendar month. That extra breathing room can matter if your work schedule is unpredictable, which is common for hospice leaders who carry on-call responsibilities and manage clinical staff.
How the Window-and-Deadline System Works
The most common scheduling mistake candidates make is treating the testing window as if it were the deadline. It is not. There are two separate dates for every administration, and they do very different jobs.
The application deadline
The application deadline is the last day NBHHC will accept your completed application for that window. Your application is not just a form. It includes your education evidence, your work-history documentation, and three healthcare-industry references. Because the board has to review all of it before approving you, the deadline sits one to two weeks ahead of the window opening, as the calendar above shows. Miss it and you slide to the next window, which can mean a delay of months rather than days.
The testing window
The window is the stretch of days during which an approved candidate may actually take the exam. Within the window you choose a specific appointment, subject to test-center availability. Approval does not guarantee your preferred day, which is why scheduling early inside the window is wise.
The 12-Month Approval Clock and Authorization to Test
Once NBHHC approves your application, that approval remains valid for 12 months. This gives you flexibility. If you are approved for an April window but a staffing crisis at your agency pulls your attention away, you are not necessarily forced to reapply from scratch. You may be able to test in a later window within the same approval period.
The key mechanical step is the Authorization to Test. You cannot simply walk into a Pearson VUE center after your application is accepted. You must obtain the Authorization to Test first, and only then schedule your appointment. Candidates who skip ahead and try to book before authorization run into avoidable friction right when deadlines are tight.
A practical sequence looks like this:
- Submit your complete application before the deadline for your target window.
- Wait for approval from NBHHC.
- Receive your Authorization to Test.
- Schedule your appointment with Pearson VUE (or arrange approved onsite paper testing if that applies to your situation).
- Confirm your appointment and review identification and arrival requirements.
If you are weighing whether a 12-month approval changes your cost calculation, the full fee picture is laid out in our CHM certification cost breakdown.
Eligibility Paperwork: What Takes the Longest
Here is where scheduling and eligibility collide. You cannot choose a window until you know you qualify, and qualifying depends on documentation that is often slower to gather than the study plan itself. The deadline is rarely the bottleneck; the paperwork is.
The NBHHC eligibility rules require hospice supervisory or management experience, scaled to your education:
- A bachelor's or master's degree plus 1 year of experience
- An associate degree plus 2 years of experience
- A high-school diploma or health-related professional license plus 3 years of experience
On top of that, applicants need relevant management or leadership employment for at least 12 of the last 48 months, with experience prorated according to the share of time spent on management duties. You also submit education and work-history evidence and three healthcare-industry references, with your current employer listed first when applicable.
Where candidates lose weeks
The slowest items are usually outside your control.
- References: Three professionals must respond, and busy hospice executives do not always reply quickly. Ask early and tell them your deadline.
- Employment evidence: If you have changed employers inside the 48-month lookback, you may need records from more than one organization.
- Proration math: If management duties are only part of your role, work out the prorated figure before you apply so there are no surprises.
For a deeper walkthrough of who qualifies and how the experience tiers apply, see our guide to CHM requirements and eligibility.
Choosing the Right Window for Your Situation
With four options, the best window is the one that matches your readiness and your workload, not simply the soonest. A few scenarios illustrate the logic.
If your documentation is ready now
If your references are lined up and your employment evidence is in hand, the nearest deadline is realistic. The question then becomes whether your content knowledge matches your paperwork readiness. Hospice managers often have strong operational instincts but weaker spots in formal employment law or the finer points of hospice regulations.
If you are still building your 12-of-48-months record
Candidates who are close to meeting the management-experience requirement should resist the urge to apply early. An application that does not meet eligibility wastes your US$99 application fee and your momentum. Wait until the record is solid, then target the next window.
If your agency has a predictable busy season
Hospice operations have rhythms: survey cycles, budget planning, and annual compliance training can all consume leadership bandwidth. Pick a window that avoids your agency's most demanding stretch. A candidate who tests during a state survey week is gambling with focus.
Key Takeaway
Pick your window based on the date your paperwork and your preparation will both be genuinely ready, then work backward. Rushing into the nearest deadline with weak Human Resource Basic Practices and Law knowledge is a worse bet than waiting one window.
Planning Backward From Your Test Date
The one place where a structured schedule truly earns its keep is in allocating study weeks to domains in proportion to how heavily the exam weights them. The CHM blueprint is lopsided: Human Resource Basic Practices and Law accounts for 30% of the content, while Management Skills and Regulatory Processes for Hospices each carry 20%. Leadership Skills and Financial Management and Budgeting are 10% each, and Customer Service and Marketing and Sales are 5% each.
That distribution should dictate your calendar. Here is an eight-week runway built around those weights, ending the week before your appointment:
Human Resource Basic Practices and Law (30%)
- Hiring, onboarding, and coaching scenarios
- Progressive discipline and documentation standards
- Staffing models and employment law fundamentals
Management Skills (20%) and Regulatory Processes for Hospices (20%)
- Delegation, scheduling, and performance management
- Hospice regulations and survey readiness
- Quality improvement processes
Leadership Skills (10%) and Financial Management and Budgeting (10%)
- Leadership approaches in a mission-driven setting
- Budget concepts a hospice manager must interpret
Customer Service (5%) and Marketing and Sales (5%)
- Family and referral-source relationships
- Community outreach and admissions growth
Full-length timed practice
- Simulate the 2-hour limit
- Review every missed item by domain
Why does the heaviest domain come first? Because it is both the largest slice of the exam and the one where nuance matters most. Employment-law questions reward careful reading of what a manager should do first, and that kind of judgment takes repetition. For a detailed look at what each content area covers, read our complete guide to all seven CHM domains, and use the CHM study guide to build your full resource list.
