CHPNA certification: cost, hours & renewal
CHPNA is HPCC's hospice specialty for nursing assistants: 500 practice hours in 12 months to qualify, $190 as an HPNA member, and 4 years before renewal.
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A hospice aide sits with a patient and holds their hand at the bedside.
What is CHPNA certification?
CHPNA (Certified Hospice and Palliative Nursing Assistant) is a specialty certification from the Hospice and Palliative Credentialing Center (HPCC) for nursing assistants who already work in hospice and palliative care. It's an experience credential: HPCC wants 500 hours of hospice and palliative nursing assistant practice in your most recent 12 months, or 1,000 hours in your most recent 24, all under the supervision of a registered nurse. The exam costs $190 for HPNA members and $280 for everyone else. Certification lasts 4 years.
CHPNA vs CNA vs the other HPCC nursing credentials
HPCC certifies 8 credentials across hospice and palliative care, including one for social workers and one for administrators. Which of the nursing ones you can hold depends on your license.
| CNA | Not an HPCC credential at all. A state credential for nursing assistants generally, and the thing that gets you hired. See CNA certification. |
|---|---|
| CHPNA | HPCC's specialty for nursing assistants working hospice and palliative care. |
| CHPLN | The equivalent for licensed practical and vocational nurses. |
| CHPN | The equivalent for registered nurses. A different exam, and a common source of confusion because the letters are one character apart. |
| ACHPN | The advanced practice version, for APRNs. |
CHPN and CHPNA get mixed up constantly, including by employers writing job ads. If a hospice aide posting asks for CHPN, it almost certainly means CHPNA, since CHPN requires an RN license.
Who requires CHPNA
Almost nobody requires it. Hospice agencies hire hospice aides on a CNA, because state and federal rules are written around that credential. CHPNA is what an experienced aide adds afterward. Where it shows up is in preferred qualifications, in senior aide and mentor postings, and in the agency's own marketing to families and referrers. Some hospices pay a differential for it. Home health aide and personal care roles outside hospice don't use it.
The two credentials answer different questions. Your CNA is the credential that puts you on a state registry and lets a hospice employ you. CHPNA says you've spent at least 500 hours in hospice and palliative nursing assistant practice and passed an exam on that work. Hospices hire on the first and pay attention to the second, which sets the order: get the CNA, work the hours, then decide whether the exam is worth $190 to you.
Requirements and eligibility
- Log 500 hours of hospice and palliative nursing assistant practice in the most recent 12 months, or 1,000 hours in the most recent 24.
- Work those hours under the supervision of a registered nurse, in the United States.
- Apply inside the window for the testing period you want.
- Pass the exam.
Note what isn't on that list. HPCC asks for hours, not for a card: there's no CNA requirement in its published eligibility, no minimum education, and no prerequisite certification. Most candidates hold a CNA because that's how they got the hours.
Cost, format, and recertification
Fees are HPCC's own, current as of July 2026.
| Exam fee | $190 for HPNA members, $280 for non-members |
|---|---|
| Retake | $135 through the reTEST Assured program, if you retake within the next 3 testing windows |
| Format | 110 multiple-choice questions. 100 are scored and 10 are unscored pretest items |
| Delivery | Computer-based through PSI, with live remote proctoring available |
| Validity period | 4 years |
| Renewal requirement | HPAR, the Hospice and Palliative Accrual for Recertification: practice hours plus points earned from professional activities. Or retake the exam |
| Renewal fee, early bird | $175 for HPNA members, $255 for non-members |
| Renewal fee, standard | $285 for HPNA members, $365 for non-members |
| Renewal window | You can file HPAR from 1 year before your expiration date up to the date itself |
| If it lapses | Reactivation runs $445 for members and $525 for non-members |
| Help with the fee | The Hospice and Palliative Nurses Foundation (HPNF) runs scholarships covering HPCC certification fees and takes applications on an ongoing basis |
| Issuing body | Hospice and Palliative Credentialing Center (HPCC) |
Two levers move the price. HPNA membership takes $90 off the exam and $80 off your renewal. Filing early takes $110 off the renewal by itself: a member pays $175 early against $285 standard. Stack both, and check the HPNF scholarships before you pay anything.
Testing windows and their deadlines
HPCC runs 4 testing windows a year, each with an application start date and a deadline that closes weeks before the window opens. Exams run in March, June, September, and December, and each application deadline falls about 2 weeks before the month starts: February 15 for the March window, May 15 for June, August 15 for September, and November 15 for December.
Miss a deadline and you wait a quarter. Your hours are on a clock at the same time, since the eligibility rule counts 500 hours in the most recent 12 months, so a delay moves the window you're measured against rather than just postponing the exam. Check the current dates with HPCC, and don't aim at the last deadline that still works.
How to get certified
- Count your hours: 500 in the last 12 months, or 1,000 in the last 24, under RN supervision.
- Look at the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Foundation scholarships, which cover HPCC certification fees and take applications year-round. HPNF's page says nurses, so confirm nursing assistants qualify before you count on it.
- Price HPNA membership against the $90 it takes off the exam.
- Check the testing windows and the application deadline for the one you want, then apply through HPCC.
- Take the exam: 110 questions, 100 of them scored.
- If it doesn't go your way, use reTEST Assured at $135 within the next 3 windows.
- Start accruing HPAR points from year 1. You have 4 years, and the alternative is retaking the exam.
On the job
Ask your hospice whether it pays a differential for CHPNA before you spend anything, because the answer varies and it's the whole business case. Keep your own record of your practice hours: HPAR wants them at renewal, and your employer has no obligation to reconstruct 4 years of shifts for you. Keep your CNA current. That's the credential the job runs on.
FAQ
No. Hospice agencies hire aides on a CNA, because state and federal rules are built around that credential. CHPNA is an optional specialty certification you add once you have the hospice hours behind you, and it shows up in preferred qualifications and senior aide roles rather than as a gate on entry-level work.
500 hours of hospice and palliative nursing assistant practice in your most recent 12 months, or 1,000 hours in your most recent 24. The hours have to be under the supervision of a registered nurse in the United States. That's the whole eligibility requirement.
HPCC's published eligibility asks for practice hours, not for a CNA card, and lists no minimum education or prerequisite certification. Most candidates are CNAs because that's how they accumulated the hours in the first place. Check with HPCC if your route in was unusual.
$190 if you're an HPNA member and $280 if you aren't, as of July 2026. A retake through the reTEST Assured program is $135 if you sit again within the next 3 testing windows. The Hospice and Palliative Nurses Foundation runs scholarships that cover certification fees for new and renewing certificants.
No, and one letter separates them. CHPN is HPCC's certification for registered nurses. CHPNA is the one for nursing assistants. There's also CHPLN for licensed practical and vocational nurses and ACHPN for advanced practice nurses. A hospice aide posting asking for CHPN almost certainly means CHPNA.
Certification runs 4 years. You renew either through HPAR, the Hospice and Palliative Accrual for Recertification, which combines practice hours with points from professional activities, or by retaking the exam. You can file the HPAR application from 1 year before your expiration date up until the date itself.