- CHPN is governed by HPCC, tested through PSI, with 150 questions (135 scored) in 3 hours.
- Passing requires a scaled score of 500 on a 200-800 scale, not a percentage cutoff.
- Eligibility needs 500 hours of hospice/palliative practice in 12 months or 1,000 hours in 24 months.
- Symptom Management, Support/Education/Advocacy, and Practice Issues each account for about 20.7% of scored items.
What Is CHPN Certification?
The Certified Hospice and Palliative Nurse (CHPN) credential recognizes registered nurses who have demonstrated specialized knowledge in end-of-life and serious illness care. It's not a generic wellness or license renewal credential - it's a competency-based certification tied directly to the clinical realities of hospice and palliative practice: symptom control, pain management, family support, and the ethical and regulatory issues unique to this specialty. If you're still deciding whether this is the right credential for your career, our companion pieces on What Is CHPN? and What Is CHPN Certification? break down the basics in plain language.
This article focuses specifically on the mechanics of the CHPN certification itself - who runs it, how it's scored, what it costs, and what the five content domains actually demand from candidates.
Who Governs the CHPN and Who Administers the Exam
The CHPN credential is governed by the Hospice and Palliative Credentialing Center (HPCC), which is affiliated with the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association (HPNA). HPCC sets the eligibility rules, content outline, and renewal requirements, while the actual test delivery is handled by PSI, an independent testing provider.
Candidates can sit for the CHPN exam in two ways: at a PSI test center using computer-based testing, or remotely through live remote proctoring from a personal computer. Both formats use the same content outline and time limit, so the choice comes down to logistics and personal comfort with being monitored on camera rather than any difference in exam difficulty.
Eligibility Requirements
Before you can register, you need to meet HPCC's eligibility criteria. These aren't negotiable, and PSI will not let you schedule an exam without documentation confirming you meet them.
- A current, unrestricted, active RN license in the United States or a U.S. territory, or the equivalent license in Canada.
- Either 500 hours of hospice and palliative nursing practice within the most recent 12 months, or 1,000 hours within the most recent 24 months.
Notice there's no minimum years-of-experience requirement stated in hours worked outside hospice/palliative settings - the hours must be specific to hospice and palliative nursing practice. Many candidates qualify through current hospice agency employment, inpatient palliative care units, or home-based palliative programs. If your practice hours are split across roles, keep a clear record of dates and settings in case HPCC or PSI requests verification.
Exam Format, Scoring, and Fees
The CHPN exam consists of 150 multiple-choice questions, each with four answer options. Of these, 135 are scored items and 15 are unscored pretest questions used by HPCC to evaluate future exam content - you won't know which is which, so every question deserves full attention. Candidates get 3 hours to complete the full exam.
Scoring is reported as a scaled score on a 200-800 range, and the passing threshold is a scaled score of 500. This matters because your result won't be presented as a raw percentage correct - a scaled score accounts for the relative difficulty of the specific question set you received, so two candidates who answer a different number of questions correctly could both pass if the difficulty of their respective sets was weighted accordingly. For a deeper breakdown of how scaled scoring works and what it means for your prep strategy, see How Hard Is the CHPN Exam? Complete Difficulty Guide 2026.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Total Questions | 150 (135 scored, 15 unscored pretest) |
| Time Limit | 3 hours |
| Format | Four-option multiple choice |
| Passing Score | Scaled score of 500 (range 200-800) |
| Initial Fee (HPNA Member) | $305 |
| Initial Fee (Non-Member) | $445 |
| reTEST Assured Fee | $135 |
| Transfer Fee (if applicable) | $110 |
| Certification Validity | 4 years |
Fee structure rewards HPNA membership fairly significantly - the gap between member and non-member pricing is worth weighing against annual membership dues if you're planning to recertify down the line. The reTEST Assured option and transfer fee are worth understanding before you register, since scheduling errors or a failed first attempt carry real cost. We cover this pricing landscape, including how it compares to other nursing certifications, in CHPN Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown.
Key Takeaway
Because scoring uses a scaled 200-800 range rather than raw percentage, don't try to calculate "how many I need right" during the exam - focus on answering every question with your best clinical judgment and trust the scoring model.
The Five CHPN Content Domains
The CHPN exam blueprint is organized into five domains, each testing a distinct slice of hospice and palliative nursing competency. Understanding the weight of each domain is essential for allocating study time proportionally - spending equal time on all five when they're not equally weighted is a common and costly mistake.
Domain 1: Patient Care - Assessment and Planning (18.5%)
Covers comprehensive assessment of physical, psychosocial, and spiritual status, along with care planning across the disease trajectory.
- Prognostication and disease trajectory recognition across diagnoses
- Advance care planning documentation and goals-of-care conversations
- Interdisciplinary care plan development
Domain 2: Patient Care - Pain Management (19.3%)
Focuses on pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic pain control strategies specific to serious illness and end-of-life populations.
- Opioid conversion, titration, and equianalgesic dosing
- Managing breakthrough pain and opioid-related side effects
- Assessment tools for patients unable to self-report pain
Domain 3: Patient Care - Symptom Management (20.7%)
The single largest domain, covering management of non-pain symptoms common in advanced illness.
