1.2 Eligibility, Fees, Windows, and Retakes

Eligibility is a gate, not a hint. HPCC will confirm or deny you after you submit; if you apply without meeting the license or hours rules, you lose time inside a window and you do not get a refund.

License and practice hours

You must hold a current, unrestricted registered nurse license in the United States, its territories, or the equivalent in Canada. “Unrestricted” means the license is active and not encumbered in a way HPCC treats as ineligible (for example, a suspension that bars practice). A compact RN license that authorizes practice where you work counts as a U.S. RN license; a graduate-nurse permit that is not an RN license does not. Canadian equivalency is for nurses licensed as RNs in Canada, not for other Canadian nursing titles.

You must also document hospice and palliative nursing practice of 500 hours in the most recent 12 months or 1,000 hours in the most recent 24 months before you apply. Those hours are not “any RN job.” They are hours in hospice and/or palliative nursing. HPCC’s recertification materials illustrate the kinds of roles that can count toward practice (direct care, telehealth, education, research, administration, consultation, case management, program coordination, policy). For the initial exam, use the same spirit: if your assignment is med-surg with occasional end-of-life patients, count only the hospice/palliative work, not the entire FTE. If you work 0.5 FTE as a hospice RN, 500 hours in 12 months is typically reachable; if you recently transferred into hospice, the 1,000-hour / 24-month option may be the honest path.

HPCC may request additional eligibility documentation. Keep a simple hours log (setting, role, dates, approximate hours) rather than reconstructing a year from memory after PSI emails you.

Fees (live credential page)

Use the live CHPN credential page for dollars, not an outdated handbook screenshot.

To receive the $305 rate you must be an HPNA member before you submit the exam application. HPCC’s credential page states you must purchase membership before submitting. Plan to join at least two business days before you apply so the membership number is in the system; applying the same afternoon you join is how candidates accidentally pay $445. Membership is HPNA, not “I follow HPCC on social media.”

reTEST Assured

reTEST Assured is HPCC’s reduced-price retake after an unsuccessful attempt. Core rules from the live reTEST page:

• Cost is $135 and covers application, administration, scheduling, and seat fees.
• There is no HPNA member discount on reTEST Assured.
• You may use it one time after a new (full-fee) application.
• You must retake the same examination (CHPN to CHPN). You cannot fail CHPN and spend the $135 on CHPPN or ACHPN.
• You must use it in one of the three windows immediately following the unsuccessful window. Fail in September and the eligible windows are December, March, and June—not the following September, and not “whenever I feel ready.”
• You cannot retest in the same window in which you were unsuccessful.
• If you fail again after reTEST Assured, the next attempt is a new initial application and the full $445 / $305 fee.

Submit the nurse reTEST application to PSI by that next window’s deadline (email to PSI as HPCC instructs; mailed or faxed reTEST applications are not accepted).

Transfers versus refunds

Transferring a scheduled exam is a $110 event, not a free calendar shuffle. Refunds are not allowed. If you apply for March and then decide you are not ready, you do not get $445 back. Your options are sit, transfer if the transfer policy still applies, or forfeit. That is why the window deadline is a study-planning date, not a paperwork afterthought.

Windows and the 11:59 pm Central Time deadline

The online application is for the upcoming window only. PSI must receive it by 11:59 pm Central Time on the deadline date.

After HPCC/PSI confirms eligibility, you schedule either a test-center seat or LRP. Technical application problems go to PSI (833-256-1422). Policy questions go to HPCC (hpcc@goHPCC.org or 412-787-1057).

Application path and money you should not leave on the table

1. Confirm RN license status and hours.
2. If you want the member rate, join HPNA at least two business days before applying.
3. Apply through advancingexpertcare.org/hpcc (CHPN credential page → online application).
4. Pay, wait for eligibility confirmation, then schedule with PSI (test center or LRP).
5. If a disability accommodation is needed, file PSI’s accommodation request with professional documentation by the application deadline; HPCC does not approve accommodations—PSI does, and review can take about 10 business days.

HPNF offers scholarships that can cover HPCC certification or recertification fees. Applications are accepted on an ongoing basis (Sandra Lee Schafer certification scholarship and related HPNF programs). A scholarship does not change eligibility hours or windows; it changes who pays the invoice. Apply early enough that an award, if granted, can be used in the window you actually intend to sit.

ADA accommodations, member discounts, and scholarships all fail in the same way: people treat the February 15 / May 15 / August 15 / November 15 deadline as “sometime that week” instead of 11:59 pm CT on that date.