If your window is closer than eight weeks away, compress rather than skip: keep the proportional emphasis and trim breadth in the 5% domains, not depth in Human Resource Basic Practices and Law. Our look at how hard the CHM exam is can help you judge how much runway you realistically need.
Scheduling With Pearson VUE or Onsite Paper Testing
The administration is coordinated by Professional Testing (PTI), with computer-based delivery through Pearson VUE test centers and approved onsite paper testing available in certain arrangements. For most candidates, the practical path is Pearson VUE, so that is where scheduling strategy matters.
Book early inside your window
Your window is a limited number of days, and test-center capacity is finite. The February and August and November windows are single-month windows, which means a late request can leave you with fewer convenient appointment options. As soon as your Authorization to Test arrives, schedule your seat. You can generally plan around the specific day and time that suits your energy and your agency's coverage.
Choose a time that protects your focus
You get 2 hours for up to 100 questions. Pick an appointment when you are sharpest and when you are least likely to be interrupted by an on-call page. Arrange coverage with your director of nursing or administrator in advance, and avoid scheduling the exam immediately after an overnight shift or a heavy admissions day.
Know your fallback
Because your approval lasts 12 months, a missed or conflicted appointment is not necessarily the end of the road. Contact the testing coordinator promptly if something changes, and ask about your options inside the approval period rather than assuming you must restart.
What You Will Face Once the Date Arrives
Knowing the format removes a major source of day-of anxiety and helps you choose between a longer or shorter study runway. The NBHHC candidate handbook describes the exam this way:
- Length: An 80-100 question range
- Time limit: 2 hours
- Question style: Single-answer selected response
- Reporting: Pass/fail
- Materials: Closed book
- Scoring: No guessing penalty
The absence of a guessing penalty is worth building into your pacing. Never leave a question blank. If you are stuck, eliminate the clearly wrong options, choose the best remaining answer, flag it if the system allows, and move on. With roughly a minute and a half per question on a 80-question form, you cannot afford to stall on one scenario about, say, a disciplinary documentation dispute.
The exam draws on realistic management scenarios: hiring decisions, coaching conversations, discipline and documentation, staffing, employment law, hospice regulations, and quality improvement. Practicing with scenario-based items matters more than memorizing definitions. You can work through realistic items on our CHM practice test site, and our explanation of the CHM passing score clarifies how to interpret pass/fail reporting.
Fees and Timing: What You Pay and When
Because fees and dates are tied together, it helps to see them side by side. Initial certification costs US$598 in total, made up of a US$99 application fee and a US$499 examination fee. The optional CAHSAH hospice manager course is a separate tuition and is not included in that figure.
| Stage | Cost | Timing Note |
|---|---|---|
| Application | US$99 | Due by the deadline for your chosen window |
| Examination | US$499 | Paid as part of the path to your Authorization to Test |
| Initial total | US$598 | Approval stays valid for 12 months |
| Optional CAHSAH course | Separate tuition | Complete well before your window if you choose it |
If you plan to take the optional CAHSAH hospice manager course, factor its duration into your window choice. Finishing coursework only days before the exam leaves no time to consolidate, so start the course early enough that it feeds your preparation instead of competing with it. Many employers reimburse certification costs, so it is worth asking your organization about funding before you pay out of pocket. To weigh the investment, see whether the CHM certification is worth it for your career stage.
After the Exam: Certification Term and Renewal Dates
Choosing your test date also quietly sets your renewal calendar. Once you pass, the credential lasts 4 years. Your renewal cycle then begins, and planning for it from day one makes it painless.
Renewal requires 50 points, which must include at least 36 continuing-education contact hours and no more than 14 other points. You must also show relevant management or leadership work for 12 of the preceding 48 months. Renewal costs US$99 for the application plus US$299 for the renewal fee, for a total of US$398. If you renew late but within the permitted 1-year period, an additional US$99 applies.
Key Takeaway
Start logging continuing-education hours the month you pass. Thirty-six contact hours spread over four years is easy; thirty-six hours crammed into the final quarter, with a US$99 late fee looming, is not.
Once you hold the credential, you may also be curious about how it shapes your earning power and career options. Our CHM salary guide explores that question in depth.
Frequently Asked Questions
The 2026 computer-based testing windows are February 1-28, April 14-May 12, August 1-31, and November 1-30. Each window has its own application deadline: January 20, April 7, July 21, and October 20, respectively. Always confirm current dates with NBHHC before finalizing your plans.
No. You must submit a complete application by the deadline, receive approval, and obtain an Authorization to Test before scheduling with Pearson VUE. The deadline falls ahead of the window opening, so applying during the window itself will not work for that window.
Application approval lasts 12 months. That gives you some flexibility to test in a later window within the approval period if your plans change, though you should confirm the specifics with the testing coordinator.
The NBHHC candidate handbook gives a range of 80-100 questions with a 2-hour limit. The exam is closed book, uses single-answer selected-response items, reports pass/fail, and does not penalize guessing, so answer every question.
Initial certification costs US$598, consisting of a US$99 application fee and a US$499 examination fee. The optional CAHSAH hospice manager course has separate tuition. See our CHM exam dates overview and cost guide for the full picture.
Choosing your window is the first concrete commitment on the road to becoming a Certified Hospice Manager. Settle your eligibility paperwork, pick the window that matches your real readiness, work backward from the deadline, and put your heaviest preparation hours into Human Resource Basic Practices and Law. For a quick pre-exam refresher, keep our CHM cheat sheet handy, and sharpen your timing with scenario practice at CHM Exam Prep.