- CHPN certification is awarded by the Hospice and Palliative Credentialing Center (HPCC), affiliated with HPNA.
- The exam has 150 questions (135 scored, 15 pretest), and you get 3 hours to finish.
- Passing requires a scaled score of 500 on a 200-800 scale, not a raw percentage.
- Eligibility needs an unrestricted RN license plus 500 hours in 12 months or 1,000 hours in 24 months.
What CHPN Certification Actually Is
The Certified Hospice and Palliative Nurse (CHPN) credential is a specialty nursing certification that verifies a registered nurse has the knowledge and clinical judgment to care for patients facing serious illness, terminal conditions, and end-of-life transitions. It is not a course or a license-it's a competency-based exam credential that sits on top of your existing RN license, signaling to employers, patients, and families that you have demonstrated mastery of hospice and palliative-specific practice.
If you're asking what is CHPN at a more foundational level, or want a quick definition of CHPN meaning and what CHPN stands for, those pieces cover the terminology. This article focuses specifically on the certification process itself: who administers it, what it costs, how it's structured, and what you need to know before you register.
Who Runs the CHPN Exam
The Hospice and Palliative Credentialing Center (HPCC) governs the CHPN exam. HPCC is affiliated with the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association (HPNA), the professional organization that sets clinical practice standards for the specialty. HPCC contracts with PSI as the testing provider, which means your exam is delivered as computer-based testing either at a physical PSI test center or through live remote proctoring from a location of your choosing.
This governance structure matters because it explains why the exam content outline is updated periodically to reflect current hospice and palliative practice, and why HPCC-not PSI-determines eligibility, scoring policy, and renewal requirements. PSI simply delivers and scores the test itself.
Eligibility Requirements
Before you can register for the CHPN exam, you must meet two conditions:
- Active RN license: A current, unrestricted, active RN license in the United States or its territories, or the equivalent licensure in Canada.
- Clinical practice hours: Either 500 hours of hospice and palliative nursing practice in the most recent 12 months, or 1,000 hours in the most recent 24 months.
There is no minimum years-of-experience requirement beyond these hour thresholds, and no specific degree level is mandated-an associate or bachelor's-prepared RN can qualify as long as the clinical hours and license conditions are met. This makes CHPN accessible to bedside hospice nurses, palliative care consult nurses, home health nurses with hospice caseloads, and inpatient palliative unit staff alike.
Key Takeaway
Track your hospice/palliative hours carefully before applying. If you're near a job transition, the 24-month/1,000-hour path gives more flexibility than the tighter 12-month/500-hour window.
Exam Format, Fees, and Scoring
The CHPN exam consists of 150 multiple-choice questions, each with four answer options. Of those, 135 are scored items and 15 are unscored pretest questions being trialed for future exams-you won't know which is which, so every question deserves full attention. You have 3 hours to complete the exam.
Scoring is reported on a scaled score ranging from 200 to 800, and you need a scaled score of 500 to pass. This scale accounts for slight difficulty variations between exam forms, so your result isn't a simple percentage of correct answers. For a deeper breakdown of what this means for your prep strategy, see CHPN Pass Rate 2026: What the Data Shows.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Total Questions | 150 (135 scored, 15 unscored pretest) |
| Time Limit | 3 hours |
| Question Format | Four-option multiple choice |
| Passing Score | Scaled score of 500 (200-800 scale) |
| Initial Fee (HPNA Member) | $305 |
| Initial Fee (Non-Member) | $445 |
| reTEST Assured Fee | $135 |
| Transfer Fee (if applicable) | $110 |
| Testing Provider | PSI (test center or live remote proctoring) |
For a complete cost breakdown including membership math and when reTEST Assured makes financial sense, check out CHPN Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown.
The Five CHPN Content Domains
The CHPN exam content outline is organized into five domains. Three of them-Symptom Management, Support/Education/Advocacy, and Practice Issues-each represent about 20.7% of the scored exam, making them the largest content areas by weight. Pain Management follows closely at 19.3%, and Assessment/Planning rounds out the outline at 18.5%. For a full walkthrough of every domain with subtopics and sample question styles, see CHPN Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 5 Content Areas.
Domain 1: Patient Care - Assessment and Planning (18.5%)
Covers holistic assessment across physical, psychosocial, and spiritual dimensions, plus care planning that reflects patient and family goals.
- Prognostication and disease trajectory recognition
- Advance care planning documentation
- Interdisciplinary team-based 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 contexts.
- Opioid titration, equianalgesic conversions, and rotation
- Barriers to adequate pain control (patient, family, clinician)
- Adjuvant therapies and non-drug interventions
Domain 3: Patient Care - Symptom Management (20.7%)
The largest single domain, covering management of dyspnea, nausea, delirium, fatigue, and other common end-of-life symptoms.
- Terminal restlessness and delirium differentiation
- Respiratory symptom management near end of life
- GI symptom clusters and interventions
Domain 4: Support, Education, and Advocacy (20.7%)
Addresses communication, family support, cultural competence, and advocating for patient wishes across care settings.
