Retake Timing, Fees, Refunds, and Complaint Rules

Retake Basics

If you do not pass the CCA, you must submit a new application and pay a new exam fee. AHIMA waits at least 30 days before approving the new application, and this waiting period cannot be waived because it is a test-security policy. Plan the retake around domain feedback from your prior score, not just a calendar date.

Current CCA fees are $199 for AHIMA members and $299 for non-members, and retake fees equal the exam cost. Do not answer with older or guessed amounts.

Reschedule and Cancel Rules (Pearson VUE)

Appointment changes are time-sensitive. Rescheduling or canceling is free when done early enough, costs $30 when done between 14 days and 24 hours before the appointment, and results in forfeiture for a no-show or a change inside the disallowed window. A Pearson VUE cancellation stops the seat but does not by itself trigger an AHIMA refund.

Refund Rules (AHIMA)

AHIMA exam-application refund requests may be submitted up to 14 business days before the scheduled test date or eligibility end date. AHIMA keeps a $75 nonrefundable processing fee, and refunds can take up to 4 weeks (card) or 3 months (check) to process. Late requests, expired eligibility, no-shows, and forfeited appointments are generally not refundable.

Complaint Rules

If something goes wrong at the center (equipment, environment, proctor issue), report it to the test-center administrator before you leave. If you fail and believe the testing experience contributed to the result, contact AHIMA at certification@ahima.org within the published complaint deadline after receiving the score report. A complaint should describe the irregularity and the requested remedy; AHIMA and Pearson VUE never disclose actual questions or answer keys, so do not request item content.

Common Exam Traps

AHIMA Rules vs Pearson VUE Rules

The most-missed concept in this area is that two organizations run two separate processes. AHIMA owns the application, eligibility, fee, refund, and complaint policy; Pearson VUE owns the appointment, reschedule, cancellation, and no-show policy. Confusing the two leads to wrong exam answers and real-world money loss.

Worked Refund Scenario

A member pays $199, schedules for July 15, then must withdraw. If she submits the AHIMA refund request by July 1 (14 business days out), she receives $199 minus the $75 nonrefundable processing fee, for $124 back. If she instead simply cancels the Pearson VUE seat but never files the AHIMA refund request, she may lose the seat and the fee — the cancellation does not trigger a refund. If she waits until July 10 to act, she is inside the 14-day window: the application fee is no longer refundable, and a reschedule (rather than a cancel) costs $30.

Worked Retake Scenario

A non-member fails on June 1 with a 285. He cannot reuse the old ATT. He submits a new application and pays $299 again, and AHIMA will not approve that application until at least 30 days have passed, so the earliest realistic retest is in July. He uses the intervening weeks to attack his weakest reported domains rather than re-studying everything.

Complaint Discipline

If a workstation crashes or the room is disruptive, report it to the test-center administrator before you leave the building, because after-the-fact reports are far harder to substantiate. If you then fail and believe the irregularity affected the outcome, email certification@ahima.org within the published window, describe the specific problem and the remedy you want, and never ask for exam questions — AHIMA and Pearson VUE do not release item content or answer keys to anyone.

Putting the Deadlines in One Picture

Think of the timeline as three nested clocks. The widest is the 120-day eligibility window from AHIMA approval — miss it and the fee is generally gone. Inside that sits the 14-business-day refund line — request earlier and you recover the fee minus $75, request later and you do not. Innermost is the 24-hour Pearson VUE wall — past it, any change is a forfeit. A candidate who memorizes those three boundaries answers almost every logistics question correctly, because the exam tends to test whether you can place a scenario on the right clock and apply the right owner's rule rather than guessing at an exception that does not exist.