1.4 Recertification: HPAR and the Situational Judgment Exercise

Passing CHPN starts a four-year certification period. The letters after your name are time-limited. HPCC’s renewal process is Hospice and Palliative Accrual for Recertification (HPAR) plus the Situational Judgment Exercise (SJE). You do not sit the 150-item exam again to renew on time. The exception: if the credential has been expired for 3 or more years, HPCC requires re-examination rather than HPAR reactivation. Treat that 3-year cliff as a reason to recertify on time, not as a casual backup plan.

What HPAR actually is

HPAR is an accrual portfolio in LearningBuilder (HPCC’s learning-plan software), not a second multiple-choice test. You collect points from professional activities and you document practice hours. Practice hours for recertification use the same structure as initial eligibility: 500 hospice/palliative nursing hours in the most recent 12 months or 1,000 hours in the most recent 24 months. Direct care counts; so can telehealth, academic work, research, administration, consultation, case management, program coordination, and policy work in hospice and palliative nursing.

Points come from continuing education, academic credit, publications, presentations, precepting, staff orientation, and professional-organization volunteering. HPNA Learning Center courses and Palliative Care Basics modules sync automatically into the learning plan. Outside CE must be entered by hand. Uploading certificates while you add activities is optional unless you are audited; if audited, you must produce certificates. Do not wait until the last week to discover a conference certificate is lost.

The reporting period for points runs from the day certification begins until you submit. You may submit HPAR beginning 1 year before expiration through the expiration date. Early-bird pricing applies when you submit at least 2 months before expiration. Submitting 6 weeks early is still on time, but it is standard pricing, not early-bird.

Fees (HPAR packet / recertify page; SJE included in the published totals)

Those published totals include the cost of the SJE. Operationally you still pay in two places: $60 to PSI for the SJE (state tax may apply), then the remaining balance in LearningBuilder when you submit HPAR. If you buy the SJE and never submit HPAR, you have not recertified.

HPNF scholarships can apply to recertification as well as initial certification. They do not extend the expiration date by themselves.

The Situational Judgment Exercise

The SJE is required for CHPN (and ACHPN) recertification. It is a set of case-based scenarios written to test reasoning beyond the initial multiple-choice exam: assessment and treatment decisions plus ethics, teaming, communication, public policy, and research. HPCC’s structure uses Information Gathering (IG) sections and Decision Making (DM) sections. Problems typically include multiple DM sections. Each option is weighted from +2 to −2 (zero weights are possible). Passing judgment is against a Minimum Pass Level (MPL) for IG and for DM.

CHPN SJE point awards

You still complete the SJE even if you land on 5 points; the exercise is required. The 20-point outcome is the target because it contributes more of the HPAR total, but a 5-point result is not “an incomplete SJE.”

The SJE is open-source: you may use references. It may be completed individually or in a group. Group completion is allowed; copying without reasoning is still a poor way to grow practice, and the MPL scoring will reflect weak IG/DM choices. You may complete the SJE any time during the four-year period. HPCC recommends finishing at least 30 days before expiration because results take at least one business day to appear in the learning plan. Buying the SJE on the expiration date is how people miss the HPAR submit button.

Purchase the SJE only for the credential you are authorized to renew, using the email address on file with HPCC. A mismatched email blocks purchase. PSI hosts the SJE; LearningBuilder hosts HPAR. They do not auto-merge until the overnight (or longer) sync runs.

Stop using the letters if you do not renew

HPCC states that the credential may be used only during the four-year certification period. If you do not recertify, you must stop using CHPN immediately—email signature, badge, lab coat, employer profiles, and social media. HPCC periodically reviews misuse. There is no informal 90-day courtesy period in which you keep writing “CHPN” while you “intend to submit.”

If you miss expiration, reactivation (member $540 / non-member $680, still including SJE) may be available for a limited time under HPCC’s expired-certification rules. If the lapse reaches 3 years, plan on sitting the CHPN examination again. Do not assume HPAR can be backfilled across that cliff.

Practical sequence that avoids the cliff

1. Year 1–3: log CE and practice hours in LearningBuilder as you go.
2. At least several months before expiration: purchase and complete the SJE (group sessions are allowed).
3. Confirm SJE points have synced (≥1 business day).
4. Submit HPAR ≥2 months early if you want early-bird ($270 member / $410 non-member).
5. If the date is inside the last 2 months, submit anyway at standard fees rather than expire.

The SJE exists because a four-year-old multiple-choice pass does not, by itself, show that your current judgment still meets specialty expectations. HPAR shows you kept practicing and learning. Together they replace an automatic retest—until you let the credential die long enough that HPCC requires the exam again.