- Dyspnea, nausea, delirium, and terminal secretions
- Symptom clusters near end of life and active dying signs
- Nonpharmacologic and pharmacologic symptom relief options
Domain 4: Support, Education, and Advocacy (20.7%)
Tests your ability to support patients and families through education, grief, cultural sensitivity, and ethical advocacy.
- Family and caregiver education strategies
- Bereavement support and anticipatory grief
- Cultural, spiritual, and ethical considerations in care delivery
Domain 5: Practice Issues (20.7%)
Covers the regulatory, legal, and professional framework surrounding hospice and palliative nursing.
- Hospice benefit regulations and levels of care
- Legal and ethical issues including consent and self-determination
- Interdisciplinary team roles and professional standards
Because Symptom Management, Support/Education/Advocacy, and Practice Issues each carry roughly equal top weight, none of them can be treated as secondary. At the same time, Pain Management and Assessment/Planning remain foundational - they establish the clinical reasoning skills that show up embedded in questions across the other three domains. For a full domain-by-domain breakdown with sample question styles, see our CHPN Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 5 Content Areas, or dive into the dedicated guides for Domain 1, Domain 2, Domain 3, and Domain 4.
Who Hires CHPN-Certified Nurses
CHPN certification is recognized specifically by employers in hospice agencies, inpatient palliative care units, home-based palliative programs, long-term care facilities with palliative service lines, and hospital-based palliative consult teams. Unlike broader RN certifications, CHPN signals depth in a narrow but high-demand clinical niche - end-of-life symptom control, family communication under distress, and navigating hospice regulatory requirements.
Many employers list CHPN as "preferred" rather than required, but it often factors into hiring decisions for charge nurse, case manager, and clinical educator roles within hospice organizations. If you're evaluating whether the credential translates into concrete career and pay outcomes, our CHPN Salary Guide 2026: Complete Earnings Analysis and Is the CHPN Certification Worth It? Complete ROI Analysis 2026 articles dig into that question directly. You can also browse current openings that specifically call out the credential in CHPN Jobs.
Building a Domain-Weighted Study Plan
A generic study calendar won't serve you well here - the CHPN blueprint has real weight differences that should shape how you divide your prep time. Rather than a one-size-fits-all week-by-week template, build your schedule around the domain percentages themselves.
Symptom Management + Pain Management
- Cover dyspnea, delirium, nausea protocols alongside opioid conversion math
- Practice equianalgesic dosing calculations until they're automatic
- Use case-based practice questions rather than flashcards for symptom clusters
Support/Education/Advocacy + Practice Issues
- Study hospice benefit levels of care and Medicare Hospice Benefit structure
- Review grief models and family communication frameworks
- Work through ethics and consent scenario questions
Assessment and Planning + Full Review
- Reinforce prognostication indicators across diagnoses
- Take full-length timed practice exams under 3-hour conditions
- Identify and target your two or three weakest domains
This structure front-loads the three domains weighted at roughly 20.7% while still giving Pain Management and Assessment/Planning dedicated attention, since they underpin reasoning in nearly every other domain. For a more detailed week-by-week breakdown with specific resource recommendations, see our full CHPN Study Guide 2026: How to Pass on Your First Attempt. You can also reinforce weak areas using realistic practice questions on our CHPN practice test platform, which mirrors the four-option format and timing of the actual exam.
Renewal and Maintaining Certification
CHPN certification is valid for 4 years. Renewal does not require retaking the full 150-question exam. Instead, HPCC uses its HPAR (recertification) process, which combines a Situational Judgment Exercise, verification of ongoing practice hours, and documentation of professional development completed during your final certification year.
This renewal model rewards nurses who stay clinically active in hospice and palliative settings rather than those who simply study for a one-time test. Planning your continuing education and practice hours early in your certification cycle - rather than scrambling in year four - makes the HPAR process considerably smoother.
Frequently Asked Questions
CHPN stands for Certified Hospice and Palliative Nurse. It's issued by the Hospice and Palliative Credentialing Center (HPCC). See our detailed explainer at CHPN Meaning and What Does CHPN Stand For? for more on the terminology.
The exam has 150 multiple-choice questions total - 135 scored and 15 unscored pretest items - with a 3-hour time limit and four answer options per question.
You need a scaled score of 500 on a 200-800 scale, not a fixed percentage of correct answers. Our CHPN Pass Rate 2026: What the Data Shows article explains how this scoring model affects outcomes.
Initial certification costs $305 for HPNA members and $445 for non-members. Additional fees include $135 for reTEST Assured and $110 for a transfer, when applicable.
You need a current unrestricted active RN license in the U.S., a U.S. territory, or the Canadian equivalent, plus either 500 hospice/palliative practice hours in the last 12 months or 1,000 hours in the last 24 months.
Understanding the CHPN certification's structure - from HPCC's governance and PSI's testing mechanics to the exact weight of each content domain - puts you in a far stronger position than generic exam prep advice ever could. If you're ready to see where you stand, start working through realistic practice questions on our CHPN practice exam platform today.