- Grief and bereavement support strategies
- Cultural and spiritual considerations in end-of-life care
- Difficult conversation frameworks
Domain 5: Practice Issues (20.7%)
Covers ethical, legal, and regulatory issues that shape hospice and palliative nursing practice.
- Hospice eligibility and regulatory requirements
- Ethical decision-making frameworks
- Interdisciplinary team roles and scope of practice
Because these three top-weighted domains carry nearly equal emphasis and together make up over 60% of scored content, candidates often benefit from dedicated study time on each. Individual domain guides are available for Domain 1: Assessment and Planning, Domain 2: Pain Management, Domain 3: Symptom Management, and Domain 4: Support, Education, and Advocacy.
Who Hires CHPN-Certified Nurses
CHPN certification is recognized across the settings where hospice and palliative care are delivered: dedicated hospice agencies, inpatient hospice units, palliative care consult teams in acute-care hospitals, long-term care and skilled nursing facilities with palliative programs, and home health agencies with hospice service lines. Many employers list CHPN as preferred or required for senior clinical roles, care coordination positions, and clinical educator roles within hospice organizations.
If you're evaluating whether the credential fits your career path, browsing current CHPN jobs postings gives a realistic sense of how employers frame the requirement-often alongside years of experience rather than as a strict gate. For a numbers-based look at how certification может affect compensation, see CHPN Salary Guide 2026: Complete Earnings Analysis, and for a broader cost-versus-benefit discussion, Is the CHPN Certification Worth It? Complete ROI Analysis 2026 walks through the tradeoffs in detail.
Certification Validity and Renewal
CHPN certification is valid for 4 years from the date you pass. Renewal does not require retaking the full 150-question exam. Instead, HPCC uses its HPAR (HPCC Alternative Recertification) process, which combines a Situational Judgment Exercise, documented practice-hour requirements, and professional development activities completed during your final certification year.
This renewal structure rewards nurses who stay active in the specialty and continue accumulating professional development credits rather than cramming for a repeat exam every few years. Planning your renewal activities early in your certification cycle-rather than waiting until the final year-makes the process far less stressful.
How to Approach CHPN Preparation
Preparation should mirror the exam's actual weighting. Since Symptom Management, Support/Education/Advocacy, and Practice Issues each account for roughly a fifth of the exam, none of them can be treated as secondary. Pain Management and Assessment/Planning, while slightly lower in percentage, define much of the clinical reasoning tested throughout the other domains-so weak fundamentals there will cost you points elsewhere too.
Assessment and Planning + Pain Management foundations
- Review prognostication indicators and disease trajectories
- Master opioid conversion calculations and titration logic
Symptom Management deep dive
- Study dyspnea, delirium, and GI symptom protocols
- Practice differentiating terminal restlessness from other causes
Support, Education, Advocacy + Practice Issues
- Review communication frameworks and cultural considerations
- Study hospice eligibility rules and ethical decision-making models
Timed practice and review
- Complete full-length timed practice sets under 3-hour conditions
- Revisit weakest domain based on practice performance
A structured, domain-weighted schedule like this beats generic study advice because it directly reflects how the exam is built. For a complete week-by-week plan with more detail on resource selection and pacing, see CHPN Study Guide 2026: How to Pass on Your First Attempt. And if you're still deciding how much preparation time to budget, How Hard Is the CHPN Exam? Complete Difficulty Guide 2026 breaks down the exam's difficulty relative to other nursing certifications.
Key Takeaway
Use timed practice questions on our CHPN practice test platform to simulate the actual 3-hour, 150-question format before test day, so pacing isn't a surprise.
Beyond content review, familiarity with the scaled-scoring system and four-option question style matters. Because CHPN reports a scaled score rather than a raw percentage, practicing with realistic question banks on hospicepalliativeexam.com helps you gauge readiness more accurately than guessing at a percentage target. Repeated exposure to domain-weighted practice sets on our practice exam site also builds the pattern recognition needed for scenario-based questions that span multiple domains at once.
Frequently Asked Questions
No, CHPN is a voluntary specialty certification, not a licensure requirement. However, many hospice and palliative employers prefer or require it for senior, coordinator, and educator-level roles.
The exam has 150 multiple-choice questions-135 scored and 15 unscored pretest items-with a 3-hour time limit and four-option answer choices throughout.
You need a scaled score of 500 on a 200-800 scale, not a specific raw percentage of correct answers.
CHPN certification is valid for 4 years. Renewal uses HPCC's HPAR process, which includes a Situational Judgment Exercise, practice-hour documentation, and professional development completed during your final certification year, rather than retaking the full exam.
You need a current, unrestricted, active RN license in the U.S. or its territories (or Canadian equivalent), plus either 500 hours of hospice and palliative nursing practice in the most recent 12 months or 1,000 hours in the most recent 24 months.